Maxworthy

Recorded in various spellings including Maxworthie, Maxworthy, Mixworthy, Moxworthy, and Muxworthy, this is an English surname. It is locational and apparently originates from a place of the same or similar spelling, to one of the name forms above. Unfortunately we have to been able to find any such place anywhere in the British Isles, which suggests that the spelling over the centuries of either the surname or the village name has changed to the point of no longer being recognizeable, or more likely the name is one of the three thousand or more that are known to originate from now totally "lost" medieval villages. A study of the gazetters going back some three centuries suggests that the derivation may be from the pre 7th century Olde English "Mucels wurt eg" or Mucels home on the island, with Mucel being an early personal name. In the 17th century great areas of England which had previously been marshland, were drained, and many "islands" ceased to exist. Perhaps this was one of them. The surname is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London . These include Elizabeth Maxworthie who married Richard Hull at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on June 20th 1622, and John Muxworthy, who married Elizabeth Fuller, coincidentally at the same church, on April 8th 1781.