Stanbra

This long-established name, found chiefly in Devonshire, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving in most instances from Stanborough in that county, although some bearers of the modern surname may have derived from places in Yorkshire (Stainborough and Stanbury), and Hertfordshire (Stanborough). Stanborough in Devonshire is so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "stan", stone, and "beorg", hill, tumulus, while the other places are named with the Olde English "stan", as before, and "burg, burh", fortified place, fort, often used with reference to a Roman or ancient British fort. Locational surnames were acquired especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Regional dialectal differences and varying standards of literacy subsequently gave rise to variant forms of the original name: in this instance, the modern surname forms from any of the places mentioned range from Stanbury, Stanborough and Stainborough, to Stanberry, Stanbra and Stanbro(w). Examples from Church Registers include: the marriage of Joan Stanbury and Harvey Grebyll, in Barnstaple, Devonshire, on June 18th 1545, and the christening of Jefferie, son of John Stanbury, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London, on February 6th 1667. The family Coat of Arms is per pale silver and gold, a black lion passant between three torteaux. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alan Stanborw, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.