20,960 Global Thorne Family Members

Thorne Family History

This interesting surname with variant spellings Thorn, Thornes and Thorns has two possible origins. Firstly, it is of English locational origin from one of two places called Thorne, either in Somerset or the West Riding of Yorkshire, both recorded as "Torne" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The placenames derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century "thorn" meaning thorn bush. The name may also be topographical for a "dweller by the thorn bush". The surname is first recorded in the early 13th Century (see below).