Trollope Family History Site

 

My family in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada 2007

 

My name is Les Trollope and this site is dedicated to the genealogical research of the family name of Trollope, and all the spelling variations of the name, worldwide. My research is limited only to people born with the Trollope name, no matter how it is spelt, and their spouses. Please feel free to contribute any information you can - and hopefully you can get something from my records that helps your research ...

The TROLLOPE name may have been derived from many sources ......

Most names initially came from a person or group’s occupation, like ‘Baker’ for example, or living location, like ‘Hill’. As it happens there was a valley in the County of Northumberland, England known as ‘the valley of the trolls’. Trol is an old Norse word for goblins and, in the dialect of northern England, the word ‘hop’ meant an enclosed valley. Thus, 'hop' was added to form the name Trolhop. Hence the people from that valley were known as the ‘Trolhops’ (15th century). As time went by the ‘h’ became silent and the word was spelt phonetically - Trollop. The name’s connotations encouraged some to add the ‘e’ to soften it a little. So, according to this version it was neither Trollop nor Trollope, but actually Trolhop!

The Wolves version is quoted from a Trollope history by David Frederick Trollope dated 15/6/1919:
'The Trollope Family’s romantic history dates back to very early times. Their extraction generally traced to the Trollopes of Thornlaw in Durham but Anthony Trollope the novelist, a grandson of the fourth Baronet, lays claim to a much more romantic and ancient origin. His story was that an ancestor when hunting in the New Forest with William the Conqueror killed three wolves and was dubbed by the Conqueror “trois loups” (three wolves) and was supposed to be corrupted into “Trollopes” '.

In either case, or for any other reason that may in fact be the case, a lot of us are stuck with the name. And it comes in many varied forms as I can testify. Various records relating to our ancestors refer to - Trollop, Trollip, Trollopp, Trollup, Trollope and several other variations. We can generally put all this down to the literacy skills of these people and those charged with the responsibility of recording various personal events.

Please feel free to contact me by email at:
goblins6@optusnet.com.au
or by snail mail at:
PO Box 2294, Mildura 3502, Victoria, Australia.
Hopefully we can share some information of common interest ...