Recorded as Flight, Flighty, Flightey, Flights, (English) and Flieg, Fliege, Flieger (German), and possibly others, this is a surname of Germanic origins. It would seem to derive from the pre 7th century Anglo-Saxon 'fliegr' meaning to fly, and was probably given as a nickname to a fast runner, such as a courier or messenger, one whose job was to cover the ground as quickly as possible. Nicknames form one of the largest groups of medieval Eurpoean surnames and this would seem to be a good example of the genre. Surprisingly perhaps the surname is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London from at least Elizabethan times, although it does not seem to be recorded in any of the dictionaries of British or Irish surnames. It appears in the German dictionary of surnames, being first recorded as early as 1338 with that of Dietrich Flieger of Niederstotzen by Ulm. In London Robert Flight married Margaret Castell at the church of St Gregory's by St Pauls Cathedral on February 20th 1624.

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