Stewart (name)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the given name and surname. For other uses, see Stewart.

Stewart
Family Name
Meaning "household guardian"
Region of origin Scotland
Related names Stuart
Popularity Behind the Name 
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Stewart

Stewart
Given Name
Gender Masculine
Related names Stuart
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Stewart
Look up Stewart in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Stewart is a common surname and is also used as a masculine given name of pre-7th century Olde English origin, derived from stigweard, the prefix stig meaning "household", and the suffix weard meaning "guardian".[1] An alternative spelling is Stuart. The progenitor of the Stewart family was a Breton knight who settled in England after the Norman Conquest. Within a few generations, his descendents, who had by then relocated to Scotland, became the High Stewards of Scotland, hence the origin of the surname.

Contents

[edit] House of Stuart

Main article: House of Stuart

One of the hereditary Stewart stewards, Walter Stewart, married Marjorie Bruce, daughter of King Robert I, and founded the royal House of Stuart (a French spelling), beginning with their son King Robert II. The House of Stuart was the longest serving royal dynasty of Scotland. In 1603, the Stuart King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England and Wales by succession to Queen Elizabeth I. The Stuart dynasty ruled Scotland, England and Wales (with an interruption during Cromwell's Commonwealth after the English Civil War) until 1714, when Queen Anne died and the British Crown passed to the German Electors of Hanover.

The grandson of James II, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, led the last attempt to restore the Stuart dynasty to the British Crown in 1745-6 and became known to history as "Bonnie Prince Charlie". This attempted coup d'etat ended in the slaughter of Charles' army at the Battle of Culloden in April, 1746.

[edit] Stewart peers

In addition to the Royal House of Stuart, various branches of the Stewart family became Scottish peers, at various times holding the Marquisate of Bute, the Earldom of Atholl and the Earldom of Mar. Several families of Stewarts became Highland clans in their own right, including the Stewarts of Appin, the Stewarts of Ardvorlich the Stewarts of Atholl, the Stewarts of Garth.

Many Stewart emigrants from the lowlands of Scotland settled in Ulster in the seventeenth century.

[edit] People named Stewart

[edit] References

  1. ^ Surname: Stewart. surnamedb.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the given name Stewart. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the surname to that link.
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the surname Stewart. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the given name(s) to that link.