Mansfield

Variations – Mansell, Manser
Racial Origin – Anglo-Saxon
Source – A place name, also an occupation

The family name of Mansfield comes from the town in Nottinghamshire, England, of the same name. Its first use as a surname of course, was to designate the place from which the individual had come, and later, from which his ancestors had come.

The name of the town is ancient, dating back to Anglo-Saxon days.  “Marian” in the tongue of the Anglo-Saxons meant to trade or traffic, and this has given us the first syllable of the place name. “Field”, of course, is synonymous with the modern word.  But in the olden times it also had a special, restricted meaning, indicating a place of trade, a fairground. And this was, in the ancient days, a trading centre.

Derivatives of the Saxon word “manrian” appear to be among those which survived the tidal wave of French, which the Normans spread over England, for in the period following, when many of the old Saxon words came to the surface again, there are found the words “manser,” “mansell” and “manciple,” indicating tradesmen specially skilled in buying rather than selling.  They were, in short, the “purchasing agents” of those days, in the service of big institutions and large households of the more important nobility.  And from these words denoting occupations have come the family names of Mansell and Manser.of Mansell and Manser.