Where does the name Ellerby come from?

The Ellerby's of North Yorkshire

This blog is for all those who have connections to anyone whose surname is Ellerby. It will relate the genealogy of my Ellerby ancestors who lived on the North Yorkshire coast from the parishes of Skelton in Cleveland down to Lythe just north of Whitby. There will be lots of other names in these histories so if you are researching your family history you may well find some useful information for your research.

Where did the name Ellerby come from? Almost certainly from some Danish Viking who arrived here in the 9th century and settled in what is now the village of Ellerby near Lythe. There are also two villages, Old and New Ellerby in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  A 'By' was a farm or village of Viking origin so the village of Ellerby was probably a farm belonging to someone called Alwarde or very similar. In the Domesday book the village of Ellerby was called Alwardebi. I can thoroughly recommend a book called Northern Roots by a journalist called David Simpson which is very informative about, well northern roots!

The village of Ellerby itself is little more than a hamlet in the parish of Lythe to the north of Whitby. When surnames where becoming common Ellerby would have referred to someone who was from Ellerby rather than living in the village itself.

There are variations of the name such as Ellerbe but with my research there is no variation on the surname. There are distinct groups of families in the area around Ellerby, my family who lived between Marske and Whitby, a group centred round Danby and families around the Helmsley/Kirkbymoorside area. I am sure that they would all be connected if we could research far enough back.