OLDFIELD
Recorded variant spellings include Old Field
Oldfield is a surname of English origin that derives from the Old English words eald, meaning “old,” and feld, meaning “field” or “open country.” As a locational name it indicates that the earliest bearer lived near an old field or worked on a plot of arable land that had become disused or fellow. In some instances it was given to an owner or tenant farmer who managed such land, thereby rendering the name an occupational identifier as well as a topographic one.
The surname is attested as early as the first half of the thirteenth century. The earliest surviving record is of Agnes de Aldefeld, dated 1221 in the Ely Diocesan Registry in Suffolk during the reign of Henry I. Further early occurrences include Adam del Oldefeld in the 1297 Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire, Ricardus de Oldefelde in the 1315 Hundred Rolls of Gloucestershire, and John del Oldefeld in the 1438 rolls of Cheshire. These records demonstrate that the name was already firmly established across a range of English counties by the mid‑fourteenth century.
Place names such as Oldfield in Yorkshire, Worcestershire and Cheshire, as well as Allfield in Shropshire and Alfell Farm in Elmstead, Essex, share the same linguistic ancestry. The grouping of Oldfield, Offield, Allfield and Ofield is therefore based on a common etymological core rather than on distinct family lineages.
Variants of the surname that appear in historical documents include Oldefeld, Oldefild, Oldefilde, Oldfild, Oldefelde, Oldfielde, Oldifeld, Oldifild, Oldifield and Oldiphild. Related forms such as Oldenfield, Oltfield and Oldfell retain the same meaning but originated in different regions. Occasionally the name has been used as a first or middle name, as in the examples of Oldfield Abraham and Oldfield Long, indicating a strong familial identification with the surname.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Oldfield surname bearers were recorded most densely in South and West Yorkshire, where it ranked among the top one hundred surnames. It also appears in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, and smaller pockets of the East Midlands. Beyond England, the name spread to Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where it remains common in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. In comparison, the surname was comparatively rare in the United States; the exact origins of the first American Oldfields remain undocumented.
In heraldic tradition a family of the name from Chester was granted a coat of arms consisting of a silver shield with a red bend bearing three crosses pattee fitchee. The crest features a demi wivern emerging from a gold ducal coronet, wings displayed silver, and the motto “In cruce vincam.” The motto translates as “I shall conquer in the cross.” This grant evidences the historical prominence of at least one Oldfield lineage within the gentry of England.
Thus the Oldfield surname is firmly rooted in the linguistic and social history of England, originating from a geographic descriptor that evolved into a common family name across multiple regions and into the wider world through migration.
Typical given names associated with the Oldfield surname
Male
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Simon
- Stephen
Female
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jane
- Jean
- Joan
- Karen
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- 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 Oldfield in...
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Morse
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There are approximately 7,618 people named Oldfield in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,237th most common surname in Britain. Around 117 in a million people in Britain are named Oldfield.
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 Oldfield
- Mike Oldfield - Musician, multi-instrumentalist
- Sally Oldfield - Irish singer-songwriter
- Maurice Oldfield - Chief of the SIS (1915 to 1981)
- Bruce Oldfield - Fashion designer
- Terry Oldfield - Composer
- Jenny Oldfield - Children's writer
- Finnegan Oldfield - Actor
- Jack Oldfield - Politician (1899 to 1999)
- Buddy Oldfield - Cricketer (1911 to 1996)
- Ted Oldfield - Football player (1918 to 1)
- Francis du Pré Oldfield - (1869 to 1928)
- Craig Oldfield - Football player
- Alun Oldfield-Davies - Broadcaster and public servant (1905 to 1988)
- Lucy Oldfield - Chemist and scientific glassblower (1925 to 1989)
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.