Surnames_?

Question

Are the surnames Rainwater and Cartwright British or what?

Answer 1

Surname: Cartwright

This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is from an occupational name for a maker of carts. The name derives from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) word "cart", a transposed form of the Olde English pre 7th Century "craet", cart, or an adaptation of the Old Norse form "kartr", with the Olde English "wyrhta, wryhta", craftsman, a derivative of "wyrcan", to work, make. This latter element appears in a number of medieval surnames such as "Wainwright", a maker of wagons, and "Wheelwright", a wheel-maker. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Interestingly, although the surname Cartwright is recorded at the end of the 13th Century (see below), as a vocabulary word it does not occur before the 15th Century; the name development since then includes: Richard the Cartwrytte (1290, Cheshire), and William le Cartewryght (circa 1300, Yorkshire). Henry Cartwright married Alyce Lvnne on May 30th 1579, at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, and John Cartwright was an early settler in Virginia; he is listed as living in "James City" in 1623. The Coat of Arms usually associated with the name is on an ermine shield a black fesse between three black fireballs fired proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John le Cartwereste, which was dated 1275, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcesterhowe", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307

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Rainwater    

Last name origin & meaning:

Americanized form of the German family name Reinwasser, possibly a topographic name for someone who lived by a source of fresh water, from Middle High German reine ‘pure’ + wazzer ‘water’.

Answer 2

The following information came from www.ancestry.com

Rainwater Name Meaning and History

Americanized form of the German family name Reinwasser, possibly a topographic name for someone who lived by a source of fresh water, from Middle High German reine ‘pure’ + wazzer ‘water’.

Cartwright Name Meaning and History

English: occupational name for a maker of carts, from Middle English cart(e) + wright ‘craftsman’ (see Wright). The surname is attested from the late 13th century, although the vocabulary word does not occur before the 15th century.

And I found this information on this website,

http://www.surnamedb.com/

Surname: Cartwright

This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is from an occupational name for a maker of carts. The name derives from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) word "cart", a transposed form of the Olde English pre 7th Century "craet", cart, or an adaptation of the Old Norse form "kartr", with the Olde English "wyrhta, wryhta", craftsman, a derivative of "wyrcan", to work, make. This latter element appears in a number of medieval surnames such as "Wainwright", a maker of wagons, and "Wheelwright", a wheel-maker. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Interestingly, although the surname Cartwright is recorded at the end of the 13th Century (see below), as a vocabulary word it does not occur before the 15th Century; the name development since then includes: Richard the Cartwrytte (1290, Cheshire), and William le Cartewryght (circa 1300, Yorkshire). Henry Cartwright married Alyce Lvnne on May 30th 1579, at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, and John Cartwright was an early settler in Virginia; he is listed as living in "James City" in 1623. The Coat of Arms usually associated with the name is on an ermine shield a black fesse between three black fireballs fired proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John le Cartwereste, which was dated 1275, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcesterhowe", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The both sound English. Though Rain water sound more American Indian...

Answer 4

English

Answer 5

Cartwright sounds British but Rainwater doesn't! That sounds American Indian!

Answer 6

Rainwater can come from many backgorunds from Finnish, to German to Native American and can include Scottish or English (Anglo) ancestry too. you should like the following site. there are many people with british ancestry with this name.

.http://chronography.com/rainwater/name.h...

Cartwright is indeed Anglo.  \Tthere are alwways exceptions, but this one is a pretty safe bet.