MOLESWORTH
Molesworth is an English surname that originated as a locational name from a settlement in Cambridgeshire, formerly part of Huntingdonshire. The name is formed from the Old English element mol, meaning “hill”, and worth, meaning “enclosure” or “settlement”, so that the original meaning was “the settlement on the hill”.
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the place is recorded as Molesworde, and it reappears in the 1234 poll tax rolls as Mulesworth. Both spellings are understood to mean “Mul’s enclosure”, with Mul an Old English personal name recorded before the seventh century.
The earliest surviving reference to the surname is the entry of John de Molesworthe in the Huntingdonshire Hundred Rolls of 1273, during the reign of Edward I. An earlier use appears in the Pipe Rolls of Cornwall in 1184, where a tax payer is recorded as Sire Mulewroth. Throughout the Middle Ages the spelling of the name varied, with forms such as Mollsworth, Molsworth and Moylesworth appearing in contemporary records.
Notable bearers of the name include Richard, third Viscount Molesworth (1680–1758), who served in Marlborough’s army at Blenheim and at Ramillies and was elevated to the rank of field marshall in 1757. The nineteenth‑century writer Mary Louisa Molesworth and the New Zealander farmer, parliamentarian and diarist William Molesworth also carry the surname.
In modern times Molesworth is primarily found in England, especially in Cornwall, Devon, Essex and Lincolnshire, and throughout the islands of the British Isles, including Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Emigration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has spread the name to the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, where many descendants trace their ancestry to British settlers of the nineteenth century.
The surname has Irish variants such as Molleworth, Molworth and Mullaworta, which are thought to derive from an Old Irish compound combining maol “lord or devotee” and gearna “earthen mound”. Other related surnames, for example Moleswood and Milanworth, share common Old English elements but are considered distinct lines of descent.
Overall Molesworth remains an uncommon but historically important British surname, whose survival in records from the twelfth century onward provides a clear link to the early medieval origins of English place‑name surnames.
Typical given names associated with the Molesworth surname
Male
- Anthony
- Benjamin
- David
- Ian
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
- William
Female
- Amy
- Anna
- Anne
- Annette
- Caroline
- Emma
- Hayley
- Helen
- Margaret
- Naomi
- Samantha
- Susan
- Zoe
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 Molesworth in...
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There are approximately 347 people named Molesworth in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around five in a million people in Britain are named Molesworth.
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 Molesworth
- Mary Louisa Molesworth - Writer of children's stories (1839 to 1921)
- Corinne Molesworth - Tennis player
- William Molesworth - Flying ace (1894 to 1955)
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.