Origin of the Surname Belknap or Belnap

Short History of the Surname Belknap or Belnap

Belknap or Belnap is a surname of Norman French origin from England that may come from the Anglo-Norman words “belle,” meaning beautiful, and “knap,” meaning the crest or summit of a small hill.  (Scroll further below for a more in-depth discussion on the etymology of Belknap.)  Although today the “k” in Belknap is generally silent as in the words “knight” or “knee,” it is evident from documents dating from the Middle English period that it was originally pronounced as a hard “k.”

The surname is believed to be monogenetic, meaning that it is derived from just one original bearer at one particular place and time (as opposed to polygenetic surnames which are surnames coined independently in many different places).  As far as is presently known, the surname “Belknap” (including known or presumed variants) does not appear in any definitive documented source before the second quarter of the 14th Century.  The earliest documentary reference to someone with this surname is to John de Belknap, who first appears in Wiltshire in 1327.  He later appears to have moved to London around the time the Black Death arrived in England.  John was the father of Sir Robert Belknap, who served as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of England from 1374 to 1388.

The surname Belknap, as carried through descendants of Sir Robert Belknap, appears to have died out with Sir Robert’s great grandson, Sir Edward Belknap (about 1471-1521).  However, several other males surnamed Belknap whose connections to Sir Robert are at present unknown were contemporaries of Sir Robert’s family during the 15th and 16th Centuries and likely have a genealogical connection.  The Belknap surname may have continued through one of these other contemporaneous Belknaps through the Beltoft family of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who resided near several of the early manors of the early Belknaps and suddenly assumed or resumed using the surname Belknap in the late 1500s-early 1600s, not long before Abraham Belknap (formerly known as Beltoft) emigrated to the New World in the 1630s.

(The early female Belknaps married into a number of notable English families.  Sir Robert Belknap’s direct descendants include many notable persons, including William Shakespeare, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Francis Bacon, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, and England’s current reigning monarch, King Charles III.)

Most, if not all, Belknaps or Belnaps in America are believed to descend from one man, Abraham Belknap (formerly known as Beltoft) (chr. 1589/1590-1643), a Puritan who migrated from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England to Lynn, Massachusetts about 1635.  His descendants eventually spread across New England and beyond to the mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and even to Oregon and Utah where many Belknaps/Belnaps reside to this day.  Many persons who today spell the surname “Belnap” are known to descend from American Revolutionary War soldier Jesse Belnap (1760-1854), grandfather of Utah Pioneer Gilbert Belnap (1821-1899).

Today, a wide variety of locations and institutions are named Belknap or Belnap, all of which are believed to be connected in some manner to Abraham Belknap, the early Puritan emigrant to America.  (For a list of “things” named Belnap or Belknap, click here.)

Common family lore states that the surname Belknap “died out” in its home country of England within a few generations following the emigration to Massachusetts of Abraham Belknap.  That the surname Belknap did not die out immediately after the emigration of Abraham Belknap is clear from the number of later references to individuals in England surnamed Belknap, Bellknap, Bellknapp, Bellnap, Bellnapp, Belnapp, Belnap, etc., through the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries.  (For more information on these “later” English Belknaps, click here.)  However, the surname does appear to have eventually died out entirely in England.  (The last known reference to the surname in England in currently available public records was in 1978, although some of the most recent English Belknaps appear to represent “reverse” migrants from overseas.)  The dying out of the surname Belknap in England may be understood through the “Galton-Watson process,” a mathematical formula which helps explain why some family names become extinct.  It posits that in patrilineal societies, surnames are lost or die out over time with each new generation as women taken on their husband’s surnames.

The Belknap surname remained very rare in its home country across eight centuries.  The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2016)–billed as the ultimate reference work on family names of the UK, covering English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Cornish, and immigrant surnames–includes no entries for the following surnames:  Belknap, Belnap, Bellknap, Bellnap, or Beltoft.  To be included, a surname must meet a cutoff benchmark:  the dictionary “includes every surname that currently has more than 100 bearers, and those that had more than 20 bearers in the 1881 census.”  The Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press, 2003), on the other hand, lists both Belknap and Belnap.  According to DAFN, the surname “Belknap”–while still uncommon–is about three times more prevalent in the United States than “Belnap.”

