This is surely one of the most unusual and interesting surnames on the British surnames lists. It is seemingly only recorded in the North East of England, and even then only in the Teeside area. From the experience of researching over one hundred thousand surnames, we can say that as it is not a spelling which appears in any language or country of which we are aware, then it is an "English" transposed spelling of something else. When they were created five hunded and more years ago, all surnames had a clear meaning, but in this spelling this name does not appear to have one, which takes us into the realms of "sounds like" what? Early recordings are very rare, however in the International Generalogical Index under the heading of Furpott, a name which itself seems to be extinct, appears the recording of Gibson Phuprate. He was the son of Gibson and Isabella Phupate of whom we have no other recordings, and was christened at Gateshead, on January 31st 1830. Further earlier research has also found the recording of a family called Phrape, with John Phrape, the son of Joseph Phrape, being christened at Tynemouth, on May 1st 1665. Although we cannot prove it, we believe that it is possible that these names are associated. We do know that Phrape is a form of Phripp, which itself is a form of Phillip. This suggests that as few people before Victorian times could even write their name, and that local dialects were very thick, that Phuprate may ultimately be a much transposed form of Phillip.

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