BENFIELD
Benfield is a surname of English origin that belongs to the class of locational names. Its earliest attestations trace it to the British Isles, specifically to England, where it is associated with the Christian culture that predominated in the medieval period.
The name is formed from the Old English words benn, meaning “bean”, and feld, meaning “field”. It therefore describes a person who lived near or cultivated a field of beans. Such agrarian descriptors were common in the toponymic naming system of early medieval England.
Although the surname is predominantly English, it also reflects a Norman‑French heritage that was introduced during the Conquest of 1066. Early variants recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries include Bondavilla, Bonneville and their linguistic descendants. The place of origin for these early bearers appears to be a Normandy village called Bonneville, literally “good place”, there being several such villages near Rouen. In England the surname was first documented in 1131 when Richard de Bondavilla is recorded as a landholder in County Durham. It reappears in the Pipe Rolls of 1197 in Yorkshire under the form Robert de Bonneville, signalling the name’s continued presence in the north of England.
Over the following centuries the spelling of the surname evolved under the influence of local dialects and the absence of standardised orthography. The surviving church registers of London provide a sample of this evolution: Richard Bonfelt appears in 1537 at St. James, Garlickhythe; Edward Bonnfild is recorded in 1589 at St. Katherine’s by the Tower; Edwarde Benforde is listed as a witnessing christener in 1591 at St. Mary, Somerset; and Thomas Bonfield marries Ann Wood in 1602 at St. James, Clerkenwell. These variations—Benfield, Benfold, Benford, Bondfield, Bomfield, Bonfield and Bonnfield—illustrate the fluid nature of medieval surname standardisation.
In contemporary usage the surname Benfield remains relatively rare, with its principal concentrations in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its distribution reflects the historical migration patterns of English emigrants, who carried the name abroad while the domestic frequency has not increased significantly in recent centuries.
Typical given names associated with the Benfield surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Christopher
- David
- Geoffrey
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Philip
Female
- Anne
- Annie
- Caroline
- Christine
- Emma
- Janice
- Linda
- Louise
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Sharon
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Benfield in...
Braille
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Morse
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Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Benfield are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Dark Chocolate Hobnob.
There are approximately 1,933 people named Benfield in the UK. That makes it roughly the 4,333rd most common surname in Britain. Around 30 in a million people in Britain are named Benfield.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Benfield
- Derek Benfield - Actor and playwright (1926 to 2009)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.