"A Spearing By Any Other Name"

Peter Paul Rubens' grandparents, Bartholomeus Rubens
and Barbara Arents Spierinck
(Rubenshuis Museum, Antwerp, Belgium)

The Surname Database says that “Spearing” is an unusual name. It is said to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a patronymic (or a derivative) form of the surname “Spear”, which itself comes from the pre 7th century Olde English secondary name of “Spere”. This name originally could have meant a tall thin person, or someone who was experienced with using a hunting spear, or even someone whose occupation was making spears.

“Early recordings of the surname from this source include: Walter Speare (Somerset, 1185), and Henry Spere (Lancashire, 1246). Nicknames were given in the first instance with reference to a variety of personal characteristics, such as physical attributes or peculiarities, and also to habits of dress and occupation. The Olde English suffix "ing", when attached to a personal name, means "sons, descendants" or "dependent men of". In the modern idiom the patronymic forms of the name appear as: Spiring, Spering, Sperring and Spearing. On December 18th 1552, Richard Spering, an infant, was christened in Whittington, Gloucestershire, and on September 8th 1677, Mary, daughter of Thomas Spearing, was christened in Evenlode, Gloucestershire.” (source).

Surnames became a necessity in England with the introduction of poll taxes (or head taxes) in the mid-14th century which were instituted in conjunction with censuses (I wonder how many Spearings took part in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381). What makes things even more interesting are the number of variations in the spelling of the name that exist. In addition to the variants noted above, there may be many others: Sperrin, Spearin, Speiring, Speryng, Sperengue, Spierinck, Spierinke and Spearink, just to name a few. Some of these are thought to have not actually originated in England, but in either Germany or Holland in the 12th century or before. On casual reading of other genealogists’ research on the Spearing name it is noted that the paternal grandmother of famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was Barbara Arents Spierinck, and she is featured in a painting on display at the Rubenshuis Museum in Antwerp, Belgium (source).  There was also a lesser-known Flemish painter named Carel Philips Spierinck who was also active in the first half of the 17th century. Were they relatives of mine? Perhaps…

Many genealogists hit the wall when they go as far back as the middle ages in their research for obvious reasons. Lack of sufficient or accurate records from these eras make the tracing of one’s ancient roots a terribly difficult task. There are no clear indications as to how, when, or why spelling variations exist – we can assume that at least some of them are the result of census takers or record keepers spelling out names phonetically at the time they were recorded. All part of the utter bliss that is felt when an important discovery is made and verified to be correct.