1,455 Global Leap Family Members

Leap Family History

This interesting and unusual surname of Northern English origin derives from the old English pre 7th Century "Leap" a basket, and was originally given as a metonymic occupational name to a maker of baskets. One, John le Lepmaker of Norfolk is recorded in the "Middle English Surnames of Occupation" by G. Fransson in 1338. The metonymic form of the surname first emerges in the mid 16th Century (see below). Other early recordings of the surname from the Yorkshire church registers include; Richard and John, twin sons of John Leap, who were christened on February 9th 1606, at Howden; on January 26th 1625, Thomas Leap married Elizabeth Blansheard, at Carlton Juxta Snaith; Marie Leap, who married Bartholomew Watson, on October 25th 1629, at Aughton near Selby; on September 30th 1645, Thomas Leap married Eliza Kempe at Bubwith; and Ann Leap married Richard Dawson, on November 30th 1647 in the same place.