From: "Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> > Any one done a tree for our Nigel? The media say he has Huguenot ancestors > but Ancestry also shows he has German gg grandparents from Frankfurt named > Schrod - and they seem to be the origin of his stockbroking. They were born > around 1840 and judging by the names we might expect they moved because of > Jewish origins and problems there from. So a fairly cosmopolitan ancestry - > out of line with his immigration policies. Of course I may have the wrong > strand, in which case apologies to whomsoever feels they are due but this > looks like the right family. Perhaps his current German wife can check?> One of those internet bucket shop genealogy houses - no names, no pack drill, but you can probably guess which one I mean - claims the surname Farage has its origins in the Western Highlands of Scotland and derives from the old name MacFergus, meaning "son of Fergus". If true, this makes poor old Nigel's reception in Edinburgh at the hands of a bunch of Scottish fascist loons - as some of the media put it - a little ironic! However, I am sure most listers here know the disdain with which I regard these bucket shop genealogists and their so-called surname definitions. A somewhat weightier and more reliable source, the Oxford Dictionary of Surnames by Hanks and Hodges, doesn't actually mention Farage but gets pretty close with FARGE and FARGUE, which is says is a variant of FORGE, an English and French topgraphic name derived from someone who near a forge or smithy, which seems somewhat more possible to me. However, I am healthily sceptical about many surname definition sources since I suspect many are based simply on etymological connections that may or may not exist, and pure guesswork! I may take a look at him, Geoff, possibly even for my online Famous family trees blog, as he is becoming quite a well-known national character. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Roy Stockdill wrote, Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:00 AM > I may take a look at him, Geoff, possibly even > for my online Famous family trees blog, as he is > becoming quite a well-known national character. "If you want to know your ancestry, all you need do is to stand for public office, and "they" will do all the research for you for free."