Thew (surname)

Origin and meaning

There are a number of differing etymological theories for the surname Thew. One theory is that it arose as a status name derived from the Norse word thewar meaning a bondsman. A bondsman was a young man, often the son of a knight, who was responsible for the horse, weapons and armour of a lord or chief. Their reward was usually promotion to the rank of squire and later, especially if proven in battle, they could become a knight in their own right. Other sources, including The Oxford University Press cite the Old English word thēaw, meaning manner of behaving (origin unknown), and the noun thew, meaning muscular strength, that arose in Middle English and was applied to people with 'good bodily proportions, muscular development'.

One of the earliest written records of the name Thew is referred to on page 375 of The history of the borough, castle, and barony of Alnwick by George Tate which states "in the great pipe roll of 1197 William Thew is charged 12d. for an enclosure from a forest in Northumberland."

Early bearers of the surname in North America include John Thew who married Elsie Snedecker, daughter of Teunis Snedecker and Neeltje Polhemus, in about 1725 in New York.

Related surnames

Surnames that are variants of, have evolved in to or been confused with Thew, or that exhibit a similar etymology include Tew, Thewe, Thewes, Thews and Thow.

Distribution maps

University College London (UCL) conducted the Great Britain Family Names Profiling project to investigate the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic. The main data source was the United Kingdom Census 1881 which states that, in 1881, the frequency of the Thew surname in the UK was 398 (15 occurrences per million names) but, although this increased to 483 in 1998, this increase had not kept pace with the wider population and the occurrences per million names had dropped to 13. This is further illustrated by the fact that Thew had a rank order of 7,870 in 1881, which dropped to 9,084 by 1998. The study also considered the international distribution of surnames and, using data collated for the time period 2000 to 2005, found that the frequency of the surname Thew per million names was highest in Australia with 43.36 instances per million names, followed by New Zealand at 19.05 per million, the United Kingdom with 10.88 per million, the United States at 2.6 per million and Canada with only 1.6 per million. Maps illustrating these distributions can be generated on the project website.

Emigration

Our Thew family heritage traced North American Thews back to John Thew (mentioned in Origin and meaning above) who was ...of Welsh origin... and ...a sea-captain...

A large proportion of Australian Thews are descended from John Thew (1801-1864) and his wife, Mary Reay (1799-1873) who left England on the Australia in 1826, arriving in Sydney, New South Wales on 7 January 1827. Other Australian Thews are descended from Clifford Thew (1885-1941) who was born on Guernsey and grew up in Woolwich, London or from John Thew, who left Durham in 1876 and also settled in New South Wales.

However, as recorded on the 1910 United States Census, John's nephew Thomas (1860-1915) opted for Coal, Northumberland, Pennsylvania in 1885.

Thew one-name study

The Thew one-name study is registered with both the Guild of One-Name Studies and The Surname Society and is co-ordinated by John Thew, who is a descendent of the Alnwick Thews. The Guild of One-Name Studies considers the Thew study to be a medium-size study (398 occurrences in the UK in 1881) which it applies to studies of between 300 and 3,000 occurrences.

Thew DNA study

In 2014, the Thew One-Name Study embarked upon a Y-DNA test programme, in order to help determine how many genetic origins there are to the surname.

Armed forces

Arthur William Thew DCM (1877-1943), Serjeant Major, Durham Light Infantry

George Thew Burke (1776–1854), Canadian soldier, merchant and politician

Arts and entertainment

Linda McCullough Thew (1918-2013), British author

Manora Thew (1891–1987), British actress

Robert Thew (1758-1802), English engraver

Education

Flora Thew (1890-1970), Teacher (48 years), Flora Thew Elementary School, Tempe AZ

Law and politics

Daniel Thew Wright (1864–1943), American judge

Sport

Julian Thew (born 1967), British poker player