Firth Family History

English: topographic name from Middle English firthe frithe frethe ‘frith wood woodland’ also ‘hunting ground’ (whether or not wooded). These are forms of Old English firhthe (ge)fyrhthe ferhthe in which the awkward consonant cluster -rhth- was simplified by dropping medial -h- and sometimes metathesizing the -r-.

In medieval Sowerbyshire Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the friths were areas reserved for hunting, so the surname there may have belonged to forest officials.

Scottish: habitational name from Firth in Orkney.