Variant Spellings of Belknap/Belnap Surname

The surname Belknap has been spelled in a variety of ways over time.  (Spelling of English surnames was not standardized until more recent times–in some instances not until as late as the 19th or early 20th Centuries.  It is not unusual for surnames to be spelled more than one way, even in the same document.)

Listed below are known spelling variations with earliest known year of variant usage.  Changes in spelling did not proceed linearly:  some spelling variations listed below reappear decades apart.  (Note that transcriptions of some records may be incorrect, as documents were written in varying hands in Anglo-Norman French or Latin or, less commonly, Middle English.)

  • Bulkenap  1327
  • Bilknap 1330
  • Beleknap  1331
  • Byleknap  1331
  • Byleknapp  1331
  • Belknap  1354
  • Bilknapp  1360
  • Bilknappe  1365
  • Bealknappe  1366
  • Bealknapp  1366
  • Belknapp  1366
  • Bealknap  1366
  • Beleknappe  1366
  • Beleknapp  1373
  • Belknappe  1521
  • Belcknappe
  • Belkeneppe
  • Belkap
  • Bolknap (likely a misreading of “e” for “o”)
  • Beltknap
  • Beltnap

The surname’s consonant letters (with a few exceptions) have remained largely constant through at least the 17th Century:  an initial “B” followed by “l”, “k”, “n”, and a final “p”.  The letter “k” in Middle English would have been pronounced as a hard “k.”  (As an illustration, pronunciation of the Middle English word for “knight” would have included a hard “k” sound, meaning it would have sounded more like its German cognate “Knecht,” originally meaning boy or servant.)   Around the time of the American Revolution, one branch of the family in America began spelling the surname, more or less consistently, as “Belnap”, dropping in written form what had already become by then in spoken form a silent letter “k”.

The surname’s vowel letters, on the other hand–including an occasional extra “e” between “l” and “k” and a final silent “e”–have varied.  Many of the earliest references to Sir Robert Belknap spell his surname with an “i” or “ea” in the first syllable thus: “Bilknap” or “Bealknap.”

Spelling and pronunciation modifications of the surname Belkap over time might be analogized to changes in other two-syllable Norman French surnames from the same time period where the initial syllable is (or was) also “Bel-” or its cognate “Beau-“:  Bello Campo → Beauchamp → Beecham; Bello Monte → Beaumont → Belmont.  Yet other English surnames that appear somewhat similar to Belknap (e.g., two syllables; initial “Bel-” sound) include:  Beltoft (more about that important surname later), Belkthorp, Belthorpe, etc.

Early Belknap family genealogist Henry Wyckoff Belknap pursued the possibility that the Hertfordshire family Burnap (another two-syllable surname; final -“nap” sound) might be connected to the Belknap/Beltoft family.  His summary of his findings after extensive research:  “Incidentally in searching for records of the Belknap family in and about the County of Hertfordshire, England, traces of this Burnap name were discovered, and because it appeared likely that there might be found a connection between the two families, several experienced English genealogists being of the opinion that they were one and the same, it was decided to collect all references to both names.  Up to the present time nothing has been found to bear out this theory and a further complication has developed through the discovery that for some generations that branch of the Belknap family which emigrated to America had been called Beltoft.”  (See Belknap, Henry Wyckoff. The Burnap-Burnett Genealogy (1925).)

Use of “de”

Many references to the early English Belknaps include “de” before the surname.  Usage of “de” is not always consistent, however.  In Norman French, “de” means “of” or “from” (similar to the word “von” in German or “van” in Dutch).

Etymology of the Surname Belknap

Although the surname Belknap or Belnap is of Norman French origin from England, there is no known connection between any of the “Companions” of William the Conqueror who joined in the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Belknap surname.  The Duchess of Cleveland, in her work The Battle Abbey Roll, With Some Account of the Norman Lineages, which consists of short histories and discussions concerning the origins of several hundred English families of Norman origin, includes an entry on the Belknap family but fails to make any linkage between Sir Robert Belknap and a Belknap contemporary with the Conquest–an historical gap of some 200 years.  (See Duchess of Cleveland, Wilhelmina. The Battle Abbey Roll, With Some Account of the Norman Lineages, vol. III (1889), pp. 284-85.)

