Meaning of the Lunt Surname

Meaning of the Surname:

Lunt comes from either the old Norse word 'Lundr' or the old Swedish word 'Lunder'.

Both these words mean grove or copse.

Origin of the Surname: One version anyway

Lunt: A Place with a name, a name with a history by A. Farthing 1995

Lunt is an ancient village that, because of its small size, has escaped the roving eye of historians. It has remained a compact community, managing to avoid the ravages of urban encroachment. The name 'Lunt', perhaps because of this isolation, and because it has retained its rural integrity, has remained relatively unchanged unlike other local townships whose names have been bastardised over the years.

The village isn't recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, but is first documented 2 centuries later in c1251 in the Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey. There it is referred to as 'de Lund'. Nearly a hundred years later (1344) in the papers of the Moore family of Bankhall it appears again. This time the village is called 'del Lunt', referring to John del Lunt or John of Lunt. Therefore the village has been called Lunt for over six hundred years. but what does the name mean.

Lunt comes from either the old Norse word 'Lundr' or the old Swedish word 'lunder'. Both these words mean grove or copse. this definition fits the pre-Norman history of the locality. Before it was colonised, the area was covered by a massive forest and this definition of Lunt's name may be a reference to this already shrunken resource. Also, the Vikings did raid and colonise the area in the 9th century, founding notably the village of Formby. There is however no evidence that Lunt existed before the Norman conquest. It isn't mentioned separately in the Domesday Book because the lands were probably considered part of Sefton. Documentary evidence seems to have ignored Lunt which infers that the village was founded sometime between 1086-1251.

Lunts name however suggests that its origin was much earlier. As there is no evidence we can only speculate. Perhaps the village's name retains more history