The Origin of The Surname, Dampier

by
James D. Dampier


I
The Traditional View

The English surname Dampier is an anglicized form of the French Dampierre, which seems to have had its origin in Normandy, France. At least, the overwhelming weight of evidence points to that conclusion. It is a place name, that is, a surname that derives it existence from a location.
In the book, Surnames Are The Fossils of Speech, Samuel Brown indicates that Dampier is of French origin, dom Pierre meaning Lord Peter or Sir Peter. The title DOM, which later became DAM, might come from the Latin Dominus meaning Lord or Master or perhaps even Saint. Pierre, of course, is the French form of Peter. The French place names, Dompierre and Dampierre, are derived to give honor to Saint Peter, the apostle of the Bible. S. Baring-Gould in Family Names and Their Story gives Dampierre as a place name in Seine Inferieuer. There are many others.
According to Charles Wareing Bardsley in his Dictionary of English and Welch Surnames, the English Dampier is a later form of the French Dampierre. He lists Dampier as being derived from the local name, de Dampierre, a place near Dieppe, France, also a place in the department of Orne, both located in lower Normandy, France.
In A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, Dampier is represented as Norman English and as being a habitation name from any of the various places in Normandy named Dampierre, in honor of St. Peter. The first element of the name, Dam, or Don, is an OF title of respect from the Latin Dominus meaning Lord. This prefix is attached particularly to the name of saints.
Earnest Weekly, in Romance of Names, states that a number of families in England bear an easily recognizable French town or village name. As one of his examples he gives the name Dampier; (Dampierre, i.e. St.Peter's, 28). The number in brackets indicates the number of times that the French local name appears in the postal directory. He gives Dampier as being derived from Dame and Peter, meaning "The Dome of St. Peter" or "The Dome of the Rock."
Another source connecting the Dampier name with France is found in a reference concerning the Counts of Flanders. During the Middle Ages the ancient "House of Dampierre" became reigning Counts of Flanders. Historical documentation connects these Counts of Flanders to the Dampiers of England.
In an article on Sir Henry Dampier, Provost of Eton, in Judges of England by Foss, we read:

"the de Dampierres, anciently Counts of Flanders, are the reputed ancestors of the amiable Judge."

There is also inscribed on a mural in the Church of Carfe Castle the following remarks:

"Sacred to the Memory of Edward Dampier, a lineal descendant of a Count from the Province of Burgundy, in French Flanders, who died June 14, 1774."

The ancestors of the Normans were the Vikings. They were an adventurous, seafaring group from Scandinavia, spreading through Europe and the North Atlantic during that period known as the Viking Age. In 911 they seized control of the provence of Normandy in France and were ceded the area by the French king, Charles III. Their leader, Thorfinn Rollo, was recognized as the First Duke of Normandy. The ancestral stock of the Dampiers was the Vikings.
Intermarriage of the families of Norman dukes and Saxon kings gave William, the Duke of Normandy, a questionable claim to the English throne. On the pretext that he had been promised the throne, he invaded England in 1066 and defeated the Saxon King Harold at the "Battle of Hastings." William became "The Conqueror" and made the English people his subjects and gave most of their land to his Norman followers in appreciation for their participation in The Battle of Hastings. 1066 is as familiar a date for English children as 1492 is for American children. In the years to follow, many Norman family names showed up in England. It was the movement of the Normans across the Channel that became the method of the Dampierres of France becoming the Dampiers of England.
The first Dampiers in England appear to have settled in the counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. There is a William Dampier who held land in Yorkshire in 1229. According to Charles Bardsley, the Hundred Roll of 1273 and The Modern Doomsday Book have Richard de Dampier of the County of Lincolnshire, England, as a land owner in 1273 and list him as a London Court Director.
According to Burk's Landed Gentry, 1939 edition, less than three hundred years later, early in the 1500's, it appears from Herald's Visitations, Close Rolls, Inquisitions and other records that the Dampier Family was settled in Somerset with Collingshays as their family seat. It was in East Coker in Somersetshire that William Dampier, the explorer, was born.



