This intriguing name has proved a mystery to surname researchers for
many years. The surname is found chiefly in the eastern counties of
Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Essex, which usually suggests a location
origin, from some now "lost" place, but there is no evidence as
yet of such a placename.
The name is believed to be of early medieval English origin, and to derive
from either of two nicknames. Firstly, the name may derive from a nickname for a
valiant, sturdy, "strong-armed" person, from an abbreviated form of
the Middle English "stallward, stalworth", sturdy, brave (from the
Olde English "stael", place, and "Wierthe", worthy), with
"brace", from the Olde French "brase", (two)arms.
Interestingly, the term "stalward, stalworthy" has generated the
surname Stalladay or Stolliday, found mainly in East Anglia (Stallerdie, 1621,
Norfolk).
The second possible nickname source is derived from the Middle English
"stale", Olde English "stalu", rung of a ladder, long
slender handle, as of a rake, with "brace", as before; Hence, a name
for someone with stick like arms.
Examples from Church registers include: The marriage of Richard Stallibrass
and Margaret Parker in Reed, Hertfordshire, on November 5th 1553, and the
christening of Sarah, daughter of Edward Stallibrass, at St. Botolphs,
Colchester, Essex, on December 2nd 1683.
Other forms of the name are: Stallybras (1564); Stallebrasse (1577);
Stollebrace (1587); and Stallabrace (1662).
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas
Stallebras, which was dated May 7th 1539, witness to the christening of his
daughter, Katherine, in Barkway, Hertfordshire, during the reign of King Henry
V111, known as Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547.
|
|