Recorded as Nordas, Nordass, Nordice, Nordace, Norddus, Northhouse, and no doubt others, this very unusual surname is English. In almost all its spellings it is an example of a dialectal or slang spelling far removed from the original form. Its epi-centre would seem to be the north of England, and specifically the county of Yorkshire and along a line drawn between Kingston upon Hull to the east, and the the city of Leeds fifty miles away west. However speltthe name does mean the North House, and would have described either a house or possibly a hamlet, to the north of the main village or perhaps a house at the north end of a village or town. There does not seem to be a place called North House although there probably was, as this seems to be reflected in the first recorded spelling as shown below. Some three thousand surnames of the British Isles are known to have originated from "lost" medieval villages, so there is no reason why this should not be another one to add to the growing list. Early examples of surname recordings taken from surviving church registers of Yorkshire include Barbara Northouse who married Humfridus Thompson at Cottingham, on January 27th 1582, Edward Nordis who was christened at Atwick on March 13th 1653, and Jonathon Nordass, a christening witness at Aldborough near Hull, on January 27th 1750.

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