Awbrey/Aubrey Name Study

Profile managers: Liz Shifflett [send private message], Stuart Awbrey [send private message], and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

Project Coordinator: Stuart Awbrey

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the Awbrey surname and the variants of that name, in particular Aubrey. The hope is that other researchers like you will join our study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect. Please contact the project leader, add categories to your profiles, add your questions in the comments section below, add details of your name research, etc.

Name Origin

Click on this link to see the complete Research Results (under revision).

A popular belief is that the surname Aubrey/Awbrey owes it origin to Alberich, a legendary sorcerer who originated in the mythology or epic sagas of the Frankish Merovinginan Dynasty of the 5th to 8th century - Religion Wiki – Alberich.

There are recorded instances of the use of Alberic as a individual’s name as early as the 700s such as Alberic of Utrecht who died in 784 – Wikipedia – Alberic.

Some of the early examples indicate Alberic is equivalent to Aubrey.

At this time, it is not known if the name Alberic derived from the mythological figure Alberich, or the reverse.

In the Norman French language, Alberic(h) is translated to the French Aubry or Aubrey. In Normandy, at the time of the Conquest of England, the language of the law was French. Both the Norman French and French languages existed concurrently. The Latin spelling is Albericus.

After the Conquest, the Anglo-Norman dialect of Norman French served as a language of administration in England and Law French was used in the courts.

The Aubrey/Awbrey ancestor who came to England at the time of the Conquest is listed in WikiTree as Saunder de Sancto Alberico as well as in other sources.

Should the correct spelling be Alberic as Alberico is the Italian derivative?

It is possible the family name became commonly spelled as Aubry or Aubrey sometime after Saunder de Sancto Alberico arrived in England. This could explain why Sir Reginald Aubrey/Awbrey was known by that name after arriving in Wales around 1093.

Possibly, the Awbrey spelling is an anglicized version. If so, we don’t know with certainty if or when any of the earliest ancestors in Wales began using this spelling. It is possible authors of books about the family used this spelling as it may have been the preferred English spelling.

How to Join

To join the Awbrey Name Study, add your name to the members list.

... ... ... is a member of the Awbrey Name Study Project.

You can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:

The Research Pages section (below) has links to pages that might be of interest or helpful to you. If you find a page that would be of interest, you can add it to the list or contact the Name Study Coordinator: Stuart Awbrey for assistance. You can share ideas for research areas you would like to pursue by posting a comment to this page (which will send an e-mail copy to the managers) or posting to G2G using the "Ask Question" button (which will link the post to this page).

Members

Please add your name and interest to the members' list (list is alphabetized by surname):

• Cole Aubrey, descendant of Francis Awbrey
• Rikki Aubrey, descendant of Francis Awbrey
• Stuart Awbrey, Name Study Coordinator, descendant of John Awbrey
• Liz Shifflett, descendant of John Awbrey

Research Pages

Here are some WikiTree pages with information that may aid your research:

• Aubrey/Awbrey Name Origin Study
• Awbrey Magna Carta Trail (still in progress)
• Awbrey Magna Carta Trail - Richard and Gilbert de Clare
• The Early Aubrey/Awbrey Family in Wales From 1060 to 1350

Adding a Profile to the Name Study

To see profiles already included in the Awbrey Name Study, see Category: Awbrey Name Study

To include a profile in the Awbrey Name Study, add the sticker to the profile page (which also adds the category):

This profile is part of the Awbrey Name Study.

{{One Name Study|name=Awbrey}}

The sticker should be placed in the text, below == Biography == (see Help:Stickers#Location on profiles).

Note: This Name Study was begun in 2017. Things we considered (from the One Name Studies FAQ page) were which profiles should be included in the study.

We decided to include everyone with the surname Awbrey/Aubrey (and other variations), to include males, females (maiden name), and adoptees with the Awbrey/Aubrey/etc. surname. We also include those who married into the family - both the wives of an Awbrey/Aubrey/etc. (whether or not they take the name) and the men who married an Awbrey. By including in this category all Awbrey/Aubrey/etc. profiles, as well as their spouses', we hope to facilitate family research and help cousins find us.

One purpose of a One Name Study is to facilitate DNA studies. For autosomal or mitochondrial DNA studies, anyone born into the family, male and female, should be identified, but if you are looking at Y-DNA, you would want to identify Awbrey/Aubrey/etc. males. At a future time an additional category may be added that would include only Awbrey/Aubrey/etc. males in order to facilitate Y-DNA studies.