- Hubbard family
The family name "Hubbard" has an old English origin that may date back 1,000 years. The definitive text on the origins of this name is Edward Warrin Day's "One Thousand Years of Hubbard History" published in 1895. Histories of the the name "Hubert" often claim that Hubbard is a spelling variation of Hubert and that it has the same meaning of "bright mind". However, Day's book makes no mention of that and, in fact, states that Hubert is a spelling variation of Hubbard. Both may be wrong since the Hubert is allegedly from the 11th century Norman conquerors and Hubbard comes from much earlier Danish invaders.
According to Day, the name Hubbard derives from King Hubba, a Danish conqueror who raided East Anglia in the 9th century AD. However, it is not necessarily the case that modern day Hubbards are descendents of King Hubba. It may merely mean that they are descendents of the inhabitants of one of the towns named "Hubbard" long after the time of King Hubba. Contrary to the title of the book, the actual name of Hubbard cannot be dated to the first millennium.
The earliest person named Hubbard mentioned in Day's book is John Hubbard of Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, born in 1230 AD. A survey of genealogies on www.ancestry.com shows that any Hubbard who traces their history back this far invariably traces it to this John Hubbard (this may or may not, in fact, be the case, but clearly most Hubbard family histories have been informed partly by Day’s book).
The book explains that Hubbard had other spellings and it was not uncommon for the same individual to spell their own names in more than one way. A common concurrent spelling is “Hobart” which may have been considered an “upper class” spelling compared to the more humble “Hubbard”.
Early prominent Hubbard’s include Sir James Hubbard (also spelled “Hobart”), the Attorney General of England from 1486 to 1507, appointed by King Henry VII and knighted by the same (d. 1517). Hobart seems to be the more common spelling in genealogies but some legal documents show his name also spelled James Hubbard. Almost all Hubbards alive today seem to trace their lineage to Sir James. He personally funded the building of a church in Loddon, Norfolk and is buried today in the cathedral in Norwich. Sir Henry Hobart (d. 1698), another prominent English barrister and politician, was his great grandson.
By the mid to late 1500’s, many Hubbard’s had become Protestants and were persecuted under Queen Mary I of England. Although Queen Elizabeth I ended this persecution, subsequent reforms in the Church of England displeased many Protestants. Hubbards were among the earliest English settlers of New England, coming to America as part of the Protestant migration from England in the early 1600’s.
Prominent Hubbards
Al Hubbard (1915-1984), Disney comics artistCal Hubbard (1900–1977), American professional football player and Major League Baseball umpireDominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington (born 1963), British politician
Douglas Hubbard (1962-), inventor of
Applied Information Economics and president of Hubbard Decision Research.Ed Hubbard (born 1963), Founder of
Witch School and Pagan Interfaith EmbassyElbert Hubbard (1856–1915), American philosopher and writerFreddie Hubbard (1938-), American jazz trumpeterGardiner Greene Hubbard (1822–1897), the founder and first president of the National Geographic SocietyHarlan Hubbard (1900-1988), Kentucky writer and artistJohn Hubbard (1794–1838), American physician and politicianJordan Hubbard (born 1963), co-founder of the FreeBSD operating system projectKin Hubbard (1868–1930), American cartoonist, humorist, and journalistL. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986), American science fiction writer and creator of ScientologyLucius Frederick Hubbard (1836–1913), American politicianRichard B. Hubbard , American politicianRob Hubbard (born c.1956), composerSamuel Dickinson Hubbard (1799–1855), United States Postmaster GeneralThomas Hubbard (1898-1961), British Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy 1944-1959William Hubbard (1621-1704), American Colonial-era clergyman and historical writerLinks
Edward Day’s book online: http://www.geocities.com/edmund_hobart/
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