POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF THE NAME ISTED

By Kevin Isted

 (Kevin of a place where yew trees grow?)

Contact Kevin:  isted@Go4.it /  www.isted.info

As a part of my research into my family history, I decided to seek the origins of the Isted family name and try to discover whether the name had a specific meaning. This paper tracks this process – an intellectual and occasionally a geographical journey of discovery - and details the main possibilities that have emerged.

English surnames are usually categorized into 4 main types:

 

  • Local Surnames: derived from a place-name, or topographical feature;

  • Surnames of Relationship, which can be subdivided into:

      • Patronymic: derived from the personal name of a male ancestor; and

      • Metronymic: derived from the personal name of a maternal ancestor, which are comparatively rare;

  • Surnames of Occupation or office;

  • Nicknames: usually derived from some physical or personality trait.

 

Hereditary surnames such as these had existed in England amongst the Norman aristocracy as early as the 12th century. They began to become more prevalent amongst the general population in the 13th century; spreading from the south to the north. This process continued during the 14th century, and by the century’s close practically everybody in England had a hereditary surname. The rise in surnames was probably due to a whole host of factors. However, the feudal system was arguably the main driving force, as it became increasingly necessary to more accurately distinguish between people of the same personal name for the purposes of inheritance, holding property, rents, services and taxation. It is, therefore, probably no coincidence that the earliest records of the general use of surnames are contained in various 13th century Custumals (lists of landholders with the rents and services they owed) and Subsidy Rolls (tax lists). It is probably also no coincidence that Local Surnames is the largest category of surnames, which in many cases originally linked a family with a particular property and the obligations that went with it.

 

It is, therefore, not surprising to find that the earliest recorded Isteds discovered so far appear in Custumals – those of the Borgh of Mayfield, in the Manor of South Malling, Sussex, which was part of estates held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Three Isted ancestors are mentioned - William, John and Emma - whose names appear amongst the free landholders in various parts of the document, with 2 variant spellings of the family name:

·        de Ystede, which appears once each for William and John; and

·        de Istede, which appears twice for William, once for John; and twice for Emma.

It is not known how long the de Istedes/de Ystedes may have been resident in Mayfield. However, they were most likely there before Boniface became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1241, as the Custumals c1285 include notes of changes in landholdings allowed by Bailiffs during Bonifaces Archbishopric (1241 – 1270).

In the 1327/8 Subsidy Roll for Mayfield, it is only the de Istede form of the name that appears for 2 people: a male, Simone de Istede; and a female, Joha de Istede. (Presumably, Joha (the ablative form of the Latin name for Joan) was either a widow or a single woman, otherwise the property on which the tax was based and the tax liability would have been her husband’s.) These same two people also appear in the 1332 Subsidy Roll, but this time as de Isted, i.e. without the previously used ‘e’ ending. The ‘de’ preposition was dropped in later medieval records, leaving the current form of the name - Isted.

Curiously, there is no mention of any de Istedes or de Ystedes in the earlier 1295/6 Subsidy Roll for Mayfield or for anywhere else in the Loxfield Hundred (South Malling). There is, however, a note on the Subsidy Rolls which says tenants of the clergy are ‘excedunt taxationem’, i.e. ‘outside of the taxation’. I initially doubted this interpretation, or that it could have applied to Mayfield or the Loxfield Hundred as a whole (which were at the time entirely held by the Archbishop of Canterbury) as there were plenty of entries in the Subsidy Rolls from Mayfield and throughout the Hundred. But, on comparing the entries of the names in common in the Mayfield Custumals c1285 and the 1295/6 Subsidy Roll, it became apparent that the Subsidy Roll did not include anyone who held land directly from the Archbishop of Canterbury, but only included sub tenants of the Archbishop’s tenants. Moreover, judging by the names that appear in the 1295/6 Subsidy Roll, the people listed were generally merchants, craftsmen and officials who might be expected to have accrued sufficient ‘moveables’ (personal property on which the tax was based) more than the average peasant sub tenants. It, therefore, seems likely that direct tenants of the Archbishop of Canterbury, like William de Istede, were ‘excedunt taxationem’. The sub tenants listed in the 1295/6 Subsidy Roll for Mayfield included: William le Cupere (the barrel maker) who was the tenant of William de Istede; Nicholas Faber (the Latin name for a smith); Nicholas le Stodherde (horse keeper) who I assume kept the Archbishop’s stable or possibly managed his stud; John Forestar, who was presumably the Archbishop’s forester; and some people named Merchant, Turner and Tailor, which need no further explanation.

