Fitch is a family name of

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

origin. Like most ancient surnames, there are a number of possible origins to the name. It may originate from the Old French word ''fissell'' meaning "an iron-pointed implement". It may also derive from William de Gernon who inherited the barony of Stansted Mountfitchet in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and took the surname "de Montifitchet". His descendants eventually shortened the name first to "Fitche" and then to "Fitch". Related names include Fitchet, Fitchell, Fitchen and Fitchett, as well as others. Earliest records show the name and derivatives occurring from the 12th century onwards. It may also have been used as a personal name.

People

In arts and entertainment

Writers

* Brian T. Fitch, French-Canadian nonfiction author * Clyde Fitch, American playwright *

George Helgesen Fitch George Helgesen Fitch (June 5, 1877 – August 9, 1915) was an American author, humorist, and journalist perhaps best known for his stories about fictional Siwash College. Biography Fitch was born in Galva, Illinois. He was the eldest son of ...

(1877–1915), American author, humorist, and journalist * Janet Fitch, American author *

Lucy Fitch Perkins Lucy Fitch Perkins (July 12, 1865 – March 18, 1937) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for ''Dutch Twins'' (1911) and its sequels, the ''Twins'' series. Biography Lucy Fitch was born on July 12, 1865, in ...

, (1865–1937), American children's author *

Noël Riley Fitch Noël Riley Fitch is a biographer and historian of expatriate intellectuals in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. She is the author of several books on Paris (''Literary Cafes of Paris'', ''Walks in Hemingway's Paris'') as well as thre ...

, author * Sheree Fitch, Canadian children's author

In other arts

Albert Fitch Bellows Albert Fitch Bellows (November 20, 1829November 24, 1883), was an American landscape painter of the Hudson River School. Early years Bellows was born at Milford, Massachusetts. He first studied architecture and, in 1849, became the partner of Bo ...

(1829–1883), American landscape painter * Alice Underwood Fitch (1862-1936), American painter *

Graham Fitch Graham Fitch is an English pianist and piano teacher. Biography Fitch was the first prize winner in the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, and graduated with honours from London's Royal College of Music as a Hopkinson Gold Medalist. He came t ...

, pianist * John Fitch (computer scientist) (born 1945), computer scientist, mathematician and composer *

Niles Fitch Niles Fitch (born July 12, 2001) is an American actor who began his career as a child actor. He gained prominence through his role in the NBC series ''This Is Us''. He received praise for his role as Quinton in the drama film ''The Fallout'' (20 ...

(born 2001), American actor *

Rodney Fitch Rodney Arthur Fitch, CBE (19 August 1938 – 20 October 2014) was an English designer. He founded the design company Fitch in 1972, and rejoined it as chairman and CEO in 2004. He was appointed Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British ...

, English designer

In business

Benjamin Franklin Fitch Benjamin Franklin Fitch was the founder of the Taylor Chair Company, which is one of the longest running, single family owned companies in the US. He originally started a furniture workshop in Bedford, Ohio Bedford is a city in Cuyahoga County, ...

(1877-1956), author of the concept of containers in the US before the Second World War *

Ezra Fitch Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch (September 27, 1865 – June 16, 1930) was the co-founder of the modern lifestyle brand Abercrombie & Fitch and is attributed with the introduction of Mahjong to the United States. A wealthy New York City manager, Fitch beg ...

, New York lawyer and cofounder of Abercrombie & Fitch, a clothing company * George Ashmore Fitch, YMCA Administrative Director * George B. Fitch, American businessman, politician, and Olympic organizer * John Fitch (inventor) (1743–1798), early American inventor, built the first steamboat in the United States in 1786 *

John Knowles Fitch John Knowles Fitch (February 15, 1880 – July 5, 1969) was the founder of the Fitch Publishing Company, and developed a financial securities rating system from AAA to D. Fitch ratings are used as a tool in the business of credit rating, usually ...

(1880–1943), founder of Fitch Ratings, Ltd * John Thomas Fitch, father and son of J. T. Fitch & Son, drapers of Adelaide, South Australia * Ralph Fitch (1550 – 1611), British merchant-explorer of India and Burma

In government, military, and politics

United States

* Alva Revista Fitch, U.S. Army Lieutenant General *

Asa Fitch (Representative) Asa Fitch (November 10, 1765August 24, 1843) was a U.S. representative from New York from 1811 to 1813. He was born in Groton in the Connecticut Colony. He studied medicine and became a physician practicing in Duanesburg and Salem, New Yo ...

(1765–1843), US Congress representative *

Ashbel P. Fitch Ashbel Parmelee Fitch (October 8, 1848 – May 4, 1904) was an American lawyer, financier, and politician. He was a four-term Congressman, and a one-term Comptroller of New York City. From March 4, 1887, until January 30, 1894, he served a ...

