Origin of Riche

 

Search for another Origin Surname

The Family Facts archive, with its rich historical information, can tell you everything from the lifespan of your ancestors to the very meaning of your last name. Every time you find a fact, we'll tell you what it means.

• Riche Origin and Immigration
  • Top Places of Origin for Riche
    You can find out where the majority of Riche families were living before they immigrated to the U.S. You can learn where to focus your search for foreign records.
  • Ports of Departure for Riche
    You can pinpoint where the majority of Riche families booked passage to the US. You can find out where to start searching for Riche records.
  • Riche Immigration to the US by Year
    You can find out when most of the Riche families immigrated to the United States. You can focus your search to immigration records dating from that era.
• Name History and Origin for Riche
  Naming patterns can help you learn more about your family’s cultural and ethnic background. You might find alternate name spellings which are helpful when searching for family records.
• Riche Surname Distribution
  Helpful, as you can decide where to start searching for Riche records. You can also find out where the majority of Riche families were living during the 19th century.
  • Distribution of Riche Families in the US in 1840
  • Distribution of Riche Families in the US in 1880
  • Distribution of Riche Families in the US in 1920
  • Distribution of Riche Families in England and Wales in 1891

Origin of Riche Total Records: 1  Origin of Riche, Meaning of Riche Origin: Our name itself, appears to be British, but it is difficult to pronounce with any certainty as to its origin. Surnames are said to date from about the year 1000, beginning in Normandy and gradually extending over England. (They are however occasionally met with among the Anglo-Saxons, before the Conquest.) Under the Feudal System, the Barons and those under them took for their surnames, the names of their holdings. "There is not a village in Normandy, that has not surnamed some family in England." Of course, too, the place where a man lived (apart from ownership) often furnished him with a surname. Lower, in his "Patronymica Britannica" (about 1849) gives, - "Partridge - possibility from the bird, but more likely from some locality terminating in 'ridge'." And Barber (writing in 1894) in "British Family Names" gives, - "Partridge - from Pettridge, a local name in Kent." (This place, I find is a hamlet in Brenchley parish, Kent, and six and a half miles South-East of Tunbridge.) It must be remembered that our name is found spelt in some fourteen different ways. - " Partridge, Partrige, Partrydge, Partarridge, Parteredge, Partric, Patridge, Pattridge, Partrich, Partriche, Patriche, Patreche, Pertriche, and P'tereche," - as during mediaeval times writers spelt by the ear alone, and often varied the same word in the same manuscript. Many surnames were derived from natural objects (such as birds, etc.,) and were given:- (1) As emblematical of the bearer's character (as Lion, Lamb, Hawk, etc.). Thus "Partridge" might have been given meaning bright-eyed, alert or neat in figure, etc., etc. (2) As nicknames in allusion to some incident, etc., etc. (3) Borrowed from bearer's Arms. (4) The majority from the signs of inns and traders, as in old days all shopkeepers used signs, as the streets were not then numbered; such signs were usually connected with the trade carried on, but not necessarily, as we read of a Goldsmith with a rose as his sign, etc., etc. Our surname is not mentioned in Doomsday Book, nor is Wishanger. In the grant of Maldon to our earliest Ancestor (as we suppose) he is designated "Richard Partrige the Norman," also given as "Partric a Norman," and as this was about 1154, these constitute the earliest forms of spelling our name, yet discovered. Among books, the earliest in which I find it, is "Rotuli Hundredorum" (The Rolls of the Hundreds), dated about 1272, and here it is spelt in two different ways - "Pertriche" and "Partrich." This book gives particulars of "all demesne and lands of the Crown, Manors, etc., etc., - oppressions of the Nobility, Clergy, and other great men, - exactions of Sheriffs, etc., etc." (Wishanger is not mentioned.) The earliest spelling in the "Heralds Visitations" is "Partriche," date 1561. Perhaps it is fairly safe to assume that our name is derived from a place, presumably Pettridge in Kent, the County adjoining Essex, in which is Maldon, where our name is first met with. The said place had doubtless belonged to a Norman called Richard, hence his name of "Richard (of) Pettridge" or "Partridge, the Norman." It must be remembered that among the Conqueror's so-called "Normans" were many Bretons and Flemings. To-day there are two spellings in use. Mr. Julius Partridge and others descended from the main Wishanger ...... the name without the "d" (see his own ...... On the other hand, the Bishopswood .... my own branch, together with the Hockham Hall, Horsendon House and Norfolk and Suffolk families have for generations used the "d." Both forms therefore appear justified; but personally I prefer the "d" as I think the name is stronger and ..; also, if it be derived from Pettridge in Kent as suggested above the "d" is clearly allowable. Surnames: Partridge, Patridge, Pardridge, Parttridge, Pattridge, Partriche, Partrich Submitted by: 12/5/2008 1:13 AM Page 1 of 1

Genealogy Books
French Canadian Sources
Hidden Sources
Red Book
Guidebook of American Genealogy

Genealogy Programs
Clooz
Family Tree Maker Version 16
GenSmarts
Passage Express
Telling Stories