There are many different spellings of my name, including:

• Fosberry,
• Fosbury (famous for the "Fosbury-flip" high-jump technique, used almost universally now),
• Fossberry,
• Forsberg (the Scandinavian version),
• Vosburg/Vosburgh (the Dutch version),
• etc.

Genealogy books seem to be no use in finding out about this name, in any of its variants. What I have found out is that:

• A village called "Fosberg" or "Forstebery" was recorded in England in 1042 (the time of King Edward the Confessor), and there are a few other similar place names in England.
• The name is recorded in the Limerick area of Ireland. A Fosberry was rewarded with lands in that region by the English king for services in a battle in Ireland.
• There are quite a few people in Sweden & Norway with a similar name "Forsberg" (pronounced Fórsberry), which means something like "Waterfall Mountain".
• There is a family coat of arms (top-right of this page).

During Saxon & Norman times it was common for landowners and nobility to take the name of their home as their effective surname.

Based on the above, my conclusion is that the original Fosberrys were Vikings, who settled in Normandy and arrived in England with the Norman invasion (the Normans were originally Vikings - "Norman" is derived from "Norsemen"). Their original name was not necessarily Fosberry, but the place name from which their surname is derived is also almost certainly Scandinavian. I should say that other people have different ideas on the origin and the meaning of the name.

Some of the family then went to Ireland in one of England's many waves of invasion, and earned themselves lands & a title.

There now seem to be Fosberrys in many countries: Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany, the USA, South Africa, etc.

For additional information on the genealogy of "Fosberry", here are some useful links:

• http://fosbery.tripod.com/,
• http://genforum.genealogy.com/fosberry/messages/23.html,
• http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Fosberry.