Interestingly, the Istede form of the name could be the combination of the Latin words ‘iste’ and ‘de’ that were used together in various contexts to mean ‘this of’; or ‘someone of’, in connection with a place, person or family. However, it makes no apparent sense without the name of a place, person or family with which to link the people concerned. It seems more likely in context of the name first appearing in Custumals in England that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, derived from the name of a place or location, as the ‘de’ preposition indicates a place of origin, and ‘stede’ is the Anglo-Saxon word for place. ‘I’ and ‘Y’ are also Anglo-Saxon vowels that were often interchangeable in representing the long ‘I’ sound, as in ‘site’ and ‘style’, before the English language became more standardised. Indeed, this can clearly be seen in early West Saxon Christian manuscripts such as King Alfred’s translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, as well as in documents during the medieval period. Therefore, both the Istede and Ystede spellings were probably phonetically indistinguishable c1285. It is probably worth mentioning at this point that all the Isteds I know pronounce their name with a long ‘I’ sound, i.e. I-sted or Eye-sted. Unfortunately, neither Ystede nor Istede appear to be Anglo-Saxon words with any specific meaning.

The numerous reference books on the origins of surnames have not been much help in trying to establish the origin or meaning of the Isted name. Reaney and Wilson who are arguably the current foremost authority on English surnames make no mention of the name Isted in their book ‘A Dictionary of English Surnames’ (1997).

However, ‘The Homes of Family Names in Great Britain’ (Henry Guppy, 1890) has Isted listed as a surname peculiar to Sussex. But the ‘Surnames of Sussex’ (Richard McKinley, 1988) fails to make any mention of the name, despite the book’s otherwise seemingly comprehensive coverage. Nevertheless, most people named Isted continue to live in East Sussex, with most of the others living in neighbouring counties (www.spatial-literacy.org). Also, judging by the various genealogy message boards, the majority of Isteds worldwide appear to be able to trace their ancestry back to Sussex.

A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom, by Mark Antony Lower (1850) suggests the name Isted is probably of local English origin – Highstead, ‘of lofty situation’. Lower does not say whether he means a village called Highstead or something smaller like a farmstead occupying high ground. Nevertheless, it has been taken, rightly or wrongly, by others to be from Highstead, Kent. The possibility that the Isted name came from Highstead in Kent is an intriguing proposition. This Highstead is in the Parish of Chislet (referred to in the Domesday Book as Cistelet) which is thought to have been continuously occupied since 3000BC. The Chislet Hundred was also entirely held by the Abbott of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, until the Reformation. As William de Istede/Ystede appears as the senior free tenant (largest freeman landholder) of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Mayfield c 1285, it is tempting to speculate that he or an ancestor may have been a lay official of the Church who moved from Canterbury to take up an appointment at South Malling or the Archbishop’s Palace in Mayfield. However, on closer examination, it is most unlikely that the Isted name originated from Highstead, Kent, or any other location called Highstead because of its ‘lofty situation’. I can find no reference to the place-name Highstead, in Kent, before the early 16th century, although I found a reference to a person called Highstede dated 1473. The place Highstead may have existed before these dates, but if it had predated the appearance of the Isted name c1285, and was named after its ‘lofty situation’ it would most probably have been called Heahestede - heah being the word meaning high, at the time. Incidentally, I have not found any reference to anyone called Heahstede, either pre or post dating c1285. I did, however, find a reference to a lady called Helewis de Heghestede in the Sussex Subsidy Rolls of 1296, who would have been a contemporary of the de Istedes/de Ystedes c1285. ‘Heghe’ does not appear to be a word used at anytime. It might, however, have been a phonetic representation of either ‘heah’ (meaning high) or possibly more likely ‘hege’ (meaning hedge). In any event, it seems most unlikely the name Isted (or Istede or Ystede, as it was spelt c1285) comes from places called Heahstede, Hegestede or Highstead. I suspect Lower arrived at his conclusion for two seemingly logical reasons. Firstly, Highstead and Isted could sound very similar in various dialects, especially with the not uncommon picking up and dropping of aitches in speech. Secondly, known Isteds have been misrepresented as Highstead, Histed, Hysted etc in a number of entries in parish registers; which started to be kept in the early 16th century, by which time the English language had changed substantially from the 13th century when the Isted name first appears in records. Indeed, there are probably some Highsteads, Histeds, Hysteds etc who are really Isteds and vice versa, by virtue of these errors.  