II
An Alternate View

Sir William Cecil Dampier Whetham, 12/27/1867 - 12/11/1952, English author, scientist, professor and agriculturist, presents a slightly different view of the origin of the English Dampiers. In his autobiography, Cambridge and Elsewhere, Sir Cecil states that he was unable to discover any documentary evidence to support the belief that the Somerset Dampiers are derived from the Foresters of Flanders. He does acknowledge that the Dampier black rampant heraldic lion on a shield of gold appears to have been derived from the Arms of Flanders.
Sir Cecil says that a search of Herald's Visitations, Wills and Close Rolls, indicated that a John Davenport or Damport came to Somerset from Cheshire about 1500 and settled at Lovington. His name may have been corrupted to Dampiert and then to Dampier in local speech and in documents that needed an alias. He affirms, "Personally I think this is the truth, though I am not quite sure this is the whole truth." He further suggests that possibly there may have been two families, the Dampiers and the Damports, that got assimilated. In his genealogical notes he points out that "Several branches of the Dampier family have resided in the Counties of Somerset and Dorset since the sixteenth century."
An examination of the Subsidy Rolls of 1543 and 1544 show that the Dampiers were residing in several parishes of Somerset and Dorset suggesting that they were an old family well established in these counties. In the century to follow they are found well established in Devon. All three of these counties are adjacent to each other and are located in the southwestern portion of England.
Gerald Devey using Sir Cecil's original manuscripts finds that the Close Rolls dated 1583 & 1599 have the name written Dampier alias Damport. He says that a search of The College of Arms and the Harlian MSS (Manuscripts) at the British Museum reveal that the Hearold's Visitations of 1582 show John Dampyer alias Damport of Lovington, Somerset, was entered as descended from the ancient family of Damport or Davenport of Bramhill County, Cheshire.


III
The Name in America

The most consistent spelling of the English form of our name has been D-A-M-P-I-E-R. According to A Gazetteer of English Surnames the correct English pronunciation is Da`pure (emphasizing the "a" as in Dam, but with the "m" silent). Family names are, however, very personal and the ways that they are pronounced are affected by regional dialects, tradition, and personal choice.
In America, there are several alternative spellings that seem to have developed by choice. There are two that are most common. One is found in the New York line of Dampiers and is "Damphier." The other is indigenous to Mississippi and is "Dampeer." There are interesting stories behind both of these changes.
Concerning the New York spelling, DAMPHIER, the following suggestion was offered by Michael Scott Dampier and is supported by others from this line. Two sons of William Dampier, grandson of William Chapel Dampier, Lester and Harold Patrick, started pronouncing and spelling the name with an "h" simply because "everyone wanted to do it that fashion anyway." Michael suggests that living in proximity to descendants of the French population of Canada there was a popular family name of "Lamphere" and perhaps by extension, it seemed natural for them to pronounce Dampier with the "h". At any rate, two brothers, Lester and Patrick added the "h," and one brother, William, Michael Scott Dampier's father, retained the original English spelling, DAMPIER.
The Mississippi spelling of DAMPEER is less documented, but the story must be told even if it is to be viewed as "family lore". A review of the documents available seems to give some credence to it, however. Prior to the Civil War the name was spelled the traditional DAMPIER. In the 1860 census James M., Stephen D., and William G., all sons of Stephen Dampier, had there names spelled as DAMPIER. In the 1870 census, the first census following the Civil War, we have black families listed by name. Black family names of DAMPIER are found. It has been suggested that these were freed slaves of Mississippi Dampiers and that like many free slaves they had no last name. As a tribute to the favorable treatment they had received as slaves and as a sign of respect, they took the last name of their owners. This is coherent with the practice of the period. Still later, in the latter 1870's and 1880's the white DAMPIERS began to spell their name with two "E's" to distinguish themselves from the black Dampiers. Thus, DAMPEER becomes indigenous to the Mississippi family.

IV
More Variance in American Spellings

Those of us who have been involved in genealogical research and have examined original documents, secondary sources representing original records, and reprints have seen spellings such as Dampier, Dampeer, Dampure, Dampyear, Damper, Dampher, Damphier, and others.
Why do these various spellings appear? Other than those already discussed, there are basically two reasons. First, if we consult early census records, deeds, marriage records, and court records, we find that most pioneer Dampiers were farmers and were unable to read or write. When they told an official their name the official, whether a census taker or court employee, spelled it the way he or she heard it or the way it was pronounced by that particular family. As family members learned to read and write, they picked up the spelling as they might have seen it written on an older document. For example, if a mother and father could not read or write and a court official or minister had spelled the name Damper on their marriage license, then it is likely that the offspring, as they learned to write, would spell the name Damper. Thus, the spelling developed out of tradition. Sometimes spellings developed simply because a person learning to read was unable to read the handwriting on the document. A deed or land survey might have the spelling, Dampier, but if the original writer did not dot the "I" and the "E" did not have a loop in it, then it would be "seen" as "U" and they would spell their name Dampure.
There is a second reason for the various spellings, particularly in printed books. Often the compiler was not familiar with the family name, and because they may have been working with hundreds of names, they "typed" the name the way the handwriting appeared to them. This became clear to me very early in my research when working with some South Carolina records. Printed books and indexes would have the name spelled Dampure or Dampeer. However, a close examination of the original documents would have it spelled Dampier, but this was not apparent to the untrained eye or casual observer not familiar with the name.
In 1870 Florida census indexes we find the name spelled "Dampgear." However, looking at the original, the "Y" in Dampyear is simply written to look like a "G".