See the Aldrich surname, family crest & coat of arms. Free Search. Uncover the Aldrich surname history for the English Origin. What is the history of the last name Aldrich?

The many generations and branches of the Aldrich family can all place the origins of their surname with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name reveals that an early member worked as a the Old English personal name Aldrich, meaning old ruler, and refers to "a son of Aldrich." [1]

Early Origins of the Aldrich family
The surname Aldrich was first found in the counties of Sussex, Suffolk, and Surrey, where the Aldrich family held a family seat from very early times. The family had the Saxon spellings of Alderich, Ealdric, or possibly Aelfric before the Conquest.

Aldridge is a town in Staffordshire (now the West Midlands) that dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Alrewic and literally means "dwelling or farm among alders" having derived from the Old English word alor + wic. [2]

The parish was originally in the union of Walsall, in the hundred of Offlow, comprised 7,752 acres and was anciently held by Robert, a tenant of William fitzAnsculf and was worth 15 shillings. [3]

Early History of the Aldrich family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Aldrich research. Another 34 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1647, 1710, 1566 and 1507 are included under the topic Early Aldrich History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Aldrich Spelling Variations
Before the last few hundred years, the English language had no fast system of spelling rules. For that reason, spelling variations are commonly found in early Anglo-Saxon surnames. Over the years, many variations of the name Aldrich were recorded, including Aldridge, Aldrich, Alderich, Alderidge, Eldrich, Elderidge, Elderich and many more.