Another suggestion for the origins of the Isted name is recorded in The ‘English and Welsh Surname Dictionary’ (Bardsley, 1896), which states the village of Irstead in Norfolk is the ‘probable’ place of origin. However, it appears that Bardsley attributed this probability to the barely passing similarity between the place-name and the family name, without there being any known historical or genealogical evidence to support the proposal. Incidentally, the Institute of Name Studies database of place-names indicates that Irstead, which is located in the low Fen country 12 miles from Norwich, means ‘a place of mud’ from Old English: gyr (mud) and stede (place).

The various reference books on the origin of English place-names and the online database of the Institute of Name Studies fail to reveal anywhere named Isted. However, I discovered a reference in the Domesday Book (1086), to a place called Isteda in the Bishop’s Hundred, of Suffolk. The published translation ‘Domesday Book – Vol 35 – Suffolk’ (Phillimore 1972) identifies Isteda with the modern place Instead, near Weybread in Suffolk. Further research also revealed places called Histede and the Manor of Isted (recorded in medieval manuscripts held in the Suffolk County Records Office), and the Manor of Istead (in ‘The Manors of Suffolk’, Copinger 1905-11) within the Bishop’s Hundred of Suffolk. Interestingly, the descriptions of Isteda, Histede and the Manors of Isted and Istead, including the presence of a watermill in each case, appear to indicate that they were the same place, only spelt differently at different periods in history. Indeed the pronunciation of the names may have been similar, or even exactly the same, to the various writers of the documents. Copinger also describes a separate nearby place called the Manor of Finges in Istead. It, therefore, seems that the place called Isteda/Histede/Isted/Istead may have covered a fairly large area at one time, with it having included two manors. It might, therefore, be surprising if no family from that area had taken the place-name as their surname, either while living there, or when they may have relocated elsewhere. Medieval documentary records of the area are scant and reveal no one with a surname similar to Isted. However, the document relating to Histede records that Roger Bordemal, the lord at the time, transferred property to the Church of Sibton. The document is believed to be early 13th century; and I suspect from the charges for scutage and castleguard attributable to the property that it was written in the reign of King John prior to Magna Carta (1215). It also appears from these charges that the property was either let at a part of a knight’s fee with the obligations that went with it, or possibly Roger Bordemal was passing on the cost of his personal military obligations (or the avoidance of them) to his tenants in a proportional and transparent way. In any event, the tenant of the property at the time of the transfer was Maurice, the son of William the miller. Maurice and his family appear to have continued to hold the land after the transfer, but performed service for it to the monks instead of to Roger Bordemal. However, Copinger states that in 1225 the Manor of Istead (Copinger’s spelling) was held by Robert Hovel, of Wyverstone and was alternatively known as Hovell’s. There is nothing to indicate what may have happened to Maurice and his family. It is possible that they or others may have been displaced and left the area as a result of  these changes in the title of the land, possibly taking the name de Histede, or something phonetically similar, from the name of the land they had vacated. It is also tempting to speculate that they may have acquired land in Mayfield, Sussex, sometime before Boniface became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1241. If so, they may have been ancestors of William, Emma and John de Istede/de Ystede who are referred to in the Custumals for Mayfield c1285.

