Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Witesot 1086 DB
• Phitesoth 1128 SAC
• Phitesso 1138 SAC
• Fiteshod' 1155 SAC
• Fittesho c.1175 SAC 1194,5 P 1235-45 HAC 1275 Pat
• Fit(t)esho 1255 RH
• Fytisho 1291-2 Ass
• Futesho 1255-6 Ass
• Fittes 1255-6,1271-2 Ass 1811 PR(L)
• Fittus 1379 Pat
• Fittis 1478 HAC
• Fyttys 1498 Ipm Hy8 RentSur
• Fitts 1535 VE 1648,54 PR(L) 1655 SAS1/XLVII 1722 PR(L)
• Fittz 1577,1686,92 PR(L) 1809 PR(L)
• Fitz 1658 PR(L)
• Fettys 1535 VE

Etymology

Fitt's spur of land', v. hōh . The two earliest forms from SAC have unusually early instances of Ph - for F -. The church and manor house at Fitz stand near the tip of a clearly defined, long, narrow spur, which is the hōh of the name.

The loss of the final element is to be associated with the same development in Edgebold, Edgmond and Ercall. The spelling Fittes in 1255-6 shows that it happened earlier in this name than in the others. The spelling Fyttys shows that a disyllabic pronunciation was preserved at least till the 16th cent. Fittes spellings continue into the 19th cent., but they are not conclusive evidence for a disyllable at that date. The monosyllabic form is first clearly evidenced in 1535, and the voicing of -s to -z in 1577.

Fitz is now in the civil parish of Pimhill.