Duffield (surname)


Duffield is a surname in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the United States. The surname emerged in the 1300s and is derived from the villages of Duffield in Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

History

Hereditary surnames were first introduced in Britain in baronial families following the Norman Conquest in 1066. The knightly class began to adopt hereditary names in the 1100s, filtering down to most English families by 1400, although their form was still evolving. Around half of English surnames were derived from a location, either a specific village or a topographical feature. Most sources suggest the surname originated from the villages of Duffield in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. In 1891, 27% of Duffields lived in Yorkshire or a neighbouring county, a further 13% lived in Derbyshire or a neighbouring county and 14% lived in Norfolk or a neighbouring county. It is thought that many of the Norfolk Duffields are descended from an immigrant family who took the surname as it was similar sounding to their original surname and it was already established in the area.
Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers during the political and religious discontent in England. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and move to North America bore the name Duffield; e.g., John Duffield, a boy of 14, landed in Virginia, United States, in 1622. Benjamin Duffield made New Jersey his home in 1678. Over the next hundred years, the name Duffield was to be found in Philadelphia and other eastern seaboard cities.
Duffield is ranked the 10,366th most common out of 88,799 surnames in the United States.

Notable people