Show ContentsLovelace History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Lovelace

What does the name Lovelace mean?

The surname Lovelace is derived from the Old English word "laweles," which means "lawless" and is ultimately derived from the Old English word "laghles," which means "outlaw." 1 As a surname, it may have come from a nickname for a person who was an outlaw, or was uncontrolled or unrestrained.

The name could have also been derived from the Old English words lufu ‘love’ and -leas ‘free from, without’, ‘loveless’. 1 Lawless is an extension of Lovelace. 2

Early Origins of the Lovelace family

The surname Lovelace was first found in Somerset where Edith Luvelece was found in the Assize Rolls for 1243. A few years later in Kent, William Luuelaz was registered c. 1250. John Loveles was a Freeman of Leicestershire in 1251 and Albricus Loveles was found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1275 in Suffolk. Richard Lovelas was registered in Kent in 1344 as was John Lovelace in 1367. Thomas Lagheles, was listed in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1360. 1

The Hundredorum Rolls also include Albricus Loveles, Suffolk and Sarra Loveles, Huntingdonshire. 3 Robert Lovelisse from Berkshire was listed in the Register of the University of Oxford for 1587.

Early History of the Lovelace family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lovelace research. Another 66 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1367, 1533, 1548, 1551, 1561, 1562, 1568, 1572, 1574, 1577, 1599, 1616, 1618, 1627, 1634, 1638, 1650, 1658, 1660, 1664, 1665, 1670, 1675, 1693, 1734, 1735, 1754, 1773, 1789, 1799, 1837, 1853, 1861 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Lovelace History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lovelace Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Lovelace family name include Lawless, Lawlesse, Lawles, Lovelace, Loveless and others.

Early Notables of the Lovelace family

Distinguished members of the family include

  • Francis Lovelace (1618?-1675?), Governor of New York, second son of Richard, first Baron Lovelace, by his second wife, Margaret, only daughter and heiress of William Dodsworth of London, was born at H...
  • John Lovelace third Baron Lovelace of Hurley (1638?-1693), was grandson of Sir Richard Lovelace (1568-1634) of Hurley, Berkshire, who was knighted at Dublin on 5 Aug. 1599, and elevated to the peerag...
  • Richard Lovelace (1618-1658), the English cavalier and poet, was of an old Kentish family, which had held the manor of Bethersden since 1367, and was closely allied to the Lovelaces of Kingsdown and C...

Lovelace Ranking

In the United States, the name Lovelace is the 2,640th most popular surname with an estimated 12,435 people with that name. 4

Migration of the Lovelace family to Ireland

Some of the Lovelace family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 103 words (7 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Lovelace surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Lovelace Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Francis Lovelace, who arrived in Virginia in 1651 5
Lovelace Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Edward Lovelace, who settled in New England in 1764
  • Thomas Lovelace, who arrived in Mississippi in 1798 5
  • John, Lovelace Sr., who arrived in Mississippi in 1798 5
Lovelace Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Louiza Lovelace, aged 24, who landed in New York in 1854 5
  • Geo Lovelace, aged 25, who landed in New York in 1854 5

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Lovelace Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Maria Lovelace, aged 20, a servant, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Stately" in 1851
  • Miss Maria Lovelace, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Stately" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 1st June 1851 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Lovelace (post 1700) +

  • Nevill Lovelace (1708-1736), 6th Baron Lovelace
  • John Lovelace (d. 1709), 5th Baron Lovelace
  • John Lovelace (d. 1709), 4th Baron Lovelace
  • Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), comon name of Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, English mathematician and writer
  • Willis Randolph Lovelace Jr. (1912-1965), American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Mexico, 1960 7
  • William Yancey Lovelace, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Alabama, 1924 7
  • Earl Lovelace (b. 1935), Trinidadian novelist, journalist, playwright, and short story writer
  • Linda Lovelace (1949-2002), born Linda Susan Boreman, American pornographic actress and later bacame a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement
  • William Randolph Lovelace II (1907-1965), American physician appointed NASA’s Director of Space Medicine in 1964, eponym of the Lovelace lunar crater
  • Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980), American author
  • ... (Another 12 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


  1. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  2. Charnock, Richard, Stephen, Ludus Patronymicus of The Etymology of Curious Surnames. London: Trubner & Co., 60 Paternoster Row, 1868. Print.
  3. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  4. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  5. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  6. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  7. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 18) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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