SAINSBURY
Sainsbury is a surname of English origin. It is traditionally understood to be a locational name, derived from a place called Saintbury near Broadway in Gloucestershire.
The place name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Svineberie; it appears in later legal rolls as Seinesbir' in 1203 and as Seineburia in 1220. The element burg or burh means fort, often a fortified manor or town, while the first part is linked to the Anglo‑Saxon personal name Saewine. The name Saewine is composed of the elements sae (sea) and wine (friend). In medieval usage locational surnames were typically adopted by lords of the manor and local landowners, and were a convenient way of identifying those who had moved away from their birthplace.
The first recorded spelling of the family name was that of Reginald de Seinesberia, dated 1190 in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, during the reign of King Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart. Subsequent spellings include Saintsbury, Sainsbury, Sainsberry and Sinisbury, reflecting variations in pronunciation and spelling across the centuries. Church register entries from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries provide further evidence of the name’s presence in Wiltshire and London; for example, the marriage of William Sainsbury and Agnes Janson at Bratton, Wiltshire, on 27 October 1592, and that of John Sainsbury and Elizabeth Manings at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, on 22 November 1607.
While the name is relatively rare, it is most commonly found in the south‑west of England. The family’s coat of arms, recognized by heraldic records, features six red estoiles on a silver shield.
In contemporary Britain the surname is still best known through the Sainsbury family who founded the largest supermarket chain taking their name. The continued use of Sainsbury in this context underlines the lasting legacy of the name within English society.
Typical given names associated with the Sainsbury surname
Male
- Andrew
- Chris
- Christopher
- Darren
- David
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Amanda
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jacqueline
- Janet
- Lisa
- Maggy
- Margaret
- 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 Sainsbury in...
Braille
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Morse
....-..-....-.....-.-.-.--
Semaphore
There are approximately 2,819 people named Sainsbury in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,167th most common surname in Britain. Around 43 in a million people in Britain are named Sainsbury.
Famous people named Sainsbury
- David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville - Baron
- John James Sainsbury - Founder of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain (1844 to 1928)
- John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover - Businessman
- Alan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury - Business executive (1902 to 1998)
- Tim Sainsbury - Politician
- Robert Sainsbury - Businessperson (1906 to 2000)
- Simon Sainsbury - Philanthropist (1930 to 2006)
- Peter Sainsbury - Cricketer (1934 to 2014)
- Gary Sainsbury - Cricketer
- John Sainsbury - Cricketer (1927 to 2004)
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.