GARFIELD
Garfield is a surname of English origin, which is regarded as a locational name derived from the Old English elements gar meaning ‘spear’ and feld meaning ‘field’. The combination suggests that the original bearer of the name once resided near a field in which spears were either manufactured or used for training.
The term gar in the Anglo‑Saxon lexicon can also signify a triangular piece of land, analogous to the shape of a spearhead. Consequently, Garfield may originally have referred to a person dwelling by such a triangular field which, after the layout of rectangular furlongs, was left at the corner of an open field. This topographical usage was common in the pre‑seven‑century period of the Old English language.
Historical records show that a place named Garfield was lost from the maps of Great Britain sometime in the fourteenth century. The disappearance of the village, presumably attributable to the widespread clearing of land for sheep pasture, led to the vanishing of the placename from any existing local reference. The earliest extant example of the surname is found in the christening entry of Josef Garfeilde dated June 1581 at All Hallows the Less, London, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Later that same century, on 12 August 1598, Jone Garfield married Thomas Chesseman at St. Nicholas, Deptford.
In contemporary society, Garfield is also familiar through its association with a popular cartoon cat character created by Jim Davis. While the comic strip origin is a modern invention, its shared surname has produced a recognition that surpasses the purely genealogical understanding.
Overall, the Garfield surname remains a testament to the linguistic and agricultural heritage of the English people, echoing the history of a vanished place and the land practices that once shaped the rural landscape of the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Garfield surname
Male
- Alan
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Simon
Female
- Ann
- Claire
- Deborah
- Diane
- Dorothy
- Helen
- Joanne
- Julie
- Linda
- Louise
- Mary
- Melanie
- Sarah
- Suzanne
- Yvonne
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 Garfield in...
Braille
⠛⠁⠗⠋⠊⠑⠇⠙
Morse
--..-.-...-.....-..-..
Semaphore
There are approximately 1,479 people named Garfield in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,419th most common surname in Britain. Around 23 in a million people in Britain are named Garfield.
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 Garfield
- Andrew Garfield - -American actor
- Henry Lawrence Garfield - American singer-songwriter
- James A. Garfield - American politician, 20th President of the United States (1831 to 1881)
- Liv Garfield - Businessman
- Leon Garfield - Children's writer (1921 to 1996)
- Simon Garfield - Journalist
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.