<roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:mailman.0.1368957764.3019.genbrit@rootsweb.com... > 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 > > > > Mr Farage is said to have said there was an error in a marriage certificate around 1890 and before that the name was Farridge - I don't see the evidence for that. However, there is some evidence that his ill-informed visit to this country has boosted the independence vote chances - at least 53% of Scots don't want to to leave Europe, so if England does leave, Scotland might not, which will confuse the Euro-lawyers. So Roy, enjoy your forage for Farage or Farridge, you may show he is a Herr today and gone tomorrow politician! Pity poor Mr Cameron to have to deal with all this and run the country.