Shires Family History

English (West Yorkshire): habitational name perhaps from Shiregreen in Sheffield (Yorkshire) or in many instances almost certainly from Skier's Hall in Nether Hoyland (Yorkshire). The latter is the source of the surname de Skiris which was sometimes changed to Shires.

The placename Shiregreen derives from Old English scīr ‘region district’ with the later addition of Middle English grene ‘green grassy place’; the origin of Skier's Hall is uncertain.

In Lancashire, the Midlands, and southern England a variant of Shire with post-medieval excrescent -s.