Sometimes Names Are a Query

[H]

My family name of "Fosbery" (Fosbury) originates from Iron Age times, and describes a tribe who used to live in a Hill Fortress in the present county of Wiltshire, in the South of England.
A "Bury" is a hill fort, with "Fos" being the name of the tribe living there.

Weren't those early forts built somewhat like oversized picket fences? Fosbury/Fosbery, amongst England's earliest picketers...

[Hagar]

My family name of "Fosbery" (Fosbury) originates from Iron Age times, and describes a tribe who used to live in a Hill Fortress in the present county of Wiltshire, in the South of England.
A "Bury" is a hill fort, with "Fos" being the name of the tribe living there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosbury_Camp

I've travelled there a few times to view the site, and there seems to be a quite few of us still left alive in our branch of Fosbery's, mainly due to my breeding success!
May we long continue...breeding!.... ...!

Paul L. Fosbery (aka Fozzer/Fozzersoft).... ....!

http://fosbery.tripod.com/

...they don't come much older than us!.... .. ...!

Yours might be an exception Paul but I'm sure that in most cases the origin of old family names can only be based on speculation & assumption. Written records don't go back nearly as far as prehistoric times. My own family name (Attrell) has been interpreted as being derived from Trill, Tryll or Trell - an old English name for Hill. Thus: At Trell meant the Dweller by the Hill.

As far as I can tell, my branch of the family originates from the South of England where there are plenty of hill settlements. The many variations in spelling, including Atheral, Atharall, Atherall, Atherol, Atheroll, Attersol, Attersoll, Attersall, Athroll, Athtrill, Athrill, Athrall, Attrell, Attrill, Hattrell, Hatherall, Hatherill & Hathrill can be explained by the fact that even up to the early parts of the 20th Century most people were illiterate. Spelling varied according to the interpretation of the scribe writing the records. I traced my own ancestry back to 1795 & have no inclination to go further.

[Fozzer]

We Fosbery's, are very fortunate, in that every generation, dating back to the year 1714 have always kept highly detailed records of themselves, in the form of letters, documents, photographs, paintings, etc.
I have a complete history of the Family Tree, and all its documentation, since 1714.
It is becoming more difficult to trace backward earlier from that date, because the Church Records, etc, are detailed in Latin, and sometimes difficult to transcribe into modern text!
It also involves travel to different Counties to obtain additional information, and transport is always a problem for me/us.
The family is forever getting larger and larger, and I am having great difficulty in obtaining a sheet of paper/parchment large enough to contain the complete Family Tree!
...that's when happens when you/we breed excessively...(I don't even bother practising now!)... ...!

Paul....Non Nobis Solum.... ...!