Dr Craig Furneaux

Furneaux – meaning and variations of the name

I grew up in a small steel and coal mining town in Australia in the 60s and 70s, generally known as the kid with the funny sounding foreign name. So over the years I have often wondered where the name came from, and what it meant. This blog outlines the background and history of the name, backed up by multiple sources.

Variations on the name Furneaux – made at https://www.wordclouds.com/

The meaning of ‘Furneaux’

According to  Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary [p.156] the name originally was ‘de Fourneaux” which means ‘of the furnaces’, in the sense of a place name. In French, furneau is the singular – furnace, and in old French it was spelt fournel (which helps to explain some of the variants below). So simply put, Furneaux means furnaces, and as it was ‘de fourneaux’, meant from the place of the furnaces.A map search shows that there are many places in France called Fourneaux. Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland argues the original migrant to Britain came from Fourneaux near Manche. A search online suggests there are many other places, including Les Vieux (old) Fourneaux near Bayeux, however this may be just a location, not a township.Fourneaux, Manche

Earliest Mentions

The earliest mentions of the name in the United Kingdom are from:

  • The Battle Abbey Roll [1577 – Leyland]
    • the list of knights who travelled to England with William the Conqueror) which was meant to have been taken near the time of the conquest.
    • Unfortunately, there are multiple Battle Abbey Rolls, and the names listed are contested.
  • The Falaise Roll [1931] recorded prominent companions of William, not necessarily those who fought at Hastings
  • Exon Domesday [1086]

So there is good evidence from a tax census, that the Furneaux took up residence in the early years of the reign of King William, however the evidence that he fought at Hastings is not strong.

Variants on the Name

While this blog has followed my personal family tree spelling of Furneaux, which is also the main variant listed in the references below, the name has many variants:

“Such variations are constantly found in different documents where the same person is evidently meant and even in different parts of the same document. Similar variations occur in the spelling of the local name Furness in Lancashire”

Howard, J. (1900) Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica Volume III. London: Mitchell and Hughes. p.272

Post Revisions:

24 comments

  1. Hi Craig, I have just found your site and will look forward to reading your posts with interest. I’m also in Australia and have Furneaux in Buckfastleigh, Devon in my line for at least 7 generations when the last of them married into my Shapter (Buckfastleigh) line. Good to read some of their history. Kind regards,
    Louise

    Reply

    • Hi Louise

      Great to hear from you and I hope to pick up the pace a bit as there is a suprising amount of history once you start diggin

      All the best

      Craig

      Reply

  2. Hi Graig, thanks for your post. My surname is Fruneaux. My known family (from that side) emigrated from the Dutch East Indies to the Netherlands after decolonization. The story is that the Fruneaux surname arrived there via two young British boys, twins, who were stranded in Mauritius after shipwreck and were picked up by a Dutch ship, late 18th century, and brought to Batavia. I always suspected a link with the Furneaux family name – that perhaps the u an r switched during registration in Batavia. Never made the effort of properly researching it. But perhaps it rings a bell? Any story of long lost twins in the family tree?

    Reply

    • Dear Christiaan,

      Great to hear from you, and yes the names do shift spelling regularly so anything is possible. It is great you have an oral history. I have personally found great joy when the oral history can be backed up with something written.

      In terms of the 2 boys, one thing to note is that there is a very strong family tradition in the armed forces in the UK – army and navy. If it was a shipwreck, and they were young, it is likely they were young mariners. There where 7 ships lost around Mauritius in the late 17th to 18th Century. Some of these where wrecks and others where lost in naval battles.

      Do you have any other information (such as when in the 18th Century? Mauritius became a British colony late 1810, and so it is likely that they were on one of the earlier wrecks.

