Recorded in a number of spellings including Frip, Fripp, Fripps, Frape and Phripp, this is an English medieval surname. It is one of a group of nickname developments such as Flis, Phip, and Phil of the famous Ancient Greek personal, and later surname, 'Phillipos', meaning 'lover of horses'. There are estimated to be over three hundred variations of the surname ranging from the English and French Phillip and Phillipe, to the German Lipgens, and the Russian Filipchikov. However spelt the name was first introduced into Europe by the famous Knight Templars (Crusaders) when they returned home in the 11th and 12th centuries. This was after their long and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to 'free' the Holy Land from the Muslims. Normally such 'introduced' names were biblical, the Crusades being a time of Christian revival, but in this case the historical reference has been stretched somewhat to include Alexander, the Great, who was certainly no Christian! In this specific spelling the first known recording in the early English church registers may be that of William Frip, at the famous church of St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, city of London, on June 15th 1579, whilst Cornelia Fripp married Edras Wallis, at St Nicholas, Deptford, Kent, on May 14th 1581. Other examples are those of John and Mary Fripps, witnesses at St Pauls Church, Covent Garden, London, on September 29th 1717, and in the USA the earliest recording that we have appears to be that of John I Fripp, at Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church, Duchess, New York State, on May 4th 1814.

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