The surname Barbara

Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. This surname of BARBARA was a Catalan habitation name from a place in the province of Tarragona, so called from the Latin Barbarianum meaning 'the place of Barbarius'. The name was borne by an enormously popular but almost certainly, non-existent saint, who according to legend was imprisoned in a tower and later put to death by her own father for refusing to recant her Christian beliefs. Occasionally the name was used of a foreigner, in particular for a Moor or one from the Barbary coast, and hence was applied to a man of swarthy appearance. The name has numerous variant spellings which include Barbara, Barbery, Barbarin, Barbaroux and Barberan. In the 8th century, Spain fell under the control of the Moors, and this influence, which lasted into the 12th century, has also left its mark on Hispanic surnames. A few names are based directly on Arabic personal names. The majority of Spanish occupational and nickname surnames, however, are based on ordinary Spanish derivatives. In Spain identifying patronymics are to be found as early as the mid-9th century, but these changed with each generation, and hereditary surnames seem to have come in slightly later in Spain than in England and France. As well as the names of the traditional major saints of the Christian Church, many of the most common Spanish surnames are derived from personal names of Germanic origin. For the most part these names are characteristically Hispanic. They derive from the language of the Visigoths, who controlled Spain between the mid-5th and early 8th centuries.

The surname Grima

Recorded in many forms including: Grim, Grimm, Grime, Grimes, Grima, Grimar, Grimmer and the dialectal Grimster, this is an Anglo-German surname, with some French input. It was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, with the derivation being from a Germanic and French personal name "Grimier". It was composed of the pre 7th century elements "grimr", meaning a mask or helmet, and "heri", an army. In some instances the derivation may be Old High German from "grimmr", meaning stern or severe. The creation of surnames from nicknames was a common practice in the Middle Ages, and many modern-day surnames derive from medieval nicknames referring to personal characteristics. Early examples of the surname recordings include Godwin Grim in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk in 1170, Ernst Grim of Ursberg, Germany, in 1171, Alan Grime in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1279, and Herman Grymar in the charters of Homberg, Germany, in 1370. Later recordings from English church registers include: Jone Grimmar and George Butterfeild, who were married on April 15th 1623, at St. Peter's Cornhill, London; the marriage of Anne Grimmer and Edward Wigg on January 10th 1662, at All Saints, Norwich, Norfolk; and the wedding of Elijah Grimster to Jane Gardner at St Pancras Old Church, in the city of London on September 18th 1849. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edricus Grimma. This was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Suffolk. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.