The meaning of the name Isteda/Histede etc of Suffolk may also have its roots in the Anglo-Saxon word ‘stede’ meaning place. However, ‘steda’, from the earliest known form of the name – Isteda - is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘stallion’ and from which the word ‘stud’ may be derived. (The word was also later used for camel, but I think this can be discounted in the context of the place-name.) Coincidentally, the National Stud is also located in Suffolk, at Newmarket. Perhaps less of a coincidence is that most male Isteds I know feel that a name relating to a stallion or a stud is something they can readily identify with. This may, in most cases, have more to do with an active imagination or wishful thinking.

The possibility that the Isted family originated from Isteda/Histede… in Suffolk, remains pure speculation based on circumstantial evidence. Nevertheless, there is stronger circumstantial evidence to support the possibility that the Isted family originated from there than that which supports the possibility that it originated from places called Irstead or Highstead, as proposed in the publications referred to earlier.

I should also mention the village of Istead Rise, near Gravesend, Kent. However, it is of relatively recent development (c1850) and cannot be considered a candidate for the origins of the Isted family.

It is, of course, possible that the Isted name originated outside of England. Indeed, a branch of the Isted family that went on to become Lords of the Manor of Ecton, Northamptonshire, claimed their ancestors came from Scandinavia (probably Ystad, a maritime town in the province of Schonen, Southern Sweden) and first settled in Framfield (a neighbouring village to Mayfield), probably in Edward III’s reign (1327-1377). This claim was allegedly made at the time of the Herald's Visitation of Sussex in 1634, when the Arms of Isted were officially confirmed, and was repeated in the family’s entry in ‘Burke’s Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland’ (1837). Unfortunately, the College of Arms in London does not have a record of the original grant to Isted. 

Lower (1850) also mentions the claim of Scandinavian origins and refers to it as ‘family legend’. Indeed, the evidence is only hearsay and circumstantial, and the first record of the name in England predates the claimed arrival. It is, of course, conceivable that the Isteds of Ecton got their King Edwards mixed up, as there were three King Edwards in a row covering the period 1272-1377. However, this would still not place their arrival before the apparently critical date of 1241 from when notes of changes in landholdings appear in the Custumals c1285. It is, of course, also possible for two unconnected families to end up with the same name from completely different sources of origin. It would, however, be a huge coincidence for a family to travel from a Scandinavian country in the Middle Ages, adopting the name of their home town and then settle in an adjacent village to a family with more or less the same name that appears to have been peculiar to that small part of England. While it is possible that the story of emigration from Sweden was oral history handed down the generations, it may also have been a logical and well intentioned extrapolation of the facts put together by the Isteds, or a genealogist working on their behalf, in support of their application for a coat of arms. The town of Ystad which is believed to have been in existence since the middle of the 12th century was also previously known as Eysted and Istaedhe, which is thought to have meant ‘in the place’ or ‘at the place’.

There are a number of other places in Scandinavia with phonetically similar or similarly spelt names. Indeed, while I was working in the war-torn former Yugoslavia in 1991/92, I was adopted as an honorary Dane by a Danish nurse who first told me about a village called Isted. This village had historically been part of Denmark until 1918 when it was transferred to Germany following a referendum. Disappointingly, since then it has officially been known as Idstedt. Many years later, while visiting some German friends in Lower Saxony, I took the opportunity to drive north into Schleswig to visit this village. I discovered that there are still many people of Danish origin living there who fly the Danish flag in their gardens, and preserve their own language and the original village name in their own institutions, e.g. they have their own Kindergarten called ‘Dansk Bornehave Isted' (click here for photo).

