BOTTOMLEY
Bottomley is an English locational surname which derives from the Old English words botm meaning “bottom” and leah meaning “woodland” or “clearing”. The name indicates that the original bearers were inhabitants of a bottom or valley, most commonly in the Yorkshire region of England.
The surname is historically associated with the place called Bottomley near Halifax in West Yorkshire. The placename means “the wood or glade in the broad valley”, a meaning preserved in the original Old English pre‑7th century word botm and the suffix leah. Locational surnames such as Bottomley were often applied to the lord of a manor or to former inhabitants who migrated to another area and were most easily identified by the name of their birthplace.
The earliest surviving spelling of the name is that of Hanne de Bothemley, recorded in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield in 1277 during the reign of King Edward I, known as “The Hammer of the Scots”. Subsequent attestations include Johannes de Bodhomlay in 1379, Peter Botumley in 1524, and Margaret Bothomley in 1589. A notable marriage took place at Elland on 15 February 1601 when Samuel Bottomley joined with Dorothy Crossley.
A coat of arms was granted to the Bottomley family of Halifax, Yorkshire. The escutcheon is gold, with a red pile between two bees volant in base proper, and a lion rampant of the field. The crest features an Angola goat in front of a palm tree, proper, resting its dexter foot upon a red escutcheon charged with a gold shuttle palewise. The family motto is “Fideli certa merces”, which translates as “To be faithful there is a certain reward”.
Variations of the surname include Bottomly and Bottomlee, and the name remains fairly common in Yorkshire today. The surname’s origin, historical records and heraldic details establish it as a distinctly English, pastoral and locational family name with deep roots in the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Bottomley surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Stephen
Female
- Ann
- Deborah
- Emma
- Helen
- Jane
- Joan
- Julie
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
- Virginia
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 Bottomley in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 5,592 people named Bottomley in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,692nd most common surname in Britain. Around 86 in a million people in Britain are named Bottomley.
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 Bottomley
- Christine Bottomley - Actress
- Virginia Bottomley - Politician
- Horatio Bottomley - Financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament (1860 to 1933)
- Gordon Bottomley - Poet (1874 to 1948)
- Arthur Bottomley - Politician (1907 to 1995)
- Norman Bottomley - Air Chief Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command (1891 to 1970)
- James Bottomley - Diplomat (1920 to 2013)
- Thomas Bottomley - Cricketer (1910 to 1977)
- Paul Bottomley - Professional football player
- Steven Bottomley - Golfer
- Roland Bottomley - Actor (1880 to 1947)
- Samuel Bottomley -
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.