What's in a name?
de Routluge, de Routlug, Routelyech, Rowtleyche, Routlage, Routlisch, Routlich, Routlech, Roucleshe, Rouchligis, Routlesche, Routleche, Routlege, Rutlethe, Rotheluche, Rowtleische, Rowtleisch, Rowteleages, Bowteledge, Routledg, Routlach, Routlache, Ratlege, Rowtledge, Reutledge, Routledge, Rutliche, Rootledge, Rowtelege, Rowtlege, Ruttligis, Rutledge, Routhedge, Rowtlage, Routleidge, Rowlidge
Well I suppose it depends on how your own surname is spelt as to which you think is the correct one. But the easiest answer to that question is its whichever one appeared in history first is the correct spelling. Granted not everyone could read or write back then, also those who wrote down the names had to work with local dialects and how they thought it should be spelt. With the Routledge name however its first appearance was in 1433 and the spelling does not change much till records in the early 1500's. However from 1433 to 1603 there is 37 variants of the surname. The first spelling is found in Hawick, just on the Scottish Border in 1433 and is spelt;
"de Routluge"
So this is the original spelling, and from Routluge to Routledge there has not been much change. However in between there has been some strange and far fetched variations. The strangest being, Roucleshe found in 1510, in which the author believed it was meant to be a Rowcliffe. So straight away you can see the problems of proving the original spelling. Now quite often you will read a book of surnames or read a website, or even pay for a surname scroll to be told that the name Routledge means Red pool or stream, and that it comes from a place in Cumberland. Well I have myself been to this place, known as Routledge burn and indeed the water is Red. So what's the problem you ask?
Well its quite simple really. It was only know by that name after the mid 1700's; Before that it was called the Bailey. So we have to start all over again as the Routledges gave the place its name and not the other way around. We also have to forget about everything you have ever read regarding the name. This leaves us taking a look at breaking up the syllables and looking it to the language of the time. Not only in to the writing of the time but also the accent.
Old Border Scotch
The first mistake I was to make was trying to match up the syllables of Routluge in Latin or Gaelic. I soon learnt that this would not have been the tongue of the time. I discovered that the lowland border country of Scotland spoke its own language called Scots. Scots is the Germanic language, related to English, spoken in Lowland Scotland and Ulster, not the Celtic language Gaelic. Now not exactly fluent in Scots, I managed to find various websites that I could type in scotch and it would translate to English for me. It took various attempts to get something to match up as I didn't know where the syllables where. I went through "Ro", "Rou", "Rout", "Routl", and so forth till I got a result which was;
rowt rout [rʌut, rut] -
to bellow, to roar, roar of animals, play a horn, shout, a fuss, a loud crashing noise, roar or rumble of the sea, winds, thunder etc. snore.
lug [l(j)ʌg] -
a lubberly, clumsy fellow
This of course is merely my theory as to how the name broke up, but to help I asked people local to Hawick today to say Routluge so I could get a feel for it in a local accent. When they pronounced it they Pronounced it as R (like the R in great) ou (as in suit, like a short oo) T as normal, and luge as lug. Which is the way the pronunciation is described above. So it was, said, "Rootlug" with a scottish roll on the R. But what did it mean. Well surnames derived from trades , status, habitat or from parents. For example; Smith = Blacksmith, Johnson = Son of john. So I would imagine going by the translation above, de Routluge was probably a description more than anything else. That would mean that some where before 1433 there was a man, in this example we shall call Adam, who was a loud clumsy man.
"Adam the loud or noisy clumsy man" became "Adam de Routluge"
And perhaps the name just stuck and followed them down the family, like John of the loud clumsy men = John de Routluge. But like I say this is just my theory and is not a final answer. However it can answer the question, Routledge or Rutledge. Well the answer is neither. The 'o' is first dropped in the 1580's but two years later the same man has regained to 'o'. As for Routledge, although its not the original name it has changed enough at the end to throw scholars of in to giving it a different meaning, while the start has remained the same. Reading the page on Irish Rutledge's you will see that a lot of these are not even from the Border, but more of that later...
