Thursfield

Recorded as Thorsfield and Thursfield, this is an English surname. It is locational from Thursfield, a village which changed its name, and is now known as New Chapel. This is in the parish of Wolstanton, in the county of Staffordshire. The original place name, and hence the surname, is derived from the pre 7th century Olde Norse personal name Torvaldr. This is a compound of the gods name "Torr" as found in the weekday name of Thursday, and the suffix valdr meaning "rule". To this has been added the Olde English word "feld". This originally described not a fenced enclosure as it would now, but the opposite, being a large open area, which was suitable for cattle grazing, and more equivalent to the description of a "down". It is not clear when the surname was first recorded as locational surnames by their nature are "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification, after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. An example from the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London is that of Joseph Thursfield. He married Elizabeth Quelch at St. George's Chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, in 1804. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.