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Archiver > SAMPSON > 2000-04 > 0955377395


From: wayne< >
Subject: [SAMPSON] Re: [SAMPSON Surname]
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 09:36:35 -0500


The Sampson Surname Origins


There are so many legends , but for the most part we got the name Sampson as
a result of some immigration clerk or other public official, whether tax
collector, a clergyman recording a birth or christening, etc., recording
that we were William, or Thomas or John, the son of Sam or Sam's son or just
Samson, and later Sampson. And we indeed find that there are Sam(p)sons
from all ethnic backgrounds and almost every country. The use of surnames
is a relatively recent invention. For many centuries a person had a name
and for clarification sometimes their place or birth, their occupation or
parentage was added. In the reign of Edward IV of England an edict was
issued that every person was required to take a surname, anything of their
choosing. However, henceforth and forever, their offspring and descendants
would be required to use that name unless legal permission was granted to
modify or change it. A person could choose to honor their parentage by
assuming a name such as Samson (Sampson), Thompson, Adamson, MacAlpin,
McCubbin, etc. You could choose a name to identify your occupation, such as
Collier (coal miler); Cooper (barrel maker); Wainwright (wagon maker);
Baker, Bacher, Baecher, (baker); Miller or Mueller (miller), Smith or Smyth
or Schmidt (blacksmith); etc. You could choose your place of origin or
birth, such as, England; Ireland; Norse or Norris; and variant forms from
different countries were the Van Horn, Van der Beek, O'Kelley, Von Hoffmann,
Op Gruffudd, etc. So you can't gain much from the name to pin down the
country of origin unless you take clues from the prefix such as "Op"-Wales;
"Van"-perhaps Holland; "Mac"- Scotland; "Mc" -perhaps Ireland or Scotland;
"Von"-Germany or Austria, etc. Then there are colors such as Black, or Brown
or Green, which could have been Swartz or Braun or Gruen. I think by now
you get the picture. Sorry to bore you to this point.

Now back to the Sampson name origin. The story for some of the English,
Scottish, Welsh and Irish Sampsons is as follows:

The name appears in many variant spellings, but this means nothing and there
could be family ties even if the spelling of the name is different. It
appears in the records as Samsone, Sansome, Sanson, Sansum, Samsun, Saunsum,
Sansone, Sammeson, Sampsone Samson and Sampson. The spelling very many
times was a product of the person recording the name, how it was said or
sounded, how it was heard, and most often the phonetic spelling was
recorded. Most often those from the United Kingdom and Ireland were Samson
and Sampson.

The ancestor of the Sampson or Samson family of the British Isles is
believed by some historians to have been Ralph de St. Sampson, Chaplain to
William the Conqueror, who followed that monarch in the Conquest of England,
A.D. 1066. The "de St. Sampson" was the abbey of Saint Samson. The "p" was
later added to the name for emphasis. Ralph de St. Sampson was created
Baron de Donvre and Bishop of Worcester. At this time clerical appointments
(bishops or archbishops) were political appointments and did not require
"unmarried and chaste". Ralph Sampson, bishop of Worcester, had a son
Thomas who became Archbishop of York, second only in rank to the Archbishop
of Canterbury. Thomas Sampson is thought to be the progenitor of most, if
not all, of the Sampson families of Great Britain.

A second theory is that the family is descended from Sir Harlovin Sampson,
who went into England with William the Conqueror and was the son of
"Marmaduke, Lord Sampson". In either event, the family originated within
the Norman French, however, were not french. They were Norman or
"Northmen", of the same stock as the Angles and the Saxons, later
Anglo-Saxon. The Northmen or Normans settled along the coast in what is now
Normandy in France.

The Sampsons who settled in Ireland were most likely from England and those
who settled in Northern Ireland or Ulster, most likely were Scots from the
lowlands, Ayershire, or Dumfries and Galloway. Sorry about the length of
this note. I'm sure many of you will conclude that you already knew this.


Wayne



----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 4:33 AM
Subject: [SAMPSON] Re: SAMPSON-D Digest V00 #18


> In a message dated 4/7/00 12:39:49 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> writes:
>
> << Because "Sampson" has a Jewish
> ring to it, I wondered whether there was a connection with this
migration. >>
> The name 'Sampson' is Norman-French. It begins with a French saint named
> Sampson. A bishop who crossed the Channel with the Conqueror was named
> Sampson. Now, I do not claim that he was the progenitor of the name in
> England--least-wise, not alone!
> Marian in So Cal
>
>
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