Recorded in a very wide range of spellings including Barthrop, Barthropp, Bartheropp, Bartrop, Bartropp, and Bartrap, this is an English surname. It is locational from a village called Barthorpe in the parish of Acklam, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. First recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as "Barchetorp", the name is of Danish-Viking pre 8th century origins, the region being in Danish hands for several centuries. It describes an outlying farm or settlement (torp) which belonged to a man called "Borkr", the latter being an early personal name whose etymology is uncertain. Locational surnames were usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else usually in search of work. This could be the next village or far away in say London, where this name is recorded from the middle of the 17th century. Early examples of the recordings taken from surviving church registers include: John Barthrop of Drypool, East Yorkshire, on May 1st 1594, Elizabeth Barthripp of Kingston-upon-Hull on September 22nd 1613, and Nathaniel Barthropp, a witness at St Mary Whitchapel, Stepney, city of London, on May 27th 1694.

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