Recorded as Busfield and Bousfield, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname. It is locational from a place called Bousfield in the English county of Westmorland. Meaning the field enclosed by bush, the first element is from the Old Norse-Viking pre 7th century word "buske", and the second from the Old English word "feld" meaning a pasture or specifically a large open area suitable for grazing. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names that were given to people in the medieval period after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. it was then, and it remains so today, that one of the easiest ways to identify a stranegr was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Early examples of the surname recording include Batholomew Bousfield, in the register of Queens College Oxford, in 1575, Stephen Bousfield who married Louise Latyton at St georges chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, in 1809, and Edward Collins Bousfield who married Clara Hennan at Islip, Oxford in 1882. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Busfeld. This was dated 1342, in the Pipe Rolls of Cumberland, during the reign of King Edward lll of England, 1327 - 1377. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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