Ogbourne

Recorded in several spellings including Ogborne, Ogbourn, and Ogborne, as well as the London area dialectals Hogbourn and Hogburn, this is an English medieval surname. Deriving from the pre 7th century Olde English elements 'ac burna,' and translating as the oaks by the stream, the surname originates from the three villages called Ogbourne, or Ogbourne St Andrew, or Ogbourne St George, all in the county of Wiltshire. Locational surnames were usually given to a person after they left their original home, and moved elsewhere. This was an easy form of identification, but given the largely non existent education, and the thick local dialects of the period, it soon lead to 'sounds like' spellings as in this case. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from early surviving church registers include: Jane Hogbourn who married Edward Shepperd at the famous church of St Mary-le-Bone, London, on December 13th 1672, and William Ogborne, who married Sarah Green, at St George's Chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, on July 1st 1808. Elizabeth Ogborne could be described as almost writing a book called a 'History of Essex', but she died in 1853, with the book unfinished. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter de Okeburne. This was dated 1273, in the registers known as the Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire. This was during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.