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BLACKBURN Family History

This ancient place name and surname is Anglo-Scottish. It is locational, and is said to derive chiefly from the town of Blackburn in the county of Lancashire, although there are other minor places, particularly in Scotland, which have given rise to instances of the surname. Blackburn (in Lancashire) is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as "Blacheburne", and later in 1187 as "Blakeburn". This placename, and all of the others, share the same meaning and derivation. This is "the dark-coloured stream", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "blaec", meaning black, with "burna", a stream. In Lancashire, the stream from which the town was named is now called the Blackwater...