Firth family tree

Origins of the name

The name Firth derives from old English as 'Firhpe'. It means wood or woodland. In middle English it means estuary and wide river mouth. The name has its own coat of arms. This includes a blue ermine engraved chevron between two gold battle axes at the top, and a gold sheaf at the bottom. It has upon it the inscription Dens Incrementum Detit. It belongs to Frederick Hand Firth and is an English coat of arms, which can be found amongst ancient Herald Archives.

The name came from the borderlands of Scotland and England. The people there were known as the Angles and Picts at about 400 AD. The Picts later became Scottish by Nationality about 1000 AD. The Angles became part of England. There were many border disputes over the centuries, eventually in the mid 1300s a branch of the Firth family acquired lands in Old Brook, Yorkshire and Norton Hall also in Yorkshire. Here the name remains to the present day.

Place names

Early traces of the name Firhpe are found in Roxburghshire. The name then becomes more widespread as it later becomes linked with Firth. It is seen in Scotland, Firth of Forth, Moray Firth Coast, Firth of Clyde, Lorn Tay and Portand Firth. In England with the original meaning there is Firth Park in Sheffield and Firth Manor in Haughton. It also can be found in Shetland and Orkney.

The name spread during the 1700s to America and up into Canada. There is Firth Nebraska, USA. It then arrived in Australia and New Zealand in the 1800s.

The name today

The name is linked to the Wellham family through Ada Firth, who married George William Wellham of Bradford, Yorkshire. They had a son George Brian Wellham, he married Thelma Anne Playdon of Worcester. They had four children, Sarah, Simon, Nicholas and Nigel. Simon married Diane Bullock of Malvern, they had two sons Jamie and Luke Wellham.