The village of Isted is famous in Denmark for giving its name to a battle fought nearby in 1850, during the Schleswig-Holstein Wars, in which the Danish Army defeated a combined army of ethnic German Schleswig-Holsteiners and Prussians. In commemoration of the battle two streets in Copenhagen were named Istedgade and Lille Istedgade in 1854 (click here for photo).  There is also a statue of a lion (the Lion of Isted) which commemorates the victory. The statue has an interesting history of its own. It originally stood looking across the Danish-German border at Flensburg. However, when the Germans invaded Denmark at the start of WWII, Hitler had the statue removed to Berlin. It was returned to Denmark after the war and now stands outside of the Danish Armament Museum in Copenhagen. The Battle of Isted is still commemorated in Denmark, where its anniversary (25th July) is a military flag day. I have in recent times adopted this date as ‘Isted Day’ and have been known to crack open a bottle in celebration.

As the former name of this village is spelt exactly the same as the Isted family name, consideration has to be given to the possibility that the family may have come from there. Research shows that the village of Isted first appears in a written record as Ystad in a document of King Knut VI of Denmark, dated 31 March 1196. However, the village was thought to have been founded sometime between 500 and 1000 AD and could have been known as Ystad, or something phonetically similar, well before 1196. The village was more or less consistently recorded as Isted since 1352, but was also recorded as Istede in 1464 and as Iisted. Spelling throughout this time in Denmark, as in England, was variable and all these names were phonetically similar, or even exactly the same to the various writers. It may therefore be possible that the Isteds of Ecton also got their Ystads as well as their King Edwards mixed up, and the first Isteds emigrated from the village of Ystad (later Isted), in Schleswig. Indeed, there were some dramatic and far reaching changes in the control of the land in Schleswig in the mid 13th century, which may have caused some families to flee the area and become early asylum seekers. Although, how they may have come to end up in the Sussex High Weald is impossible to explain.

It may be worth noting that while visiting these same German friends in Lower Saxony, I was taken to a small town called Jork (pronounced York) where I was told many Isteds lived during medieval times and that this must surely be where the Isted family originated. While in Jork, I was taken to a medieval church (St Matthias) where on the end of each row of pews were written the names of the original people who had been allocated these seats. To my astonishment, on all of them was written the name Isted or Istede (click here for photo).  However, as I was leaving the church, I discovered a pew towards the back, where amongst all the various Isteds there were two people seemingly called 1½ stede. It then became clear that what was written on all these pews was not the surname Isted following the various personal names, but was probably 1sted and 1stede, i.e. one place, or this place. If it had not been for seeing the 1½ stede people who presumably either needed more room because they were fat, or because they shared an extra place on alternate Sundays, I may have left thinking I had discovered the ‘cradle of the Isteds’. However, if I ever come across anyone called 1½ stede I may have to reconsider the possibility.

While searching for Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and Old German words similar to Ystede/Istede/Isted, in order to determine whether the name had a specific meaning, I came across various runic symbol systems. These were used by Germanic peoples, amongst others, until the Roman alphabet eventually gained sway following its introduction by the Church, although they existed side by side for a time as can be seen from runic symbols on ancient Christian crosses. The symbols of the various runic systems not only represented sounds similar to modern letters or diphthongs, but also represented words that had particular significance to the people of the time.

The earliest runic system used in England is known as the Anglo-Friesian Futhark, because it was also used in Fresia (an area stretching from north eastern Netherlands, through northern Lower Saxony and along the eastern coast of Schleswig-Holstein) and as the first letters of the names of its first 6 runes (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raido, and Kauno) spell Futhark. In this runic system the symbol corresponding to the letter ‘I’ is known as ‘Isa’ (pronounced Ee-saw), which represented ice and the short ‘i’ sound as in ‘sit’. The symbol corresponding to the letter ‘Y’, is known as ‘Ihwaz’ (pronounced Eye-warzt) which represented the yew tree and the long ‘I’ sound as in ‘site’ (or as in ‘Isted’). However, in the later Anglo-Saxon or Old English Futhorc the corresponding symbols for the letters ‘I’ and ice, and ‘Y’ and yew tree,  are known as ‘Is’ and ‘eoh’ respectively. There are, however, also various alternative words/spellings for the word meaning ‘ice’: eis, icz and isar. There are even more alternative words/spellings for the word meaning ‘yew tree’: eihwas, eihwaz, eo, erwaz, ezck, ihwar, ihwas, iwar, iwaz, iw, yr and ig.   

