Origin of the Name Worsfold

WORSFOLD: of uncertain origin, probably a habitation name from an unidentified place. The first known bearer of this name is Robert WERSFELDE (died 1522) of Abynworth in the parish of Abinger in Surrey. It is still mainly confined to Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Variation: WORSFIELD. 

From "A Dictionary Of Surnames" Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges. 
Oxford 1988. 

Alan Worsfold through  many years of his research has found that the name could originate have originated from Vorsfelde which is a village near Wolfsberg in Germany. There is a slight possibility that a Jordan Von (from) Versfelde was brought to England by Edward IV as a mercenary soldier to fight in the War of the Roses at Bosworth Field (1485) as the family 
then disappears from the Wolfenbuttel archives.

ooOOOoo

Graham Worsfold recently contributed his understanding that the Jordan Von Vorsfelde mentioned above as being the origin of the "Worsfold" name.

" He was granted some land in Sussex after the war ended, hence why there is such a large concentration of Worsfolds in Sussex & Surrey.

My uncle Colin Worsfold (in Cobham) has been doing some research and has actually been to the town of Vorsfelde. The mayor made him very welcome, and they still had the records of Jordan actually leaving there to fight at Bosworth! My uncle was also given a flag of the town, which is of a black "Rampant Boar", on a green & white background. Also, there is a farm called "Jordan's farm" which dates back to the same period as our ancestor, and my uncle has very strong reason to believe that this could be where our ancestor settled down."

GO TO

Home

Name Distribution

Researchers

Name Origin

Heraldry

Link Pages

War Dead

Family History Society

Three Generations

Strays

GRO Index & IGI

Email List

Look-Up Offers