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Author: cmdrabbadon
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.chambless/1.3.4.5.12/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Hi Robin,
To you and everyone out there... the name is Most likely French but it may also be
English. Names are very old things unless someone makes up a new one. What I mean is that
the native tounge of places such as, and specifically, Ireland and Scotland, are of Gaelic
origin. Names are never translated they are always translitterated. In other words, when
we attempt to say a foreign name in our own tounge, we attepmt to make it sound as close
to the original as possible. A good example of this is my name..."Matthew" which
is of Hebrew origin and in Hebrew is spelled and pronounced "Matit'yahu",
thus in English we get Matthew. Remember this rule when you are researching names..always
translitterate, never translate. As for our last name of Chambless, it is probably from
Burgundy, France and its dirivatives are many...e.g. Chamblis, Chambliss, Chambly,
Chamblys, Chambless, Chambles.
The following are two excerpts from Ancestry .com....
1)Chambless
"English: unexplained; perhaps a variant of Chambers. Compare Chambliss."
and when you click on "Chambers" you get this..
2)Chambers
English: occupational name for someone who was employed in the private living quarters of
his master, rather than in the public halls of the manor. The name represents a genitive
or plural form of Middle English cha(u)mbre 'chamber', 'room' (Latin
camera), and is synonymous in origin with Chamberlain, but as that office rose in the
social scale, this term remained reserved for more humble servants of the bedchamber.
My assumtion is that our name is derived from Chanbers but implies the lack thereof of a
chamber. Or in other words, someone who is no longer a servant or is without a
"master." Note however, this does not imply slavery, it implies willing and
trusted service, much like a butler today.
If anyone wants to get in touch with me my email is cmdrabbadon(a)yahoo.com and for the
record, my line of Chambless is as follows: (starting with the oldest)
William C. and Mary Polly Huckabee b.1803 d?
James H.(Doc_ and Alleny Sivil Slocumb b.1836 d.1910
William Jesse and Lela Viola Miller b 1866 d.1908
Guy and Vera Long b 1895 d?
Guy II and Ruth McCurdy b 1921 d 1986
Joel Miller (div Helen Marie Wilson) Living
Matthew Joel and Shannon Renee' Gilliand Living
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