Bedberry

Recorded in a wide range of spellings including Bedbarree, Bedborough, Bedbury, Bedberry, Bedburrow, Bedbrough, and Bedboro, this is an English surname. It is locational and would appear to translate as "Beada's castle", but no such place in any similar spelling appears to have been recorded in the gazetters of the British Isles for the past three centuries. The nearest spelling is that of Bedburn, a village divided into North and South Bedburn in County Durham, in the far north east of England. This surname in its varied spellings, is most recorded in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London, whilst Bedburn, or Beada's stream in its original translation with Beada being an early and popular personal name, is first recorded in the tax rolls of Durham in the year 1291. In our opinion Bedborough/Bedbury name may well have originated from Durham, but is equally likely to be from a now "lost" village. "Lost" medieval villages are a feature of British Isles surnames, and it is estimated that at least three thousand surnames do originate from such places whose only memory in the 20th century, is usually the surname itself, often like this one, in a myriad of variant spellings. Early examples of the surname recordings from surviving registers in the city of London include Isack Bedbury at the famous church of St Giles Cripplegate, on July 13th 1610, and William Bedborough, at the church of St Olave, Old Jewry, on September 29th 1642.