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Rediford Coat of Arms / Rediford Family CrestThe surname of REDIFORD was a locational name 'of Radford', villages and hamlets in Counties Nottingham and Warwichshire. Radford originated in County Nottingham, and spread over the border into Derbyshire and hence to Cheshire and Lancashire. Local surnames, by far the largest group, derived from a place name where the man held land or from the place from which he had come, or where he actually lived. These local surnames were originally preceded by a preposition such as "de", "atte", "by" or "in". The names may derive from a manor held, from working in a religious dwelling or from literally living by a wood or marsh or by a stream. Following the Crusades in Europe a need was felt for a family name. This was recognized by those of noble blood, who realised the prestige and practical advantage it would add to their status. Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name. Early record of the name mention Ralph de Radeford of the County of Oxfordshire in 1273. Serlo de Radeford of the County of Nottinghamshire in 1273. John de Raddeford of the County of Somerset in 1327. Ralph Radford of County Chester, tanner, in 1595. The earliest French hereditary surnames are found in the 12th century, at more or less the same time as they arose in England, but they are by no means common before the 13th century, and it was not until the 15th century that they stabilized to any great extent; before then a surname might be handed down for two or three generations, but then abandoned in favour of another. In the south, many French surnames have come in from Italy over the centuries, and in Northern France, Germanic influence can often be detected. |
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