Owbridge

Recorded in number of dialectal spellings including Oubridge, Owbridge, and Owbrick, this is an English surname. It is locational and derives from the village name of Oughtibridge, a place in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, near the city of Sheffield. The derivation is from an Old English pre 7th century personal name "Uhtred", with "brycg", which is unlikely to have described a bridge as such, but probably referred to a raised causeway above the surrounding marshland. Oughtibridge was first recorded in the Yorkshire Charters of the year 1161 as "Uhtinabrigga". During the Middle Ages, when it became more common for people to migrate from their birthplace, generally to seek work elsewhere, the custom evolved of adopting the village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Amongst the early recordings is the marriage of John Owbrick and Dorothie Harrison at Scarborough Parish Church, on November 13th 1662, and the christening of John Oubridge on February 6th 1797, the chuurch of St. John and St. Martin, Beverley, East Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of Jervase Oubrigge who married Anne Rayly at Cherry Burton, Yorkshire, on May 3rd 1650, during the "reign" of Oliver Cromwell, 1649 - 1658. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.