As set forth below, the surname is not even entirely Norman French, as the second syllable, “knap,” is likely Middle English (as discussed below).  However, that the family of the first documented person named Belknap, John de Belknap, and his son Sir Robert Belknap were of Norman French origin is unquestioned.  The early or untitled “noble” Belknaps clearly belonged to the Norman French social strata that dominated England starting with William the Conqueror and continuing through the 14th through 16th Centuries when the Belknap family played an influential role in England’s history, as evidenced by their Norman French personal names (Robert, Hamon, Philip, William, Laurence, etc.), the numerous highly influential Norman French families with whom the early Belknaps intermarried (Phelipp, Stonor, Boteler, Sudeley, Ferrers, etc.), the top professions held by family members (Robert–Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Hamon–Treasurer of Normandy, Philip–Mayor of Canterbury, etc.), and the extensive landholdings of Sir Robert Belknap indicative of someone of the highest social status.

Dictionary of American Family Names

The Dictionary of American Family Names provides the following definition of Belknap/Belnap (Hanks, Patrick, ed. Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 130, 133):

  • Belknap (1375) English: probably a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place, the second element of which is most likely Middle English knappe ‘hilltop’.
  • Belnap (386) Variant of English BELKNAP.

Belas Knap

One suggestion that has been proposed as a possible candidate of a place that might have given rise to the surname Belknap is Belas Knap, a Neolithic chambered long barrow or ancient burial site hill in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England.  (The “Survey of English Place-Names” states that Belas Knap has also been known as Belknap, Beleknappe, Bealknap, Belknapps Orchard, Bellas Knap, although it is unknown if these additional names have been “reattached” to this physical site from the surname as one possible definition.)  According to one source:  “Belas” is possibly derived from the Latin word bellus, “beautiful”, which could describe the hill or its view, and “Knap” is derived from the Old English for the top, crest, or summit of a hill.  However, other sources, while noting that the site is Neolithic, states that the name “Belas Knap” is medieval and means “Beacon Mound” or “Beacon Hill” or “Beacon Hilltop,” from the Old English word “bel” meaning beacon and cnaepp meaning hill or hilltop.  (According to the Survey of English Place-Names:  “bēl also denoted a funeral pyre, but this meaning is unlikely in an OE name for a barrow so much older than the OE period; topographically the site is an admirable one for a beacon fire.”)  If, indeed, this site refers to a “beacon,” it raises a very interesting potential connection between the meaning of “Belknap” and the earliest recorded Belknap coat of arms crest which contains a cresset or beacon.  Additional information on the Belknap crest and a beacon overlooking Burton Dassett, Warwickshire, that was built by Sir Edward Belknap is available here.  Belas Knap is some 75 miles due north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, where the earliest references to the Belknap family indicate some connection, and about 40 miles southwest of Burton Dassett where Sir Edward Belknap’s Beacon Tower is located.  It is also less than two miles from Sudeley Castle, once the residence of the Barons Sudeley.  Hamon Belknap, son of Sir Robert Belknap and grandfather of Sir Edward Belknap, married into the de Sudeley family.

Bel-, Bele-, Beal-, Bil-, Bell-, Belt-

Various Belknap/Belnap family historians have proposed as the origin of the first syllable the French word belle, meaning “beautiful”, which comes from Old French bele, from Latin bella(m), feminine form of bellus/bello, meaning “handsome” or “beautiful.”  However, during the 14th Century, Sir Robert Belknap’s surname appears to have been most often spelled “Bealknap.”  The use of the additional letter “a” in the first syllable might have been intentional, inasmuch the spelling of other surnames in the very same documents that also included an initial “Bel”-sounding syllable derived from “beautiful” (e.g., Bello Campo, Bello Monte) consistently omit an added letter “a”.  The insertion of the letter “a” in “Bealknap” could indicate a different pronunciation (and, hence, origin) from belle.

