Raisbeck Family History

English (northern): habitational name from Rais Beck in Orton or Raise Beck in Grasmere (both in Westmorland) two rivers which take their names from Dunmail Raise (a cairn in Cumberland named with Old Norse hreysi ‘cairn’) + Old Norse bekkr ‘stream’ or from Raisbeck in Upleatham (North Yorkshire) which derives from Old Norse rá ‘roe roe buck’ + bekkr.

The North Yorkshire placename is recorded in Middle English as Rabec and its modern local form is Raybeck so the -s- is unhistorical.

However, it is possible that the two pronunciations were interchangeable.