Hermitage Family History

For someone who lived near a hermitage or at a place so called, named from Middle English (Old French) (h)ermitage. The 1259 bearer probably took his name from Hermitage in Cranage (Cheshire) and the 1296 bearer is associated with Hermitage Farm Little Packington (Warwicks).

The Kent name is alternatively through folk etymology perhaps an altered form of Emptage, a surname that flourished on the Isle of Thanet where the following early bearers are recorded.