The Vikings traveled far and wide during the 8th and 9th centuries, leaving here and there, notably around the Baltic Sea, hamlets which they called Bergaby (spelled in different ways such as Bergheby, Bercheby, Bergby etc…). It is however in England that the Normans, who came from France during the invasion lead by William the Conqueror, in 1066, modified the name of such places to Beruby, from 1100-1120 in the case of the village of Northamptonshire which in now called Barby and, in the following century in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, places now named Barrowby or Borrowby. When the family names appeared, in the 13th century, we quickly find in these places people who bear names like Samson, Adam, John, Thomas, Simon or Hugh of Beruby (Berruby) or Barube in texts written in Latin…450 years later, the name of our first ancestor in America, baptized Damian, is exactly written Berruby or Barube.
May 2018
