Bewick
The surname Bewick, alternately found as Buick, Buik, Bewicke, Bewike and Buicke, is ultimately of English origin, but later made its way to Scotland and came to prominence in the person of David Dunbar Buick, the Angus-born, Scottish American founder of the Buick Motor Company.
Origins
Certain surnames, with Bewick being an example of this, are derived from the name of a small community. It is believed smaller towns and villages were taken as surnames by those families migrating from these rural communities to the larger cities, and the need for new arrivals to choose a defining surname.
There are two historic villages in England by the name Bewick, one is found in Yorkshire and the other is found in Northumberland. The Bewick of Northumberland is today a civil parish divided into the hamlet of New Bewick and the village of Old Bewick.
Coat of arms
It is a common misconception that there is one coat of arms associated to everyone of a common surname, when, in fact, a coat of arms is property passed through direct lineage. This means that there are numerous families of Buick, perhaps under various spellings, that are related, but because they are not the direct descendants of a Buick that owned an armorial device do not have rights or claims to any arms themselves.
Bewick, Northumberland
Coordinates: 55°29′13″N 1°53′56″W / 55.487°N 1.899°W
Bewick (/ˈbjuːɪk/, like "Buick") is a civil parish in Northumberland, England. It has a population of 69(2001). increasing to 138 (after the inclusion of Chillingham) at the 2011 Census. The parish consists of the hamlets of Old Bewick and New Bewick, both about 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Alnwick.
Governance
Bewick is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