(1848–1904), New York politician * Aubrey Fitch, U.S. Navy admiral * Charles C. Fitch (1842–1899), Michigan state representative * Chauncey Fitch Cleveland (1799–1887), US politician *

Ferris S. Fitch Jr. Ferris S. Fitch Jr. (February 1, 1853January 21, 1920) was an American politician, educator, and journalist. Early life and education Ferris S. Fitch Jr. was born on February 1, 1853, in Bunker Hill Township, Michigan. Ferris S. Fitch Sr. was ...

(1853–1920), Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction * George B. Fitch, American businessman, politician, and Olympic organizer *

Graham N. Fitch Graham Newell Fitch (December 5, 1809November 29, 1892) was a United States representative and senator from Indiana, as well as a brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career Born in Le Roy, New Y ...

, US Representative and Senator *

Jabez W. Fitch Jabez Warner Fitch (May 1823 – April 5, 1884) was an American politician who served as the 14th lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1878 to 1880 under Governor Richard M. Bishop. He was a Democrat from Cuyahoga County. Biography Jabez Fitch wa ...

, Democratic lieutenant-governor of Ohio from 1878 to 1880 *

LeRoy Fitch USS ''Fitch'' (DD-462/DMS-25), was a of the United States Navy. Namesake LeRoy Fitch was born on 1 October 1835 in Logansport, Indiana. He was a member of the United States Naval Academy class of 1856, and served with distinction in the Ameri ...

, officer during the American Civil War *

Thomas Fitch (governor) Thomas Fitch IV (c. 1699 – July 18, 1774) was governor of the Connecticut Colony from 1754 to 1766. Family and early life Fitch was born at Norwalk, Connecticut, the son of Thomas Fitch III (1675–1731), an investor in the Equivalent Lands ...

(IV) (1699–1774), governor of the Connecticut Colony *

Thomas Fitch, V Thomas Fitch, V (1725 – January 16, 1795) was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Norwalk in the sessions of October 1761, May and October 1763, May and October 1764, May and October 1765, May and October 1766, May 1767 ...

(1725–1795), representative from Norwalk to the Connecticut House of Representatives, traditionally believed to be the original "Yankee Doodle Dandy." * Thomas Fitch (politician), United States Representative from Nevada

Other countries

Alan Fitch Ernest Alan Fitch (10 March 1915 – 7 August 1985) was a British Labour Party politician. Fitch was educated at Kingswood School, Bath (1927–1932), and was a mineworker. He represented mineworkers on the executive committee of the Lancashire ...

(1915–1985), British Labour Party politician * Bruce Fitch, New Brunswick, Canada politician

In science and academia

* Asa Fitch, American entomologist *

Frederic Brenton Fitch Frederic Brenton Fitch (September 9, 1908, Greenwich, Connecticut – September 18, 1987, New Haven, Connecticut) was an American logician, a Sterling Professor at Yale University. Education and career At Yale, Fitch earned his B.A in 1931 and ...

, American logician and inventor of Fitch-style calculus *

Henry Sheldon Fitch Henry Sheldon Fitch (December 25, 1909 – September 8, 2009) was an American herpetologist. Fitch was born in Utica, New York. When he was a year old, the family moved to Medford in the Rogue Valley in Oregon. Growing up, he had a keen interest i ...

, American herpetologist * James Marston Fitch, historic preservationist * John Fitch (classicist), classical scholar * John Fitch (computer scientist) (born 1945), computer scientist, mathematician and composer *

John A. Fitch John Andrews Fitch (1881–1959) was an American writer, teacher, and pioneering social investigator of the Progressive Era. He is best known for his contributions to The Pittsburgh Survey, a landmark study of social conditions in an archetyp ...

(1881–1959), writer and professor of labor relations *

John Nugent Fitch John Nugent Fitch (24 October 1840 – 11 January 1927) was a British botanical illustrator and lithographer, best known for his contribution of 528 plates to ''The Orchid Album'', a landmark work of eleven volumes published between 1872 and ...

(1840–1927), botanical illustrator *

Joshua Girling Fitch Sir Joshua Girling Fitch (13 February 1824 – 14 July 1903) was an English educationist. Life Fitch was the second son of Thomas Fitch, of a Colchester family. He was born in Southwark, London. The eldest son, Thomas Hodges (1822–1907), became ...

(1824–1903), English educationalist *

Marc Fitch Marcus Felix Brudenell Fitch , (5 January 1908 – 2 April 1994) was an English historian and philanthropist. Fitch was born in Kensington, London in 1908, the only child of provision merchant Hugh Bernard Fitch (1873–1962) and his wife Bert ...

