Recorded in the spellings of Cherry, Cherryman, and Cherriman, this is an English occupational surname. It originates from the old English word 'chirie' and it is either occupational and and as such describes a grower or seller of cherries, or it may have been a medieval nickname of endearment for somebody with rosy cheeks or even red hair. In the Middle Ages England experienced a warm climate period, as it had done in Roman times and is perhaps now in the 20th century. As a result certain fruits which had previously only been grown on the Continent were cultivated in parts of England, the cherry being a popular form. Early examples of the surname recording include: Robert Chyry in the Assize Register of the county of Lancashire for the year 1284, and later both Hugh Churie and Robert Cherry, who were more logically recorded in the East Anglian county of Suffolk in the year 1524. These later recordings were during the reign of King Henry V111, 1510 - 1547.

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