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Morfari

Discussion of the name

Morfari has been explained as perhaps an ON name (though not one recorded in Scandinavia), originating as a byname meaning ‘traveller to Iceland’ and comparable with the Icelanders’ nickname for themselves, morlandi, which includes the word morr ‘suet’. In the Anglicized form Morfar it is recorded as a surname in thirteenth-century Yorkshire (von Feilitzen 1938: 331; Fellows Jensen 1968: 200). It occurs in DB both as Morfare, preserving something of the Norse pronunciation, and in the more Anglicized form Morfar. The fact that it was the name of more than one person suggests that it was being used as a real personal name, and not as a nickname for someone who had literally travelled to Iceland.

Alecto renders the name Morfari; Phillimore uses Morfari in Yorkshire but Morfar in Cheshire.

Bibliography

Fellows Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Morfare, Morfare

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Morfari

  Phillimore edition: Morfari (Yorks.), Morfar (Cheshire)

  Alecto edition: Morfari

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire	Phil. ref.	Vill	DB Spelling	Holder 1066	Lord 1066	Tenant-in-Chief 1086	1086 Subtenant	Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value	Conf.	Show on Map
Shire Cheshire	Phil. ref. 26,1	Vill Somerford Booths	DB Spelling Morfar	Holder 1066 Morfari 'of Somerford Booths'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Hugh, earl	1086 Subtenant Tezelin Somerford Booths'	Fiscal Value 0.08	1066 Value 0.10	1086 Value 0.07	Confidence -	Map
Shire Yorkshire	Phil. ref. 9W10	Vill Halton	DB Spelling Morfare	Holder 1066 Morfari ‘of Halton’	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Ilbert de Lacy	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 6.00	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 0.10	Confidence -	Map
Shire Yorkshire	Phil. ref. 9W121	Vill Reestones etc.	DB Spelling Morfar	Holder 1066 Morfari ‘of Halton’	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Ilbert de Lacy	1086 Subtenant Ligulf 'of Fairburn'	Fiscal Value 3.00	1066 Value 0.50	1086 Value 0.25	Confidence -	Map
Shire Yorkshire	Phil. ref. 9W124	Vill Beeston	DB Spelling Morfare	Holder 1066 Morfari ‘of Halton’	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Ilbert de Lacy	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 3.00	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence -	Map
Shire Yorkshire	Phil. ref. 9W18	Vill Snitertun	DB Spelling Morfare	Holder 1066 Morfari ‘of Halton’	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Ilbert de Lacy	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 2.00	1066 Value 0.75	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence -	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

People of this name

• Morfari 2 - Morfari ‘of Halton’ (Yorks. WR), fl. 1066
• Morfari 3 - Morfari ‘of Somerford Booths’ (Ches.), fl. 1066