, English historian and philanthropist *

Val Logsdon Fitch Val Logsdon Fitch (March 10, 1923 – February 5, 2015) was an American nuclear physicist who, with co-researcher James Cronin, was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment using the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brook ...

, Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist *

W. Tecumseh Fitch William Tecumseh Sherman Fitch III (born 1963)http://homepage.univie.ac.at/tecumseh.fitch/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/FitchCV2011.pdf is an American evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Vienna (Vienna, Austria) where ...

, evolutionary psychologist *

Walter Hood Fitch Walter Hood Fitch (28 February 1817 – 1892) was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications. His work in colour lithograph, including 2700 illustrations for ''Curtis's Bot ...

(1817–1892), Scottish botanical artist *

Walter M. Fitch Walter Monroe Fitch (May 21, 1929 – March 10, 2011) was a pioneering American researcher in molecular evolution. Education and career Fitch attended University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with an A.B. in chemistry in 1953 and a ...

(1929–2011), American evolutionary biologist

In sport

Alfred Fitch Alfred Lord Fitch (December 1, 1912 – February 17, 1981) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. He was born in New York and died in Orange, California. He competed for the United States in the 1936 Summer Olympics held ...

, American Olympian *

Alison Fitch Alison Rachel Fitch (also known as Aly Fitch; born 18 February 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand) is a New Zealand Swimming (sport), swimming competitor. She won a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Care ...

, New Zealand Olympian *

Bill Fitch William Charles Fitch (May 19, 1932 – February 2, 2022) was an American professional basketball coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He developed multiple teams into playoff contenders and won an NBA championship with the Bost ...

(1932–2022), American basketball coach *

Gerald Fitch Gerald Edwind Fitch (born August 12, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for Regatas Corrientes of the Liga Nacional de Básquet. He played college basketball at the University of Kentucky and has played internationally and in th ...

, American basketball player *

Harrison Fitch Harrison Brooks "Honey" Fitch (c. 1912 – June 11, 1984) was an African American college basketball player who played for the University of Connecticut (UConn). He was targeted in a racist incident at a scheduled game between UConn and the Uni ...

, American basketball player * Horatio Fitch, American Olympian *

John Fitch (racing driver) John Cooper Fitch (August 4, 1917 in Indianapolis, Indiana – October 31, 2012) was an American racing driver and inventor. He was the first American to race automobiles successfully in Europe in the post-war era. In the course of a driving c ...

(1917–2012), racing driver, inventor of innovative safety devices and descendant of John Fitch (inventor) * Jon Fitch, American mixed martial arts fighter *

Joyce Fitch Joyce Fitch Rymer (née Fitch; 3 April 1922 – 26 July 2012) was a tennis player from Australia who reached the women's singles final of the 1946 Australian Championships, losing to Nancye Wynne Bolton 6–4, 6–4. She teamed with Mary Bevi ...

, Australian tennis player * Nathaniel Fitch (born 1958), former heavyweight boxer *

Zarnell Fitch Zarnell Stephen Fitch (born July 6, 1983) is an American football coach and former player. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2006, spent time with two other NFL teams and played in several other professional league ...

(born 1983), American football player

In other fields

Charles Fitch Charles Fitch (1805–1844) was an American preacher in the early 19th century, who rose to prominence for his work with the Millerite movement. Early years During his early years, in the 1830s, he had associated with famous evangelist Charles ...

, American preacher * Dennis E. Fitch, American commercial airline pilot * Ed Fitch (born 1937), occult author and Wiccan High Priest * Henry D. Fitch (1767–1849), early settler of San Diego, California *

James P. Fitch James P. Fitch (July 4, 1887 – January 5, 1964) was a Scouting notable in the early history of the Boy Scouts of America (B.S.A.). He was born at Montserrat, Missouri, and attended Missouri State Normal School (now University of Central Misso ...

, notable in the early history of the Boy Scouts of America * John Fitch, Massachusetts settler for whom Fitchburg, Massachusetts is named *

(1917–2012), racing driver, inventor of innovative safety devices and descendant of John Fitch (inventor) * John H. Fitch, namesake of YMCA Camp Fitch in Springfield, Pennsylvania * Ralph Fitch, British merchant-explorer of India and Burma *

Thomas Fitch (settler) Thomas Fitch, Jr. (October 14, 1612April 14, 1704) was a founding settler of Norwalk, Connecticut. He served as a deputy of the General Assembly of the Connecticut Colony representing Norwalk in the May 1673 session. He was born October 14, 161 ...

(I) (1612–1704), founding settler of Norwalk, Connecticut

References

External links

Fitch Family History and GenealogyFitch Family History in the UK
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