Althof Surname History

Althof(f) is a German name, chiefly Westphalian and is a

habitational name for someone who lived at the ‘old farmstead’, from Middle Low German olt, alt ‘old’ + hof ‘farmstead’, ‘manor farm’.

Westphalia, Germany is a region and former province of Prussia, W Germany. Münster was the capital of the province. After 1945 the province was incorporated into the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, now a state in reunified Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia is situated in the western part of Germany and shares borders with Belgium in the southwest and the Netherlands in the west and northwest. It has borders with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the south and Hesse to the southeast.

The region is drained by the Ems, Weser, Ruhr, and Lippe rivers; it is hilly in the east and south and forms a low plain in the northwest. The land consists partly of fertile soil and partly of sandy tracts, moors, and heaths. The Ruhr valley, in the west, is part of the great Westphalian coal basin and of the Ruhr district,

Information located on Ancestry.com / Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISGN 0-19-506137-4, Wikipedia.com, and Encyclopedia.com

James Surname History

James is Celtic and classified primarily as Welsh. It come from England and is

a personal name that has the same origin as Jacob. However, among English
speakers, it is now felt to be a separate name in its own right. This is largely
because in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) the form James is used in
the New Testament as the name of two of Christ’s apostles (James the brother of
John and James the brother of Andrew), whereas in the Old Testament the brother
of Esau is called Jacob. The form James comes from Latin Jacobus via Late Latin
Jac(o)mus, which also gave rise to Jaime, the regular form of the name in
Spanish (as opposed to the learned Jacobo). See also Jack and Jackman. This is a
common surname throughout the British Isles, particularly in South Wales.

People with this surname were found primarily in the counties of Cardiff, Newport, Llandrindad Wells, and Hereford in the Welsh and central areas of United Kingdom.

Information located on Ancestry.com / Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4 and The National Trust

Rice Surname History

Rice is Celtic and classified as Irish in origin. It is derived from two variants: Welsh and German.

Welsh: from one of the most common Welsh personal names, Rhys, Old Welsh Ris ‘ardor’. This was the name of the last ruler of an independent kingdom of Wales, Rhys ap Tewder, who died in 1093 unsuccessfully opposing the Norman advance.

North German and Dutch: nickname for a very big man, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch rese ‘giant’.

German: habitational name from places called Rees or Reese, in Rhineland and Lower Saxony.

German: from Middle High German ris ‘undergrowth’, ‘brushwood’; a topographic name for someone who lived in an overgrown area, or a habitational name from Reis or Reissen in Bavaria, named with this word.

German: occupational name for a cobbler, Middle High German riuze. Compare Reuss.
German: variant of Reiss 2, or from the Huguenot name Ris. Altered spelling of German Ries.

People with this surname lived primarily in Exeter, Torquay, Redhill and Colchester counties in the southernmost parts of England.

Information located on Ancestry.com / Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4 and The National Trust