Beal, alternatively known as Belenus (also Belenos or Belinos), was one of the most ancient and most widely worshipped of  Celtic deities.  Through interpretatio romana, Belenus, traditionally translated as the “bright one” or “shining one,” was often identified with Apollo, who was also associated with the sun and light.  (Despite associations of his name with fire or the sun, Belenus in some sources is emphatically said to not have been a “sun god.”)  In Britain, he may have also been known by the variants Bel, Beli, and Bile.  Interestingly, early variants of the first spellings of Belknap also include “Bil” and “Bele.”  The etymology of Belenus is not entirely clear.  Beltane (also Bealtaine or Bealtainn), one of the four main Celtic seasonal festivals, was a great annual fire festival held on May 1 or about midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere that involved the lighting of bonfires.  The term could drive from Celtic for “bright fire” or “shining.”  See “Belas Knap” above for an alternative explanation of the origin of the surname, which also has potential interesting connections to fire, a cresset or beacon, the earliest recorded Belknap coat of arms crest, etc.

Because the early Belknaps clearly belonged to the dominant Norman French social strata, any apparent connection between the surname Belknap and Celtic/Brittonic seems unlikely and, at most, coincidental.

-knap, -knapp, -knappe, -nap

In England a “knap” is a crest or summit of a small hill; also, a small hill (in its entirety, not just the crest or summit).  (The last untitled noble Belknap, Sir Edward, used a cresset or flaming beacon in the crest of his heraldic achievement, perhaps in reference to a stone tower he caused to be built atop a prominent hill near Burton Dasset, Warwickshire known as “The Beacon.”  For more information on the crest and tower, click here.  Note that Sir Edward Belknap’s Beacon Tower is approximately 40 miles northeast of Belas Knap.)

Other English surnames that share the final “-knap” syllable:  Knapp; Redknap or Redknapp; Goodknap (Goodknapp, Goodknape, Goodknop, Goodnap, Goodnapp), a family from Lincolnshire; etc.

-toft

A “toft” is a largely obsolete or historical English word for a homestead and the attached arable land, from Middle English, which comes from Late Old English and from Old Norse topt.  Another meaning, however, is “knoll”–analogous to “knap.”  (The phrase “toft and croft” was a common reference to a holding comprised of both homestead and its associated arable land, with “croft” referring to enclosed land or garden plot.)

In other words, there is a plausible etymological–if not genealogical–connection between the Belknap and Beltoft surnames.  The full story behind such connection, if it exists, would likely clarify the long-standing mystery as to why the Beltoft family of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who resided near several of the early manors of the early Belknaps, suddenly assumed or resumed using the surname Belknap in the late 1500s-early 1600s.

Other English or Scandinavian surnames that share the final “-toft” syllable:  Biltoft (plausible variant spelling of Beltoft), Bultoft (plausible variant spelling of Beltoft), Burtoft (plausibly connected to Burnap as Belknap is to Beltoft), Hiltoft, Hotoft, Tiptoft, etc.

(See further below for a review of possible connections between the early Belknap and Beltoft families.  For further information on the earlier Beltoft family of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, click here.)

-thorpe

The English place-name suffix “-thorp” (also “thorpe”; “throp”, “trop”), which in Middle English meant a hamlet or small village, is common in the north and east parts of England that once comprised the Danelaw–generally, areas colonized by various Scandinavian Viking groups from the 9th to the 11th Centuries, and more precisely those parts of the country that came under Danish in contrast to Mercian or West Saxon law.  The term can either come from Old Norse (þorp) or from Old English/Anglo-Saxon (þrop; which is cognate with German Torp or Dorf and Dutch dorp).  

From the early-to-mid-1300s, individuals surnamed “Belkthorp” or “Belkethorp” (with and without a final silent “e”) appear in various records, mostly in Yorkshire, including:

  • John de Belkthorp/Belkethorp, Calendar of Patent Rolls pardon in 1310
  • Johanne de Belkthorp, 1325-26
  • Robert de Belkthorp, Yorkshire
  • Thomas de Belkethorp
  • William de Belkthorp/Belkethorp/Belthorp, justice in the East Riding of York in 1360; named in York deeds in 1337 and 1363.

These persons, contemporaries of John de Belknap and Sir Robert Belknap, have no known connection with the early Belknap family.  There is, however, a possible etymological connection between the suffixes “-toft” and “-thorp” in Beltoft and Belkthorp.

