Recorded as Durbar, Durber and Durbur, this is almost certainly an English surname. It is well recorded in the early surviving church registers of the city of London. We believe that the name is locational from a now 'lost' or certainly much diminished hamlet, called St Cuthbert without Durbar, part of the town of Carlisle, in Cumbria, on the Scottish borders. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes, to move somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such strangers was to call them by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case though, the spelling seem to have remained quite constant and accurate over the centuries. Early examples of the name recording taken from surviving church registers of the city of London from the time of King James 1st of England and V1th of Scotland, (1603 - 1625) include Raphe Durbar, who married Jean Foxe at St Mary Magdalene, on July 20th 1619, Robert Durber, also recorded as Robert Durbar, was a witness at the church of St Lawrence Jewry on March 31st 1737, and William Durbur, was christened at St Giles Cripplegate, on April 9th 1806. The name may mean 'deer wood' from the Olde English pre 7th century 'deor-bearu', but this is not proven.

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