Pomeroy (surname)

Pomeroy or De La Pommeraie is a surname documented from the 11th century. Currently spelled as Pomeroy and the many variations which have occurred over time and geopolitical location. These variations include Pomroy, Pomery, Pumroy, Pummery, Pummeroy, de Pomerai, de Pomeroy, and Pommery.

Etymology

Despite the clearly found words of pomme and roy in the name, meaning "apple" in French and "king" in Old French (French roi), the surname given to Radulphus is not linked with the Old French word roy, but is the common place-name Pommeraye, that means "orchard of apple-trees", Modern French word pommeraie, from pommier "apple-tree" and old suffix -aye, now -aie, meaning "a collection of trees".[1][2] Originally the suffix -aye was masculine : -ey, -ay and sometimes -oy. The secondary phonetic shift -ey > -oy is normally typical of Picard and the Eastern dialects of Langue d'oïl, but can sometimes be observed in Normandy.

Origins of the family

There are several La Pommeraye in Normandy, but the sources mention generally two possible birth places of the family, both in Lower Normandy.

One in the Cotentin Peninsula on the commune of Saint-Sauveur-la-Pommeraye,[3] now in the Manche département, 12 km from Granville.

The other possible location is La Pommeraye, commune of the Calvados département between Thury-Harcourt and Pont-d'Ouilly (35 km south from Caen). The château Ganne at La Pommeraye is believed to be the original seat of the family[4][5] and the de la Pomeroi founded the Val Abbey at Saint-Omer, Calvados.[6]

History

Following the Norman conquest of England, Radulph[us] de la Pomeray is found in the Domesday Book (1086)[7] holding numerous properties as Lord or Tenant-in-chief; 98 in Devon, 2 in Somerset, and 1 in Cornwall. His holdings included a castle at Berry Pomeroy, of which the family retained possession until the second year of the reign of King Edward VI, Henry VIII's son, and the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549 when the castle was sold to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

List of people with this surname

See also

References
  1. Nègre, Ernest. Toponymie générale de la France.
  2. CNRTL Site etymology of pommeraie
  3. Furtaw Genealogy : de la Pomeroi
  4. Anne-Marie Flambard-Héricher, Université de Caen, Fouilles archéologiques du CRAHAM (CNRS/UCBN), 2009/2013 Château Ganne (French)
  5. https://sites.google.com/site/pomeroytwig/
  6. L'abbaye Notre-Dame du Val aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles in Annales de Normandie, N°47-5, 1997, p. 603-604 (French)
  7. http://opendomesday.org/name/?indexChar=R
  • The Domesday Survey
  • A.A. Pomeroy : Romance and History of Eltweed Pomeroy's Ancestors in Normandy and England 1909
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