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  Hopwood Coat of Arms / Hopwood Family CrestThe surname of HOPWOOD is of the locational group of surnames, meaning one who came from HOPWELL, a spot in County Derbyshire. The name was originally derived from the Old English word 'HOPUWOODE' literally meaning the dweller by the stream in a wood. The earliest record of the name appears to be OPEUUELLE, listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name appears as HOPWOOD in Derbyshire in 1242. It could also occasionally been used of a man with a hopeful disposition. Families acquired a place name as a surname under three different sets of circumstances. Either the man lived or worked in, on or near some topographic formation or landscape feature, either natural or artificial or he formerly lived in a village, town or city and acquired the reputation of being from that place. Finally he owned or was lord of the village or manor designated. In the overwhelming majority of cases it is impossible to say whether a remote ancestor owned the manor or had merely once lived in that place. However, it is safe to say that in most cases a manor or village name merely identifies the place where the original bearer of the name formerly resided. Later instances of the name include Hopewel Foxe, who was documented in County Gloucestershire in the year 1662, and Hopewell Voicings was recorded in Tetbury, Gloucestershire in 1720. The rise of surnames, according to the accepted theory, was due to the Norman Conquest of 1066 when Old English personal-names were rapidly superseded by the new christian names introduced by the Normans. Of these, only a few were really popular and in the 12th century this scarcity of christian names led to the increasing use of surnames to distinguish the numerous individuals of the same name. Some Normans had hereditary surnames before they came to England, but there is evidence that surnames would have developed in England even had there been no Norman Conquest. The development of the feudal system made it essential that the king should know exactly what service each person owed. Payments to and by the exchequer required that debtors and creditors should be particularized, and it became official that each individual acquired exact identification. The associated coat of arms is recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. |
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