Aldersey

Recorded as Aldersea and Aldersey, this is an English surname. It is locational from a village called Aldersey in the county of Cheshire, seven miles from the county town of Chester. The place name is first recorded in the year 1212 as Aldrisey, and later in 1289 as Alderisey. The meaning of the name is given by the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names as the 'River land belonging to Aldere', possibly an early Anglo-Saxon chief. However later research suggests that the meaning may well be that of Alder Island, or the place where alder trees grew. Locational surnames are 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes for whatever reason, to move somewhere else. The easiest way to identify these 'strangers' was to call them by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best indifferent, and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. The name is recorded in the Wills Record held at the city of Chetser, with Ralph Aldersey, being given as an alderman of the city. He appeared there in 1555, in the reign of Mary 1st of England, known to history as 'Bloody Mary'.