I, therefore, thought it possible that the name Isted may have been derived from either: an icy place; or a place where yew trees grow. And as all the Isteds I know pronounce their name with the long ‘I’ sound, it was most likely originally a place where yew trees grow, with the name originally being spelt (on the rare occasion it may have been written down) as Ystede which was later transformed into Istede and then Isted.

My conclusions were given greater credibility when I e-mailed this theory to Bruce Isted in New Zealand, who is a mine of useful information on anything Isted, and he e-mailed me back with a copy of a 1995 letter that he had received from the Schleswig Archivist. This letter said the name of the village of Isted, means: ‘a location, a settlement or a residence where yew trees grow’ (which also demonstrated a possible similar transition of a ‘Y’ to an ‘I’ - Ystad to Isted.)

As a means of testing this theory out, I decided to look at place-names beginning with the letter ‘I’ in Sussex, to see if I could detect a similar derivation process. The ‘I’ names I found, that have their roots in antiquity are listed below, with their Domesday Book (1086) name in bracketed italics, followed by the definition of the name given in the Dictionary of British Place Names (A D Mills, Oxford, 2003):

·        Iden (Idene): Woodland pasture where yew-trees grow

·        Ifield (Ifelt):     Open land where yew-trees grow

·        Iford (Niworde):   Ford where yew-trees grow, or ford in well watered land

·        Iping (Epinges):   Settlement of the family of a man called Ipa

·        Itchenor (Icenore):   Shore of a man called Icca

·        Itford (Litelforde):   (The name does not appear in the reference book.)

It was immediately apparent that amongst these, there are three place-names associated with yew trees – Iden, Ifield and Iford.  It was also apparent that each of them commence with a single letter syllable ‘I’. The ‘I’ is pronounced as a long ‘I’, as in site and as in the family name Isted, i.e. Eye-den, Eye-field, Eye-ford and Eye-sted. However, the other three non-yew tree place-names commence with a 2 letter syllable with the ‘I’ being pronounced as a short ‘i’, as in ‘it’.

Furthermore, on checking the online database of the Institute of Name Studies, the only place-names apparently commencing with an ‘I’ as a single syllable were those associated with yew trees. And apart from the 3 in Sussex, the only others are located in the neighbouring county of Kent: Iwade (a crossing place where yew trees grow) and Ifield (open land where yew trees grow). It may, therefore, be an indication that it was an Anglo-Saxon dialect peculiar to these two counties that produced yew tree place-names commencing with a single syllable ‘I’ that still persist today. It is, of course, also possible that similar names commencing with a single syllable ‘I’ arose elsewhere in England, like Isted in Suffolk, that no longer exist, through being renamed, or lost to the plough or urbanisation.

I did, however, also consider the possibility that the ‘I’ in Isted might be a contraction of a personal name as places called Isfield (Isa’s field) and Iscombe (Isa’s valley) are located near Mayfield in Sussex. Coincidentally, Isa is a name of the runic symbol for ‘ice’ as well as an Old English masculine name (and a current UK tax free savings account.) However, Isa place names in England, presumably because of the more clement winter weather in England than in Nordic countries, are assumed to be derived from the personal name. Personal names, however, are rarely associated with stede in place-names and appear never to be contracted to single letter syllables. The name Isted, therefore, exactly follows the contraction and pronunciation pattern associated with Sussex and Kent yew tree names, and not the pattern for derivation from personal names, like Iping, Isfield and Iscombe.

The formation of these ancient ‘I’ yew tree place-names may or may not have had anything to do with runes. However, I might never have thought of considering the words for Ice or Yew tree in relation to the ‘I’ and ‘Y’ in the alternative spellings of the early family name, without looking at the runes and discovering the symbols and words which must have been of great significance to early Anglo-Saxons. This process may also prove useful for others searching for the possible meaning of their surname, especially if it has a first syllable consisting of a single letter or an apparent contraction attached to a location word, e.g. sted, field, ford, den, hurst etc .