Additional Proposed Belknap Surname Etymologies

Below are additional proposed etymologies for the surname Belknap, including some that are surely speculative or false etymologies:

  • Congressional Record, House of Representatives, 2 Mar 1929, p. 5122: research report prepared by Bureau of American Ethnology on origins of Indian tribe names (in reference to Native Americans located on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana):

BELKNAP  A British family name in origin, according to one etymology meaning bell boy, from bell plus knap, boy.

  • The suggestion has been made that -knap could come from Middle English knave, which is turn is derived from Old English cnafa (which is cognate with German Knabe boy and is also akin to Old Norse knapi page, boy).  Middle English knave formerly meant merely a boy or servant.  (In modern use the word, which is deemed synonymous with rascal, rogue, or scoundrel, is deemed disparaging in that it emphasizes baseness of nature and intention.)
  • A related suggestion is that -knap could be derived from German Knabe (“boy”) which comes from Middle High German knappe, which is from Old High German knappo (or from variant Middle High German Knabe, from Old High German knabo, chnabo), which in turn are from Proto-Germanic *knappô (“boy, youth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ– (“to press, tighten”).  Compare Dutch knaap, English knave, English obsolete knape, Danish knabe, Icelandic knapi.  In German, Knabe used to be the most common term for “boy” until about 1930 but has since been replaced with Junge.

Overview of the Transition From Beltoft to Belknap

The surname Belknap as passed through known documented directed descendants of Sir Robert Belknap appears to have died out on the passing of Sir Robert’s great grandson, Sir Edward Belknap (about 1471-1521).  However, during the 15th Century and into the mid-16th Century, several Belknaps appear in various historical resources, including:  Johane Belknap (circa 1422), evidently a maid of honor to the Queen; Thomas Belknap (circa 1467), “vintner of London”; Thomas Belknap “alias Stowres” (circa 1548), “gentleman”; and Symon Belknap of “Knowle” in Kent, father of Susan Belknap who married Henry Mordaunt (about 1540-unknown) of Thunderley, Essex.  The connection of these as-yet-unplaced Belknaps to Sir Robert Belknap’s family seems highly likely, given their roles in society and known places of origin or residence.  Yet “later” (post-1600) English Belknaps, whose relationship to the family of Sir Robert Belknap or Abraham Belknap (formerly known as Beltoft) is presently unknown.  However, given their known places of origin or residence, primarily in or around London, their connection to the family of Sir Robert Belknap  also seems highly likely.

One documented branch of the Beltoft/Belknap family, beginning with Richard Beltoft (before 1470-before 1510), began as contemporaries of Sir Robert Belknap’s direct male Belknap great grandchildren.  This Beltoft/Belknap line bridges the gap of “Belknaps” following Sir Edward Belknap’s death in 1521 and continues into the late 1500s/early 1600s, when this Beltoft line suddenly assumes or resumes using the surname Belknap, a name that is, as discussed above, etymologically similar.  The Beltoft/Belknap family’s place of origin is Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, a place where the earlier family of Sir Robert Belknap is known to have held property.  Below is a tentative timeline showing the shift from Beltoft to Belknap in this family (persons whose surnames shifted during their lifetimes from Beltoft to Belknap are highlighted in red):  [TO COME–UPDATES/CORRECTIONS TO TIMELINE BELOW]

