Last name

Ramsey

English

The surname Ramsey is of Scottish origin. It is a habitational name from places in Huntingdonshire and Essex, so called from the Old English 'hramsa', wild garlic and 'eg', island, low lying land. It may also be a habitational name from a place in the parish of Whithorn, in the former county of Wigtown, so called from the genitive case of the Old English byname 'Ram(m), ram and 'eg', land. The first bearer of this name recorded in Scotland was Simundus de Ramsey, a norman baron from Huntingdonshire, England, who was a retainer of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of King Alexander I of Scotland. Simundus was granted lands in Midlothian by the earl, and he is recorded as a witness to a charter in 1140. Among his descendants are the earls of Dalhousie. Another family of this same name have posessed lands in North Eastern Scotland in the direct male line since the thirteenth century. These lands, near Banff, were granted in 1232 to Neis de Ramsey, who was physician to King Alexander II of Scotland. The name dates back to the tenth century were a Eoelstanus de Rameseia is recorded in historical archives. The name was brought to America by Scottish and English immigrants. One of the first fore fathers to bring this name to America is that of a Thomas Ramsey, who emigrated to America aboard the barque Eagle; he settled in Jamaica. This name is the three-hundredth and forty-fifth most numerous surname in America.

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