Trengove

Recorded as Trengove, Trengrove, and Trengrouse, these are all surnames from the principality and county of Cornwall, in England. They are all locational and whilst strictly speaking as shown below, arguably originate from different places, over the centuries they have tendered to overlap and intermingle in the church register recordings. If we take the surname Trengove first. This is from a hamlet whose name originates from the 10th century Cornish phrase 'tre-an-gof', meaning the homestead of the smith, and exactly the same interpretation can be applied to the surname Trengrove. We cannot identify a place from which this surname originates so presumbly it is the same as Trengove. As regards the surname Trengrouse, this originates from a now apparently 'lost' place called 'Tre-an-grows' in the same area. The meaning being the homestead by the cross. Locational surnames in most of the British Isles and Europe refer either to the local lord of the manor and his descendants, or as a 'from' name. That is to say a name given to person who has moved somewhere else. This is not the case in Cornwall, where all perople were named after the place where they lived, irrespective of their status. Early recording examples include Henry Trengrove who married the exotically named Chester Nanspyan at St Blazey in 1536, Richard Trengove who was christened at Illogan in 1558, and Alys Trengrouse who was christened at Wendron on June 18th 1664.