Surname Tildesley - Meaning and Origin
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Tildesley: What does the surname Tildesley mean?
The last name Tildesley is thought to have originated in the northwest of England, likely in Cheshire or Lancashire. It is a habitational name, which refers to an ancestor being from a place named with the old English “tila”, meaning ‘tile’ or ‘tile-maker’, and “leah”, meaning ‘clearing’. Thus, the name indicates that a family once lived in or near a place where tiles or tile-making were produced.
The earliest known record of the name appears in Lancashire in the year 1272. By 1586 County maps list a Tildesley location in Lancashire. Over the course of time, the spelling of the name has changed considerably. It was known as Tildesley, Tilesley, Tileley, and Tillesley and other variants.
The surname Tildesley spread with the dispersal of the family throughout Britain and some of its colonies during the 1700s and 1800s. Tildesleys who ventured to America settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and in Virginia. British settlers carried the name to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The surname Tildesley is listed among the one hundred most common English surnames. Bearers of the name today are widely distributed throughout Britain, many still concentrated in Lancashire and in regions where their ancestors migrated.
Order DNA origin analysisTildesley: Where does the name Tildesley come from?
The last name Tildesley is most common today in England, Australia, Scotland and Wales, and to a lesser degree in the United States. In the United States, the name is fairly rare but can be found in some states, particularly in the upper Midwest and Northwest. Tildesley is found most frequently in Greater London and the surrounding counties, particularly Surrey, Hampshire, Somerset and Oxfordshire. Tildesley is also a popular name in the North West of England, particularly Liverpool, as well as Yorkshire and Lancashire.
In addition to England, Tildesley is also fairly prominent in Australia, particularly in the states of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The name is particularly common in the region around Adelaide, as well as in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
It is believed that the last name Tildesley originates in the English surname Tilley, which was common in parts of medieval England. The first documented record of the name can be found in the Doomsday book, which was compiled for King William I in 1086. In this document, Leuis Kyte de Tilcelee is mentioned as holding land in England at that time. From that point on, the name evolved throughout the centuries to eventually become Tildesley.
The name is traditionally of English origin but can be found throughout the English-speaking world. It is likely that many people with the last name Tildesley are descended from immigrants who made their way to new lands in the 18th and 19th centuries, and while the name has never been particularly common, it can be found in many countries today.
Variations of the surname Tildesley
The surname Tildesley has several variants, spellings, and surnames of the same origin. These include Tildesley, Tildsley, Tilley, Tilley, Tilsley, Tilsely, Tilleye, and Tillee.
The Tildesley surname has origins from different regions, including England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In England it originated in Cheshire, where it was recorded as Tillee, and was derived from a place-name called “Tillee” which was located in this county. In Scotland, the surname is found with the spelling Tildsley and is of Scottish-Gaelic origins, from the minor place-name element “tulla,” meaning “a hill.”
The surname is also found in Ireland and Wales and was derived from a Welsh forename, which was itself derived from “tud” or “tydd,” meaning “land.” It was also recorded as Tilley in Ireland.
The most common spelling of Tildesley is Tildsley, and this is found more often than the other variants. However, all variants of Tildesley can be used to trace family ancestry, since they all are of the same origin.
Famous people with the name Tildesley
- Thomas Tildesley: an English professional footballer who currently plays for Premier League club Burnley.
- George Tildesley: a former English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Christopher Tildesley: a British theoretical chemist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford.
- Richard Tildesley: a British painter, printmaker and graphic artist.
- Joshua Tildesley: an English actor best known for playing Kyle in ITV mini-series Thirteen.
- Guy Tildesley: a former British track athlete who competed mainly in the 800 metres.
- Sheila Tildesley: a British comedy actress best known for her roles in Carry On Cowboy and Two of a Kind.
- Michael Tildesley: a former English cricketer who appeared in two first-class matches for Oxford University in 1973.
- Maurice Tildesley: an English public servant and lawyer.
- Charles Tildesley: a British sports scientist and lecturer at Birmingham University.