Recorded in various spellings including Stolworthy, Stallworthy, and Stollery, a fused spelling found almost entirely in the county of Suffolk, this surname is English. It is locational and probably originates from the now "lost" medieval village called Stallworth. If not the surname may be topographical for one who lived by a lake or pond in an area of cleared ground. The origin is the pre 7th century "stal-worp", and the surname is well recorded in London, and the home counties. It has been estimated that over five thousand surnames of the British Isles including many in Ireland, originate from places that no longer exist. These at various times since the 12th century, have disappeared because of famine, plague, coastal erosion, occasionally war, and more often changes in farming practice. Examples of the surname recording include Janan Stallworthy, married at St. Martins in the Field, Westminster, on May 21st 1672, Elizabeth Stollery who married William Stimson at St Matthews Ipswich, on April 23rd 1689, and Edmund Stolworthy a witness at the church of St. Mary-Le-Bone, city of London, on November 19th 1768. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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