Henry

From Henry, the home-ruler Norman first name borne by nine English kings.

Origin: London, England
Famous bearer: Patrick Henry (1736–1799), American patriot, first post-colonial Governor of Virginia
Register: English family

Territory of Henry

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Henry

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Henry community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Henry has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Henry clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

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What does the Henry name mean?

From the Norman first name Henri (Germanic Heimirich, 'home-ruler'), which through nine kings of England, Henry I to Henry VIII, became one of the dominant Christian first names of mediaeval Europe. The patronymic Henry is the simple form (no -son suffix), distinct from Henderson and Hendrickson which compress the same root through Scottish-Northern English channels. Henry as a surname is overwhelmingly English-modern in distribution, though the colloquial Harry produced the derivative Harris.

The history of Henry

Henry is densest in the south-east of England, with substantial Welsh and Scottish-Lowland presence as well. The first-name Henry was widely current at the Tudor surname-fixation period and produced derivative forms in three directions, Henry the patronymic, Henderson and Henrickson the diminutives, and Harris (from the colloquial Harry). All three derivative families are sibling surnames.

Patrick Henry (1736–1799), the Hanover County, Virginia-born American patriot of 'Give me liberty or give me death' (1775), was the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia and a foundational figure of American republican rhetoric. O. Henry, William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), the North Carolina-born short-story writer of 'The Gift of the Magi', took his pen name during his three-year imprisonment for embezzlement at the Ohio State Penitentiary.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the Henry name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk London in 1818Enter →

St Paul's, Covent Garden and the gaslit West End — Regency London, soot-hazed and horse-drawn.

Notable bearers of the Henry name

Patrick Henry (1736–1799), American patriot, first post-colonial Governor of Virginia
O. Henry / William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), short-story writer

Stories of Henry

Patrick Henry: Give me liberty or give me death
1775
On the afternoon of Thursday the twenty-third of March 1775, in the wooden-frame Second Virginia Convention assembly-hall of the small St John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond on the James River in the colonial-British-Crown-Colony of Virginia, the thirty-eight-year-old Hanover County-born Virginia colonial-lawyer and Second-Virginia-Convention delegate Patrick Henry, on the closing-floor-debate of the Convention's resolution-to-arm-the-Virginia-Colonial-Militia in advance of the expected armed-confrontation with the British-Crown-authorities, gave the closing-floor-speech of approximately twelve minutes that has been universally remembered ever since as the central single pre-American-Revolution pro-independence rhetorical-moment. The closing line of the Henry-speech (I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!) became the foundational American-Revolutionary-rhetorical line and is on the foundational-American-political-text inventory beside the Declaration-of-Independence-1776 and the Federalist-Papers-1787. The Henry-speech-resolution-to-arm-the-Virginia-Militia carried the Convention-vote on the twenty-fourth-of-March-1775 by the 65-to-60 narrow-Convention-majority, brought the Virginia-Colony into the pre-Revolutionary armed-militia-preparation across the spring-of-1775, and was the foundational-Virginia-Colonial-precedent for the Second-Continental-Congress armed-resolution of the summer-of-1775 and the Declaration-of-Independence-of-the-fourth-of-July-1776.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Henry mean?

Where does the Henry family come from?

The Henry family is rooted in London, in England. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in London. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Henry family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Henry name has been concentrated in West Yorkshire and Lancashire. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Henry a England surname?

Yes, Henry is a England surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is England, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the Henry surname?

Henry is densest in the south-east of England, with substantial Welsh and Scottish-Lowland presence as well. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Henry name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Henry family known for?

From Henry, the home-ruler Norman first name borne by nine English kings. Henry is densest in the south-east of England, with substantial Welsh and Scottish-Lowland presence as well.

Who is the most famous Henry?

The best-known bearer of the Henry name is Patrick Henry (1736–1799), American patriot, first post-colonial Governor of Virginia. Other prominent figures of the family include O. Henry / William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), short-story writer.

Who are some famous Henrys?

Notable bearers of the Henry name include Patrick Henry (1736–1799), American patriot, first post-colonial Governor of Virginia and O. Henry / William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), short-story writer. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Henry family?

The Henry family is associated with Patrick Henry: Give me liberty or give me death. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of Patrick Henry: Give me liberty or give me death?

On the afternoon of Thursday the twenty-third of March 1775, in the wooden-frame Second Virginia Convention assembly-hall of the small St John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond on the James River in the colonial-British-Crown-Colony of Virginia, the thirty-eight-year-old Hanover County-born Virginia colonial-lawyer and Second-Virginia-Convention delegate Patrick Henry, on the closing-floor-debate of the Convention's resolution-to-arm-the-Virginia-Colonial-Militia in advance of the expected armed-confrontation with the British-Crown-authorities, gave the closing-floor-speech of approximately twelve minutes that has been universally remembered ever since as the central single pre-American-Revolution pro-independence rhetorical-moment. The closing line of the Henry-speech (I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! The event is dated to 1775.

Where is the Henry surname found today?

England is the primary historical home of the Henry surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same England origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Henry family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Henry family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of England so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Henry family today?

The seat for the head of the Henry family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.