Origin of Surname
Orange has nothing to do with the fruit, which was unknown in Europe when surnames were formed. The word was a personal name and a place-name long before it was applied to the exotic fruit, which Portuguese merchants introduced in the 15th century. Orange was a female name.
The Surname Database has this expanded version of the name's possible origins:
- "Recorded as Orange, Oran, Orans, Orringe, Orring, Orrin and possibly others, this unusual surname can be described as both English and French, with possibly a dash of Dutch. It originates from places called Orange in France, of which the most famous was the region near Lyon, from which the House of Orange, the royal family of the Netherlands, and the original Comptes d'Orange were the land owners. They were dispossessed in the religious wars of the 16th to 18th century. The surname was first introduced into England by one of the followers of William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066 - William de Orange. After a preliminary appearance in the Domesday Book of 1086, no further recordings of the surname are to be found until two centuries later in 1296, when John Orrenge of Sussex is so recorded.
- "There was a female personal name variously spelt as Orengia and Orenge, which may have has influence on the surname."
In addition to the principality on the Rhone, there were Oranges nearer Jersey: a Chateau d'Orange on the Couesnon, the river which divides Normandy from Brittany, a Port d'Orange in the Bay of Quiberon, and a Prairie d'Orange at La Gohanniere in Calvados.
Early records
In 1130 Pierre, son of Didier, gave his Guernsey property to the monks of Mont St Michel "with the consent of Ozanne, his wife, and Orange, his daughter". In the Close Rolls of 1274 we hear of an Orengia Vautier in Jersey.
William Orange is recorded in the Assize Roll of 1309 as a juror for the parish of Saint Brelade, the parish where the family lived for centuries.
Arms
As borne by George Orange: Or, a bugle-horn, stringed and virolled, gules. Quartering : Per chevron, gi;les and or ; in chief two mullets, argent, a crescent for difference, for Pipon : Gules, a sand-glass, surmounted of a cross patee-fitcht-e, argent, between six mullets, in pale, or, for Renouf : and Azure, a fleur-de-lis, or ; on a chief, argent, a lion, passant, guardant, gules, for Le Brocq.
Crest: A bugle-horn, as in the arms.
Motto: What God wylls.
Variants
- Orange, 1668
- Orenge, 1309
- Orense 1296
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of Richard Orange and Mary Bisson
- Descendants of Berthelot Orange, extended version of above tree
Church records
- Orange baptisms in Jersey
- Orange marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Orange marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Orange burials in Jersey
Orange family histories
- The Orange family of St Brelade, a family history by Roland de Caen
Great War service
Sons of Walter and Adeliza Jane
- Clarence Orange MM (1896- ) (St My) Private, Quebec Regiment
- Edgar Orange (1897- ) (St My), Private, Canadian Machine Gun Corps, wounded
Family wills
Burial records
Family homes
- Kandahar, St Brelade
- La Moie Villa, St Brelade
- La Moye Manor
- Les Ruettes, St John
- Westlands, St Brelade
- La Maison Gruchy, St Brelade
Related places
- Route Orange, named after Jean Orange, Constable of St Brelade (1820-1826)
Family album
Mrs Orange
Edwin Orange and Miss Weston photographed by Ernest Baudoux
George Orange (1810-1871) of Gloucester Street, son of John and Elizabeth, nee Le Feuvre, and married to Mary Pirouet (1821-1890) with five sons and four daughters
Family businesses
1899 Evening Post advert
1873
1897 advert
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
St Mary’s Church cemetery
St John’s Church cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
St Brelade Church cemetery
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
St Lawrence
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New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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