Millichip

Recorded in several forms including Millichamp, Millichap, Millichip, and Millichope, this is an English surname. It is locational from the village of Millichope, in the county of Shropshire, first recorded as Melicope in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and as Milinghope in the Pipe Rolls of Shropshire in 1199. The placename itself is apparently composed of the conflicting Olde English pre 7th century elements "mylen", meaning a mill, "hlinc", a hill, and "hop", an enclosed valley; which suggests a meaning of the mill on the hill overlooking the valley or it may refer to the village being at the foot of a hill with a windmill on it. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often used their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the surname. Early examples of the surname recording include Roger de Miligehop, mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Shropshire in 1255, and one Roger Millichap, whose marriage on June 13th 1555 was recorded in the first year that parish registers were kept for the parish of Munslow in Shropshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Millinghope. This was dated 1199, in the Pipe Rolls of Shropshire, during the reign of King Richard 1st, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.