The Shorten name has a history stretching back many centuries and is both of English and Irish origin. Traced through history it has many variants including; Shorton, Shortin, Chorton, Shortall, Shortals, Schortals and Shortle. As an English name it is locational, meaning ‘Of Shorten’, from the village of Shorten near Paignton in Devon.The name was also derived from the Old English words ‘Scir’, meaning ‘bright’, ‘shining’, ‘clear’, or ‘pure’, and ‘tun’, meaning ‘farm’, to ultimately mean ‘A farm by the shore’.
As an Irish name, this is an Anglicised form of the Gaelic ‘Seartain’, which is a variant of Soirtei, Shortall and Shortell. In this instance, the name derives from the Middle English word ‘schort’, meaning ‘short’, and ‘hals’, meaning ‘neck’ and was also a nickname for a person who was a stocky or short-necked person.
The name Shorten was also another nickname meaning ‘one who wore short-hose’, also known as short-trousers.
The first records of the family name is a powerful Anglo-Saxon family that moved to Ireland. The first record of ‘Schortals of Kells’ can be found in Gormanstown Records from the year 1243.
Early ancient manuscripts in England show that a man named William Shorthose was recorded as living in Derbyshire in 1273 during the reign of King Edward I (1272-1307).
William Shothose of Wakefield was recorded in Yorkshire in 1260, and Robert Shortus can be found in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Record in 1379.
In Medivial times, scribes and officials recorded names as they sounded. Many were altered due to clerical errors and local dialects. Correct spelling or naming rules didn’t apply at this time.
In the year 1573, Lymon Shorten and Joan Skepe, were granted a marriage licence at All Saints and Saint John Church in Hertfordshire.
Priscilla Shorten was recorded in Whissonsett, Norfolk dated 1584 and Joahnnes Shorten was named as a resident of Wedmore, Somerset in 1597.
The Shorten Coat of Arms
Coats of arms were invented as a form of identity. Knights wore heavy armour from head to toe and the only means of identification, were the images on their shield and surcoat.
The Shorten Coat of Arms appears in ‘Burke’s General Armory’, by Bernard Burke, King of Arms to Queen Victoria.
The Shorten Crest features a stag trippant proper supporting with the paw a blue cross crosslet.
The Arms features a red shield with four red lions heads on a silver cross.
The Shorten Crest is adorned with the family motto: Certavi et vici meaning ‘I have fought & conquered’.