It is worth noting that there is a linguistic and possibly a genetic link between the people of all the geographic areas mentioned in this paper. Southern Sweden, where Ystad is located, was inhabited by the Geats who were closely related to the Jutes who inhabited Jutland. Indeed, some historians believe the Geats and Jutes were the same tribe. The Jutes were also closely related to the tribes neighbouring them to the south: the Angles and Saxons. It was these three tribes that settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Jutes were the first to arrive in England and settled in Kent (along with Sussex, the only place in England where ‘I’ yew tree place-names seem to exist), the Isle of Wight and parts of Hampshire. The Angles came from Angeln (the part of Schleswig where the village of Isted/Idstedt is situated, whose name means a place where yew trees grow) and settled in Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia (where Isteda, Histede and the Manor of Isted/Istead were situated). The Saxons came from the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein and parts of Fresia. They settled in Wessex, Essex, and Sussex (where Mayfield is situated, and along with Kent has ‘I’ yew tree place-names that still exist). It is probably also worth mentioning that East Anglia, where Isteda was located, was also subject to attack and settlement by Danes. It was also under the Danelaw, established by the treaty of Wedmore in 886 until it was recaptured in 919. It is therefore possible that Isteda might have been founded and settled by Danish invaders. It is certainly possible that the name Isted, and close variations meaning the same thing, developed similarly and separately in England and throughout the area where the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Geats, Danes and other Germanic tribes lived. Indeed, there are many place-names ending in sted, stede, stead, stad, stadt etc that appear across the whole Anglo/Nordic/Germanic world. The earliest reference I have found to one of these names is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles entry for the year 655, where the founding of Medshamstede (later Peterborough) is recorded. However, no doubt place-names ending in stede existed much earlier, pre-dating any written records.

In conclusion, it is clear that the family name Isted is of Anglo-Saxon/Nordic/Germanic origin derived from a place bearing the same or a similar phonetic name. There are, however, a number of reasonable competing theories regarding the whereabouts of the place, and the meaning of its name, from which the Isted family name is derived. In summary, these are:

·        The Isted family name originated in Mayfield, Sussex or the surrounding High Weald, from the name of the place where the family once lived. The name of this unknown place, which may have been no bigger than a farmstead, meant a place where yew trees grow. This theory is based on the facts that: this is where the first known Isteds lived; Sussex and Kent are apparently the only places in England where place-names still exist commencing with an ‘I’ single letter syllable, which appears only to relate to yew trees; the High Weald, as its name suggests (weald being the Anglo-Saxon word for forest) is an ancient woodland area where yew trees can be found; the Isted family name appears to have been peculiar to Sussex, which is where most Isteds still live; and judging by the various genealogical message boards etc, this is where the vast majority of Isteds can trace their roots back to.

·        The Isted family name originated from Isteda/Histede/Isted/Istead in Suffolk with the family moving to Mayfield, Sussex prior to 1241. This theory is based on the fact that it is the only known place with recognised variations of the Isted name that existed in England (pre 1066) prior to the first known appearance of the Isted family name (c1285). While there is evidence of changes in the title of the land in the early 13th century that may have displaced some people, there is no evidence that any moved to Mayfield where the first known Isteds lived, nor any proven connection with anyone named Isted and this place. The name may also be derived from a place where yew trees grow, which is not out of keeping with the character of the area; or possibly a name associated with horses.

·        The Isted family name originated in Scandinavia, with the family moving to Mayfield, Sussex prior to 1241. This is based on anecdotal evidence from the Isteds of Ecton, Northamptonshire (previously of Framfield, Sussex). However, the dates (the reign of the King in which they believed the move occurred) do not fit the facts, as Isteds were known to have been living in England before then. The main candidates for Scandinavian origin are: Ystad, Sweden, referred to by the Isteds of Ecton as the probable place of origin, whose name is thought to mean ‘in the place’ or ‘at the place’; and Isted, Denmark (now Idstedt, Schleswig, Germany) whose name is also thought to mean ‘a place where yew trees grow’.  

