FEILD
Feild is an English surname that originates from the Middle English word feld, meaning an open expanse of land or a field. It is primarily a topographic name, used for individuals who lived or worked in such open country or who cultivated or owned fields.
Historical evidence places the surname back to the late twelfth century. The earliest surviving reference appears in the Knights Templars Records of Gloucestershire, where Robert de Felde is dated 1185, during the reign of King Henry XI, known as the Builder of Churches. Subsequent entries in the same era include Hugo de la Felde of Bedfordshire in 1188, John del Feld of Suffolk in 1190, and James atte Felde in Sussex in 1296, as recorded in the Subsidy Rolls. These attestations demonstrate a widespread use of the name across parts of England in its formative years.
In addition to the original form, the surname has appeared in a number of orthographic variants. Commonly encountered spellings include Fyeld, Feild, Field, Fields, de la Feld, and Delafield. Such variation reflects the absence of standardised spelling conventions in Middle English and the phonetic rendering of the name in different dialects.
The London Church Records provide further examples of the surname’s prevalence in the early modern period. An entry from 1546 records George Henrick marrying Margarett Feilde at St. Martin Orgar, and a later entry from 1586 lists William Field marrying Agnes Smith in Stepney. These parish accounts illustrate the surname’s persistence in urban settings.
A prominent individual bearing the surname is Nathaniel Field (1587 – 1633), an actor and dramatist of the early seventeenth century. Field performed in plays by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson and achieved such renown that his name was employed as a metonym for an exceptional actor in Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair (1614).
While the surname Feild remains relatively uncommon today, it is found across the British Isles and in countries associated with the British diaspora, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite its rarity, all contemporary forms of the name are generally regarded as deriving from the same Old English root.
Typical given names associated with the Feild surname
Male
- Dean
- John
- Robin
- Stephen
Female
- Jane
- Joan
- Sarah
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 Feild in...
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Morse
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There are approximately 59 people named Feild in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around one in a million people in Britain are named Feild.
Famous people named Feild
- JJ Feild - Anglo-American actor
- Reshad Feild - Musician (1934 to 2016)
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.