SHIPMAN
Shipman is a surname of English origin, belonging to the class of occupational names that were originally ascribed to individuals based on their livelihood. The name is derived from the Middle English word shipman, which signified a sailor or a person who worked on a vessel. In this sense the surname marks a relationship with maritime activities such as sailing, navigation, or the management of ships, and was applied to those who served as seamen, helmsmen, or even ship‑masters and owners.
In addition to the maritime sense, another traditional explanation holds that the surname could have arisen from a shepherd occupation. The pre‑7th century word sceap, meaning sheep, combined with man, produced an occupational type corresponding to a herder. Early documents record individuals such as Richard le Schepman of Hertfordshire in 1316, who is thought to have been a shepherd, and Adam le Schepman of Essex in the same year, whose profession may have been either that of a shepherd or that of a seaman, since the word sceap evolved in some dialects into the Middle English ship.
Recorded spellings of the name include Shipman, Shippam, Shipham and, in earlier times, forms such as Scipman or Schepman. The earliest extant reference is that of Hubert Scipman, dated 1221 in the Pipe Rolls of Huntingdonshire during the reign of King Henry III. Subsequent surviving entries include William Scipman of Somerset, who drowned from a boat in 1243, and William Shipman in the Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire in 1379. In the early modern period the name appears again in Emigration records, for example William Shipman (22 years old) who left London in 1635 aboard the Speedwell bound for Virginia.
The heraldic device associated with the Shipman family is described as a red shield with three black pellets on a silver bend, and six gold estoiles above. The crest is depicted as a silver leopard, spotted with black, resting its dexter paw on a blue ship's rudder. The blazon of this coat of arms is recorded in the Garter Heraldic Grant of Arms of 1662.
In contemporary statistics the surname Shipman remains widespread across the Anglophone world. In the United Kingdom it is most common in the London area, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire; according to the website Forebears it ranks among the top one‑thousand surnames with an estimated 8 139 bearers. In Canada the name is the 590th most common surname, with 8 109 individuals registered. In the United States it appears as the 803rd most frequent surname, totalling just over 23 000 people, with a concentration in states such as Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Texas. In Australia the name is present in roughly 3 179 households, predominantly in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, while in New Zealand it is held by an estimated 558 people, primarily in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Variant spellings that have appeared in the historical record include Shipmann, Shippman, Shippmann and the Dutch scheepman, deriving from the Dutch word for ship. Less common alterations such as Schipman, Shypman, Shypmann, and some spellings that omit the inner p have also been documented. Shipman falls into the broader category of patronymic surnames – those that arose from the occupation or the father's name – and is related to surnames such as Spicer, Shuter, Soper, Smith, Fletcher, Shoemaker and Shepherd.
Typical given names associated with the Shipman surname
Male
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Jonathan
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Alison
- Britt
- Claire
- Emma
- Helen
- Julie
- Karen
- Linda
- Lorraine
- Margaret
- Michelle
- 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 Shipman in...
Braille
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Semaphore
There are approximately 1,989 people named Shipman in the UK. That makes it roughly the 4,236th most common surname in Britain. Around 31 in a million people in Britain are named Shipman.
Surname type: Occupational name
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Shipman
- Harold Shipman - Doctor and serial killer (1946 to 2004)
- Tim Shipman -
- David Shipman - Writer (1932 to 1996)
- Bill Shipman - Cricketer (1886 to 1943)
- Alan Shipman - Cricketer (1901 to 1979)
- Mark Shipman - Diver
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.