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Thoars Coat of Arms / Thoars Family CrestThis surname of THOARS was originally derived from the Old Norman personal name THORIR, from THORR, the name of the God of Thunder. The name is also spelt THOAR, THORE, THORR, THOR and THORES. The name was in Scotland at an early date, and sometime before 1105 King Eadgar bestowed upon THOR LONGUS 'the long land of Aedenham' (now Ednam), who by his own money cultivated and settled it, built a church and gave it, and land to the monks of St. Cuthbert. Another record includes THOR SWAN, an ancestor of an old family of Ruthven, who appears between 1130 and 1150 as a charter witness and a donor of the church of Tranent to the Abbey of Holyrood. THOR the archdeacon was a charter witness circa 1150. The first people in Scotland to acquire fixed surnames were the nobles and great landowners, who called themselves, or were called by others, after the lands they possessed. Surnames originating in this way are known as territorial. Formerly lords of baronies and regalities and farmers were inclined to magnify their importance and to sign letters and documents with the names of their baronies and farms instead of their Christian names and surnames. The abuse of this style of speech and writing was carried so far that an Act was passed in the Scots parliament in 1672 forbidding the practice and declaring that it was allowed only to noblemen and bishops to subscribe by their titles. Later instances of the name include Willelmus THORE, who was a witness to several royal charters circa. 1200, and Stephen filius THOR witnessed a document concerning the lands of Cnoc in Renfrew. Adam THORE was the burgess of Edinburgh in 1380. It was not until the 10th century that modern hereditary surnames first developed, and the use of fixed names spread, first to France, and then England, then to Germany and all of Europe. In these parts of Europe, the individual man was becoming more important, commerce was increasing and the exact identification of each man was becoming a necessity. Even today however, the Church does not recognise surnames. Baptisms and marriages are performed through use of the Christian name alone. Thus hereditary names as we know them today developed gradually during the 11th to the 15th century in the various European countries. |
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