Morrow

Recorded in the spellings of Morrow, Morrowe, and Marrow, whilst there are several theories as to the origin of this surname, the facts speak for themselves. It is English, locational, and although well recorded in Ireland it is not of Irish origins. It has been claimed that some of the Irish clan Mac Murrough from Wexford have changed their name to Morrow, and this may be so, but it is also true that many English settlers called Morrow were also recorded in the same region. The famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley claimed that the name originated from a "lost" parish called Morrowe, near Wisbeach, in Lincolnshire, and this is confirmed by the Parish lists of the 17th century. The (village) name translates as "the row of cottages on the moor" from the pre 8th centuy Anglo-Saxon "mor-raw", and the surname is one of at least five thousand British Isles surnames which are believed to derive from lost places, whose only memory today, survives in the surname. "Lost" villages also help to account for the varied spelling forms of a particular name. Early examples of the recordings include Johannes Marowe, in the 1379 Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire, William Marrow, whose will was registered at the city registry, Chester, in 1591, and Umphrey Marrowe, who married Ellyn Todd at St Michaels church, Cornhill, London, in 1567. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Willelmus de Morerawe, which was dated 1379, in the Poll Tax rolls registered at the city of York. This was during the reign of King Richard 11 of England, known by the nickname of "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399.