What Surname Sources Say About The Farthing Surname



The following sources believe that the Old Norse personal name Farthegn (Old Danish Farthin) which means "Traveled Thegn" survives to this day as the modern English surname Farthing :


British Family Names, Their Origin and Meaning, by Rev. Henry Barbor.  Barbor implies that there is only one possible origin of the Farthing surname:  "a traveller Thane".

Surnames As A Science, by Robert Ferguson.  In his Addenda he states that the Farthing surname is derived from Farthegn meaning "traveled thegn" or "traveled soldier".

Surnames of the United Kingdom, by Henry Harrison.  Harrison believed that the Farthing surname is derived from the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Faerthegn from Old English faer, travel + theg(e)n, thane, warrior.

Old English Bynames, by Gosta Tengvik.  Tengvik states that the surname Farthing is derived from the Old West Scandinavian Farthegn, Old Danish Farthin, and Old Swedish Farthaegn, all meaning traveled thegn.

A Dictionary of English Surnames, by P.H. Reaney and R.M. Wilson.  In his introduction Reaney states that the Scandinavian personal name Farthegn survives to this day as the surname Farthing.  In the definition section he lists some of the forms of the Scandinavian personal name from which Farthing is derived.

A Dictionary of Surnames, by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges.  The authors' third choice of origins states that the Farthing surname is derived from the Old Norse personal name Farthegn which is composed of the elements fara to go + thegn warrior, hero.

The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, by Basil Cottle.  Cottle's third choice again states that the surname Farthing is derived from the Old Norse personal name Farthegn.

Historia Et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestrle, edited by William Henry Hart. In 1867, Hart showed the surname Farthing to be derived from "Farthein".

Surnames, by Ernest Weekley. In 1916 Weekley wrote: "It is not impossible that our homely Farthing may sometimes derive from Faerthegn."