Re: Origins of the name DAMERY
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In reply to:
Re: Origins of the name DAMERY
12/21/00
Changes in vowels were so common (there were few spelling rules and in the dark ages and medieval times writing was usually in bad Latin) that various derivations of a name were the rule, not the exception. The original name is Amery, or D'Amery when the Normans added the "d'" (meaning "of"), which changed through the passage of time to Damory, Damery, Damiry, Dimery, etc. by those who droppd the apostrophe, and when the "d" was dropped, back to Amery, Emery, Amerey, Emory, Emry, even Imry, etc. Since your relatives were from Gloucestershire the connection to Damery of Gloucestershire is too close to be a mere coincidence. In that regard I refer you to the Damery Website by Scott and Kathy Damery who have recently done an excellent job in giving a long history of the name. The website is: http://www.damery.org/http://www.damery.org/. Click on "History" at the top if the top menu bar displays. Sometimes it does not display and if it does not then click on the bottom runnung banner when "History" appears in the run of other topics.
I believe that the English part of the history is quite accurate, but they have not yet included Sir Gilbert d'Amery (or Damery) who is listed in the best authorities, e.g. The Doomsday Book and The Roll of Battle Abbey. However, there may well have been more than one Amery who came to England from Normandy after 1066. I do seriously question whether the name evolved from Damritter and tend to agree with the works "Patrynomica Britannica" and Anderson's "Sir Names" which state that it evolved from the North German name Emerich, which in turn had evolved from the Gothic Amalrick.