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The porteous Surname

porteous Name Meaning and History

Scottish: probably a topographic name for someone who lived in the lodge at the entrance to a manor house, from Middle English port ‘gateway’, ‘entrance’ + hous ‘house’, or an occupational name with similar meaning, from Latin portarius ‘porter’. Alternatively, as suggested by Reaney, it may be from Anglo-Norman French porte-hors ‘portable prayerbook’ (i.e. a book of hours), hence a metonymic occupational name for a scribe employed in writing such books. The surname is also established in Ireland, the earliest record of its presence there being dated 1563.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The porteous name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the porteous family name as far back in history as possible.

porteous Family Facts

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Distribution of porteous Families in the US in 1920
Number of porteous families
 19-36
 7-18		 1-6
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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