English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Barnthorpe

Early-attested site in the Parish of Barnburgh

Historical Forms

  • Bernolftorp a.1158 Nost58d
  • Bernethorp 1260 FF 1379 PT
  • Barnethorp 1362 YDvi 1532 FF
  • Barnthorp(e) (Grange) 1596,1614,1622 FF
  • Bernolthorp 1387 Nost59d
  • Barnolthorpe 1582 FF
  • Barmethorpe Grandge 1537 WillY

Etymology

'Bernulf's outlying farmstead', v. þorp . The pers.n. is from OE  Beornwulf or ON  Bjǫrnúlfr (cf. Feilitzen 200). The place could not have been named from the Bernulf whose son Radulphus is mentioned in 1387Nost 59d, though the continued local use of the personal name is interesting. The p.n. has been adapted to the form of Barnburgh.