Family Name Origins

BOBBITT:
According to The Bobbitt Family in America by John W. Bobbitt, 1985:

"'Certain family traditions say the Bobbet name is of French origin, but there is no doubt that it is the old English name of Bobbet, this being the form used by the first Edward Bobbet who came to Massachusetts. It is a comon name of the present time and later immigrants to this country who settled in Virginia and North Carolina have kept the name in its original form and it is not an uncommon name throughout the south. The same person will frequently use several varieties of spelling the name in the same document. In New England the fifth generation almost all used the form of "Babbitt" which is still used in the New England states today. 'The English surname Bobett mean "Bob" son of Robert,the syllable "ett" being a diminutive. Bobbett was a common family name in Suffolk and Devonshire in the middle ages in England.'"

The surname DAYTON is perhaps a weak form of DALTON or more probably a variation of DEIGHTON. The form DALTON is derived from the word "dale", probably referring to the farm or habitation of the earliest English forbears of the American family of DAYTON.

"Sensenbaugh is a German name that means 'Two Trees by a Brook'".

There are several spellings for this family name including: Spidle, Spidel, Spidell and Speidel. The oldest form of the name is Speidel. Speidel is a Schwebian word which means wedge. More specifically, a speidel is a particular wedge which is used in shaping and holding the staves used in barrel-making. In Schwebia which was an early feudal state, one of many which went to form modern-day German, Speidel is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable as in: SPY'dle or SHPY'dle. However, the Speidel family did not get the name from being Coopers or barrel makers. The name was won as an honorific with grant of arms on the battlefield. "The Wedge" from which Speidel was derived was a battle formation.