  • Before 1470:  Richard Beltoft, earliest known Beltoft/Belknap, born.  His existence is known [principally] through litigation in the mid-1500s relating to property in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • Before 1490 through about 1501:  Richard Beltoft has four Beltoft sons (John, Laurence, Edmund/Edmond, and Thomas) and two unnamed daughters.  Only Laurence Beltoft is known to have male descendants.  Son John Beltoft is believed to have been born before 1490, an estimated date based on the fact that he had a granddaughter who married about 1545 and that he was under age 21 when his father died.  John died 4 Feb 1545/1546 as a “Beltoft”.  Son Edmund/Edmond was living 29 Oct 1550; he probably died before 1558 when the Sawbridgeworth parish registers begin.  [He and Thomas are mentioned in the will of Richard Beltoft.  SOURCE?]
  • About 1495:  Laurence Beltoft, of Richard Beltoft, is born.  Note that he shares a given name with one of Sir Robert Belknap’s later-born sons.
  • About 1520:  Richard Beltoft (2), son of Laurence Beltoft is born.
  • 26 Mar 1521:  Sir Edward Belknap dies, leaving no sons/male heirs.
  • About 1560:  Bennet Beltoft, son of Richard Beltoft (2), born.
  • 5 Jul 1561:  Henry Beltoft, connection to Beltoft line unknown, buried in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.  [CHECK]
  • 15 Sep 1561:  Alice Beltoft, daughter of Richard Beltoft (2), christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 6 Sep 1562:  Josias Beltoft, son of Richard Beltoft (2), christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 10 Mar 1589/1590:  Abraham Beltofte, son of Bennet Beltoft, christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 3 Jan 1590/1591:  Frances Beltoft[e], daughter of Bennet Beltoft, christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 8 Apr 1593:  John Beltoft[e], son of Bennet Beltoft, christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 20 Aug 1594:  Richard Beltoft (2) dates will; bequeaths 10 shillings to “Abraham Beltofte sonne to Bennett Beltoft my Godchilde”.  [CHECK]
  • 2 Nov 1595:  Daniel Beltoft, son of Bennet Beltoft, christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 12 Aug 1599:  Josias Beltoft, son of Richard Beltoft (2), buried in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.  [CHECK!!!]
  • 2 Dec 1599:  Richard Beltoft (2) buried in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 28 Jan 1599/1600:  Josias Belknappe, made will, naming brother Bennet Belknappe.
  • 4 Feb 1599/1600:  Josias Belknappe, son of Richard Beltoft (2), buried in Southwark, Surrey.
  • 6 Feb 1599/1600:  Benedict Belknappe proved will of brother Josias Belknap.
  • 1605/1606:  Bennet Beltoft[] assessed in lay subsidy for Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 1610:  Bennet Beltoft[] made mare of “b” as churchwarden on parish registers of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 28 Oct 1617:  Abraham Beltoft married Mary Stallion in Latton, Essex.
  • 6 Dec 1620:  “Abra Bel” son of “Abra et Mara” buried in Netteswell, Essex.
  • 14 Apr 1623:  Bennet Beltoft of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, makes will; names wife Grace, sons Abraham Beltoft[], John Beltoft[], Daniel [Dannill] Beltoft[], and Josias [Josyas?] Beltoft[], daughter Fraunces Beltoft[e], grandson Abraham Beltoft[] [son of son Abraham??].  [OTHERS RED?]
  • 21 May 1624:  Bennet Belknap is buried in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 15 Jun 1624:  Bennet Beltoft will proved by spouse and son Josias as “Benedictus Belknapp; will filed under name of Belknapp.
  • 19 Oct 1624:  Frances Belknapp, daughter of Benedict Beltoft, married  in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 20 Oct 1624:  Abraham Belknapp involved in trail in Latton, Essex.
  • 2 Mar 1624/1625:  Daniel Belknap [Beltrap?], son of Abraham Belknap, buried in North Weald, Essex.
  • 31 Jan 1626/1627:  Abraham Belknapp made deposition in North Weald [Bassett], Essex.
  • 16 Mar 1627/1628:  Samuel Belknap, son of Abraham Belknap, christened in North Weald, Essex.
  • 1 Jul 1628:  Daniel ____, son of Bennet ____, married in Latton, Essex.
  • 10 Jul 1630:  Grace Belknap, daughter of John ____, christened in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 20 Oct 1630,  Grace [Adam] Belkap [sic], wife of Bennet ____, buried in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • 2 May 1631:  Josias Belkap [sic], son of Bennet ____, married in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.
  • Between 1635-1638:  Abraham Belknap arrives in Massachusetts.
  • After burial of Bennet Beltoft alias Belknap in 1631, no use of Beltoft appears in records until 1663 when two children of Henry Belknap (grandson of Bennet Beltoft) were buried as Beltoft, and again in 1683 when Henry’s [last??] child was buried as Mary, “daughter of Henry and Mary Belknapp alias Beltoft”.  Henry married–twice–as Belknap[p].

