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.

Oglebird Plant

Early-attested site in the Parish of Brougham

Etymology

Oglebird Plant., 1865 OS, cf. Ogleburg Scarr 1651BdyR (Og 1), 'a court-leet is held within this forest [Whinfell] by the style of the court of the manor of Oglebird ' 1777 NB 399. Oglebird is probably a family name, which may well be an adaptation of an old ON  byname *Uglu -barði 'owl-beard' (cf. Ugglebarnby YN 121) or, as Feilitzen 397–8 prefers, the ON  pers.n. Barðr with uglu (gen.sg. of ugla 'owl') as a prefixed byname. The surname also occurs in Oglebirds across the Eden (ii, 125supra ).