Gossage

Recorded in several spellings including Gorstidge, Gorstige, Gorstice, Gorstage, Gossage, Gorsuch and possibly others, this unusual name is locational. It is English and originates from a hamlet called Gorsuch in the parish of Ormskirk in the county of Lancashire. The famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley who in 1880 wrote one of the definitive dictionaries of English surnames and probably the most honest, states that the "many variants spellings are curious but natural. The letter t is intrusive, and is also found in the Lancashire surnames Gorse and Gorst, which are the same name". Gorsuch probably means "The gorse covered ridge." As a locational surname it can be either one given to the local lord of the manor and his descendants as seems to be the case here, or more normally to people who left the village to move somewhere else. The early recordings include Henry Gorsage of Kirkdale, Lancashire, in 1579, James Gorsuch of Gorsuch, recorded as "Gentleman", whose will was lodged at the Wills Register, Chester, in 1615, and Henry Gorstich of West Derby, Liverpool, in 1669.