Guppy - Meno

Recorded as Guppie, Guppy, and Guppey, this is a famous English locational surname. Many people have thought that it was continental, but this is about as far from the truth as it is possible to get. In origin this name is Olde English pre 7th century, the derivation being from the tiny hamlet of Guppy near Wootton Fitzpaine in the county of Dorset, first recorded as Gupehegh in the 12th century. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names, the translation is "Guppa's leah", or more pragmatically the farm of a person called Guppa, a short form of Gubbeort, which may have been Gilbert. What is certain is that the family name has been associated with the region since the very begining of surnames with one Nicholas de Gupehegh being recorded in the Pipe Rolls of the county as early as 1253. William Guppy, from whom it is claimed most name holders descend today, was a well known rebel. He was heavily fined and lucky to get away so lightly, for his (alleged) part in the revolt of Perkin Warbeck in 1497. This was one of the many unsuccessful attempts made by the defeated House of York at the end of the War of the Roses, to try to find a figurehead to put up against King Henry V11 (1485 - 1510.