      I’ll reply via email too

      Cheers

      Craig

      Reply

  3. Hi Craig ,you bear a startling resemblance to my son .
    Most interesting , I’ve known about the bayeux tapestry links since my sister found when she worked at Folkestone library . Back in the early 80s , I was looking to visit France fishing and was looking to find somewhere near to what may have been my ancestral home .
    Regards
    Stephen m Furneaux
    Furneaux of the Romney marsh

    Reply

    • Great to hear from you Stephen. I am picking up the traces for the site, so keep checking back in a few months as I have found a few more interesting ancestors. Would love any information you have about Furneaux history, particularly Bayeux tapestry and the Norman Conquest if you had anything. Best wishes, Craig

      Reply

      • Craig , thanks for your response . Apologies for sending two emails the first didn’t show as sent !! We have an incredible history what with Tobias , as far as I have gathered we were barons to the Duke of Normandy and were awarded lands especially across the south of England in the magna carta . I haven’t looked further than my nose but am aware of relatives from Australia and Canada visiting my grandfather in Bromley Kent where my own history began also my grandfathers brother when they fell out moved to Jaywick Essex another source possibly that may shed light . It’s also interesting to note how many Furneaux’s exist in USA especially with Tobias being a prisoner there . Keep up the hunting ,
        Best regards
        Steve f.

      • Hi Stephen, If you have a look at the posts on Anskitel de Fourneaux and Odo de Fourneaux, these will give you their details and the lands. I don’t think we were actually barons, more like minor nobility, as neither held lands directly from the King according to the Domesday Books. Tobias had no children as far as I can tell (at least none admitted). The Furneaux travelled to USA, Canada and Australia in 17-18 centuries.

      • You’ve delved further than I have Craig , it’s interesting to note that Winchester and london doesn’t have records in domesday both of which have links to our family . Do you know of any derivatives like Furnival being tied to the Furneaux as they are an oldish family here on the Romney marsh also my sister has commented that there maybe tied to the north of England predating are Norman invaders , I seem to remember reading that William was related to Denmark areas and that’s how they came to Normandy via wales and the west coast , something I picked up in past forays into our heritage .
        Maybe we were already tied to Britain via the biking landings . It’s something that I’ve never had time for before and only ever glanced at or listened to my sister Dawn . I will keep an eye on your posts as being into my later years it’s interesting to see what or who is outside my little marsh kingdom . Take care and good luck on the hunt Craig

      • Hi Stephen, yes the Furnival are listed as variations on Furneaux in Kirby’s Quest for Somerset (1284-85).

  6. 1) How is Furneaux pronounced? 2) Is there any reference to a ‘dragon’ being in the family crest, if any?

    Reply

    • Furneaux is pronounced like other French names: bureau, chateau, gateau etc. and anglicised pronunciation is ferno. Furneaux comes from the French Fourneau or furnace (hence inferno). The x is silence in French and just signifies that the noun is plural

      Reply

      • Had to reply whilst looking up where my ancestors may have lived in France . You bear a startling resemblance to my son , it’s uncanny I am Stephen m Furneaux born in beckenham ( london when I was born) . I have known about tge bayeux links since my sister worked for Folkestone library in the early 80’s . Most interesting posts on our ancestry as my family have always been drawn to Somerset and Devon .
        Hopefully sometime soon I will go visit our ancestral territory in France .
        Regards
        Steve Furneaux
        The Furneaux of the Romney marsh .

    • I don’t know of any dragons in crest. Most are gules argent six cross crosslets

      Reply

      • My ancestor Sir Thomas Furneaux was a knight of the church and had his coat of arms displayed in the church. would it still be the college of arms that would have issued it.
        also a thought about the dragon, both Somerset and Devon have a Wyvern Dragon on their coats of arms may this have been incorporated when the Furneaux’s were High Sherriff’s of the counties.

      • Hi, great that you have found a particular relative with an interesting history. If they had a coat of arms then yes this would be from the College of Arms, so best to contact them directly to verify. I have never seen a dragon in the coat of arms for any Furneaux, and my understanding is that individual family arms are not necessarily related to positions they may have held (as many people can be in a position like a Sherriff in a given decade).

Please interact with this site: comment, leave a reply, join the conversation

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.