1171  Roger Farthein - he paid one mark in taxes as a residnet of Hopton located in the West Riding of Yorkshire.  It's 3 1/2 miles NE of Huddersfield in Mirfield. 1175 to 1176   Radulfo filio Forthingi - property owner in Worcestershire.  Whatever the origin of a name was, the clerk had to write it down, another had to copy it, and  a modern transcriber has to correctly read the handwriting.  For example, did a resident of York in 1327 really call himself 'Randulfus de Novo castro', as he appears in a tax list, or 'Randulph Newcastle'?  Likewise, did a resident in Worcestershire really call himself 'Radulfo filio Forthingi', as he appears in a tax list, or Radulf the son of Farthegn'?  Most scribes were unfamiliar with the history and meaning of the name Farthegn and they eventually replaced it with Ferthing, now Farthing.
1176               Hugh Ferthing - resident of Yorkshire.  P.H. Reaney and R.M. Wilson in A Dictionary of English Surnames list Ferthing as a form of Farthegn.  The spelling Fer- was an attempt to reproduce the sound that Fair- made as in "Faerthegn".  A Devonshire moneyer with the Scandinavian name Farmann produced coins with the first element spelled "Fer-", "Fere-", and "Faer-", all pronounced Fair. The first element of Faringdon was once spelled  "Faer-" and "Fer-".  An estate once associated with an Anglian settler called Faerela became known as Ferlintun, now called Farlington.  It had nothing to do with a "ferling" or "ferthing" (a measurement of land). ca 1176 to 1183      James the son of Fardein - witnessed a charter of Cirencester Abbey, Gloucestershire concerning a house and land in Bristol. ca 1176 to 1183     Roger - the brother of the James Fardein, witnessed a charter in Bristol.  The Bristol moneyer named Farthegn had at least 4 sons that survived to adulthood.  The average per family at this time was two. 1192            Robert Fardein - he endowed St. Augustine abbey in Bristol with property.  Bristol had become the second largest city in England with a population of 9,500. ca. 1200        Agemund Fetharing - he owned buildings and land in Canterbury.  If this is the same man as the Agmund Ferthig in Yorkshire, then his name is another mangled form of Farthegn.  A moneyer named Agemund was a mint-master at Canterbury. 1206            Warner the son of Fardein - he was known as one of the "24 principal citizens" of Lincoln.  Although Warner has a Norman name, he was most certainly Anglo-Scandinavian.  Very few Normans settled in Lincolnshire and even the leading nobles of English and Danish extraction were left undisturbed by the Conquest.  However, Norman names such as William, Hugh, and Warner became popular with the upper classes. 1206            Hugh Fardhayn son of Warner Fardhayn - he owned property in Lincoln.  "Son of" has been dropped, leaving these men with a true, inherited surname. 1219            William Farding - he was listed in the Assize Rolls of Yorkshire.  Reaney and Wilson list Farding as an apparent misspelling of Farthegn. 1226  Roger Farthayn - He sold four houses for 30 silver shillings in the town of Ilchester in Somersetshire. 1227     Walter Fereden - he is listed in Suffolk.  The element Fere- rhymed with where and was pronounced like the modern Norwegian surname Faerden.
Previous Page......Next Page