Further discussion on surname change from Beltoft to Belknap:

Possible Connection Theories Between the Early Belknap and Beltoft Families

Set forth below are various theories proposed to explain the connection between the early Belknaps and the Beltoft family of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire:

“No Connection” Theories

Theory 1:  There is no connection.  But then why did the Beltofts of Hertfordshire–all of them, and who resided near several of the early manors of the early Belknaps–suddenly assume using the surname Belknap within a relatively short period of time?

  • Theory 1A:  The Beltofts, aspiring to higher social status, adopted the etymologically similar yet “extinct” Belknap surname that had died out with the lineage of Sir Edward Belknap.  Problem:  There were other Belknaps–whose connection to Sir Robert Belknap’s family is not (yet) known–meaning that the surname had not entirely died out.  And why Belknap?
  • Theory 1B:  The Beltofts of Hertfordshire are a branch of the earlier Beltoft family of Lincolnshire who moved to Hertfordshire and assumed the surname Belknap that previously had connections to several nearby manors.  Problem:  But why did they assume the surname Belknap, a name that is etymologically similar?  And why no known connection between the Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire Beltofts?

“Connection” Theories

Theory 2:  The Beltofts, who resided near several of the early manors of the early Belknaps, descend through an as-yet unknown cadet or junior branch of an earlier Belknap family (that might or might not be related to Robert Belknap, either directly or through a sibling or cousin of Robert’s).  (This theory is explored by Mark Goodmansen in his book, Sir Robert Belknap and Abraham Belknap of Massachusetts: Linking Two Noble Families [n.d.].)  But then why did the Beltofts stop using the surname Belknap, only to later suddenly resume using the surname?

  • Theory 2A:  The cadet Belknaps/Beltofts wanted to disassociate themselves from the early “noble” Belknaps and chose an alternate surname form.  But for what reason?  Possible explanations:
    • A need to distinguish the Beltofts following Sir Robert Belkap’s involvement in the Peasant Revolt of 1381.  Perhaps the surname Belknap was unpopular in the Hertfordshire/Essex area. 
    • A need to distinguish the Beltofts following Sir Robert Belknap’s banishment to Ireland in 1388 and attainder of properties.
    • A device to hold onto otherwise attainted property that would have escheated to the crown upon Sir Robert Belknap’s banishment.
    • A need to distinguish the Beltofts from Sir Robert Belknap’s family due to split loyalties during the Wars of the Roses between 1455-1485 (when the Beltofts of Hertfordshire appear).
    • A need to distinguish Beltofts due to a family split over matters of religion, as many of Sir Robert Belknap’s known descendants remained Catholic following the Reformation in England, whereas at least one Beltoft who assumed (or resumed) using the name Belknap (Abraham Belknap f/k/a Beltoft) was a Puritan.  Problem:  The Protestant Reformation in England began well after the Beltofts of Hertfordshire would have begun using an alternate surname.
  • Theory 2B:  The cadet Belknaps/Beltofts chose to use a variant ending of the surname, inasmuch as “-knap” (crest or summit of a small hill) and “-toft” (knoll) are synonymous, for reasons other than a perceived need or desire to disassociate.  But why?
    • The first cadet male Beltoft of Hertfordshire was an illegitimate child of a prominent Belknap; Beltoft was a subtle way to obscure familial connection while maintaining a connection to original identity.
    • The first cadet male Beltoft of Hertfordshire naturally assumed a variant ending of the surname as Middle English grew more ascendant during a time when Norman French was in decline.
    • The first cadet male Beltoft of Hertfordshire chose to emphasize the family’s English roots during a time when Norman French language or family connections were in decline.

We may never know the reason why the Beltofts of Hertfordshire suddenly assumed (or resumed) using the name Belknap.  But we’ll keep searching!

(NOTE:  Anthroponymy is the study of anthroponyms, or the proper names of human beings, both individual and collective.  It is a branch of onomastics, which is the study of the etymology (meaning the scientific study of the origin and evolution of a word’s semantic meaning across time), history, and use of proper names.  Information presented here does not purport to be a full or complete anthroponymic study of the surname Belknap or Belnap.  Updates will be posted here as new or additional information becomes available.)

Last update:  4 Apr 2024

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