Felgate Family History

From Middle English feld(e) fild(e) ‘field open country’ (see Field) + gate ‘gate’ denoting a gate opening on to fields or open country. The surname may be topographic for someone who lived by such a gate or toponymic for someone from a place so named.

This name may have become confused with Falgate, perhaps occasionally from a lost place called Felgate in Elmley Lovett (Worcs) which is recorded as Felegate in 1275.

The place-name derives from Middle English gate ‘gate’ with an uncertain first element.