TREE
Tree is an English surname whose etymology can be traced back to the Old English word treow, meaning “tree”. The name is therefore a topographic surname, commonly attributed to a person who lived in the vicinity of a conspicuous tree or who was associated with trees in some professional capacity. In some instances it may have also served as a nickname for an individual who was considered tall, strong, or who bore a tree‑like appearance.
Historical records show that the surname appears in a number of variants, including Trace, Traice, Trase, Trass, Tree, Treece, Trees and Trosse. The earliest documented use dates to the 14th century, with a contemporaneous entry of Henry en le Tres in the Derbyshire Subsidy Rolls of 1327 and the name John del Trees appearing in the Yorkshire Poll Tax rolls of 1379. A later christening record from St Andrews Undershaft in London documents an individual named Richard Trace in 1579, while a colonial record from 1619 indicates that a man named Richard Tree was among the first settlers in the Virginia colony.
The concentration of early records in Derbyshire and Yorkshire is consistent with the local geography of the time, where moorland was common and natural tree cover was relatively scarce. In such an environment a solitary tree could serve as a noteworthy landmark, often used as a parish or county boundary marker, or as a gathering place for local courts and councils. Consequently the surname Tree would have identified a person residing near such a landmark.
The surviving registers of the Diocese of Greater London contain many instances of the surname in all its variations from medieval through the 19th century, demonstrating that the spelling of the name continued to fluctuate during that period. The persistence of rare forms such as Traice, Trase, Trass and Trosse into the 1800s attests to the continued, though irregular, use of alternative orthographies.
In summary, the surname Tree has a clear and well‑documented heritage in England, firmly grounded in its Old English linguistic roots, its geographic and social function as a topographic identifier, and its recorded presence from the early medieval period through the early modern era and beyond.
Typical given names associated with the Tree surname
Male
- Alex
- Anthony
- Barry
- Christopher
- Daniel
- David
- John
- Jonathan
- Michael
- Philip
- Richard
- Simon
- Stephen
- Wayne
Female
- Barbara
- Carol
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jennifer
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- 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 Tree in...
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There are approximately 1,385 people named Tree in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,715th most common surname in Britain. Around 21 in a million people in Britain are named Tree.
Famous people named Tree
- Penelope Tree - Model, philanthropist, and muse
- Herbert Beerbohm Tree - Actor and theatre manager (1852 to 1917)
- Ronald Tree - Politician (1897 to 1976)
- David Tree - Actor (1915 to 2009)
- Iris Tree - Artists' model, poet (1897 to 1968)
- Viola Tree - Actor-singer (1884 to 1938)
- Lady Anne Tree - (1927 to 2010)
- Ron Tree - Singer
- Dolly Tree - Actress (1899 to 1962)
- Matthew Tree - Writer
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.