Hungerford

English

Etymology

From Old English hungor (“hunger, famine”) + ford (“ford”), a name which probably denoted an unproductive or barren land.

Proper noun

Hungerford (countable and uncountable, plural Hungerfords)

1. A placename:
   1. A place in England:
      1. A town and civil parish with a town council in West Berkshire district, Berkshire (OS grid ref SU3368).
      2. A hamlet in Waltham St Lawrence parish, Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire (OS grid ref SU8274).
      3. A hamlet in Hyde parish, New Forest district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU1612).
      4. A hamlet in Munslow parish, Shropshire (OS grid ref SO5389).
      5. A hamlet in Old Cleeve parish, Somerset West and Taunton district, Somerset (OS grid ref ST0440).
   2. A settlement in Tweed municipality, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada.
   3. A township in Plymouth County, Iowa, United States.
   4. A census-designated place in Wharton County, Texas, United States, named after Daniel E. Hungerford.
   5. A small town on the NSW border in the Shire of Bulloo, south-west Queensland, Australia, named after Thomas Hungerford.
2. A habitational surname from Old English.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Hungerford is the 9830^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 3294 individuals. Hungerford is most common among White (91.32%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Hungerford”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 216.