I dismiss the suggestions that the Isted family name originated from Irstead, Norfolk; or Highstead in Kent, as those who proposed them appeared to have done so on a scarcely passing similarity in the names. Nevertheless, there may be some family connection between some people named Isted, and Highstead and other phonetically similar names.

It is impossible to prove any of these competing theories from the evidence so far available. I, therefore, decided to apply the broad scientific principles of Occam’s Razor to them. I did this for two reasons. Firstly, it aims to indicate the most promising theory by identifying the one that relies least on unproven assumptions. Secondly, it appealed to me because Occam lived and came up with his ‘razor’ when the first known Isteds lived - c1285.  As a result, the most promising of these theories appears to be that the Isted family name originated from a place, in or around Mayfield, Sussex, which got its name because it was a place where yew trees grew.

Of course, this is a heuristic argument that does not necessarily provide the correct answer. Others may wish to interpret or draw different conclusions from the evidence. In any event, old documents are continuing to be discovered and made available as public records, which might provide a definitive answer or shed further light on the possibilities explored in this paper. In the meantime, Mayfield and the High Weald seem to be the most promising area for further research into the origins of the Isted family and its name.

In any event, I would like to close with some final thoughts about the yew tree (Taxus baccata). These trees can live for a very long time. The yew tree that is believed to be the oldest in Britain is The Fortingall Yew Tree in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland. Many experts place this as being somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 years old, although one expert estimates its age at as much as 9,000 years. These estimates may or may not be exaggerations. However, yew trees are notoriously difficult to date, as they sometimes stop growing for considerable periods of time (i.e. they do not produce annual growth rings that is the usual method of dating trees.) Indeed, there is a yew tree in a churchyard in Totteridge, Herefordshire that was measured in 1677 as being 26 feet around its girth. It is still alive, but it has not grown any during the intervening 300 plus years. And, of course, it may well have stopped growing long before the records started to be kept. It has been said that when the Last Trump blows and the dead scramble out of Totteridge churchyard, that tree may still be there, and if so, it will still be 26 feet around the trunk. It may therefore be possible that there is a yew tree still standing somewhere on land once occupied by Isteds that gave the Isted family its name.                                                           

 January 2006

Bibliography:

Custumals of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Sussex Estates c1285 (Sussex Record Society Vol 57 and originals held in the Canterbury Archives.)

Mayfield Subsidy Rolls 1295/6, 1327/8, 1332 (Sussex Record Society Vol X and originals held in the National Archives.)

A Dictionary of English Surnames, Reaney & Wilson (1997)

The Homes of Family Names of Great Britain, Henry Guppy (1890)

Surnames of Sussex, Richard McKinley (1988)

A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom, Mark Antony Lower (1850)

The English and Welsh Surname Dictionary, Bardsley (1896)

Dictionary of British Place Names, A D Mills, (Oxford 2003)

Institute of Name Studies online database, http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/

Domesday Book – Vol 2 – Sussex, and Vol 35 - Suffolk, General Editor John Morris (Phillimore 1972)

Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich Branch: The Iveagh (Phillipps) Suffolk Manuscripts: 

HD 1538/345/1/36 - date: n.d.[?early 13c.]; and

HD 1538/345/1/37 - date: 4 Jul 1508

The Manors of Suffolk, Copinger (1905-11)

Burke’s Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (1837)

Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, translated and collated by Anne Savage, (Pheobe Phillips/Heinemann 1982)

Bosworth & Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary

www.spatial-literacy.org

www.ancestry.com

www.runemaker.com

www.the-tree.org.uk

 

Acknowledgements:

Bruce Isted, New Zealand, isted@one-name.org (Isted one-name study; Goons Member #2211) who provided me with many of the references and whose assistance and encouragement proved invaluable during the various iterations of this paper.