Warren – Surname Saturday

Roberts-Barnes-Taft-Cruff-Sprague-Bartlett-Warren Line
By Don Taylor

Introduction

My recent discovery that I am likely a descendant of Richard Warren of the Mayflower opened a whole new line of research. Richard Warren is purported to be a descendant of Charlemagne, which adds 18 Warren and de Warren ancestors.

Name Origin[i]

FamilySearch indicates the surname is English (of Norman origin): from the Middle English (Old French) personal name Warin, Werin, a borrowing of ancient Germanic Warino, a short form of various compound names based on the element warin ‘protection, shelter’ or ‘guard’.

Geographical

In the world, Warren is most common in the United States, with 192,668 individuals with the surname in the US. About 34,000 Warrens live in England and another 16,00 in Australia.[ii]

In the US, the most Warrens live in Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Its frequency is most common in Mississippi, where one in 707 people has the surname.

My Warren Ancestors

• 9^th Great-grandmother: Mary Warren (c. 1610-1683) [iii]
• 10^th Great-grandfather: Richard Warren (1583-1628)
• 11^th Great-grandfather: Christopher Warren[iv]
• 12^th Great-grandfather: William Warren
• 13^th Great-grandfather: Christopher Warren
• 14^th Great-grandfather: John Warren
• 15^th Great-grandfather: John Warren
• 16^th Great-grandfather: William de Warren
• 17^th Great-grandfather: Lawrence de Warren
• 18^th Great-grandfather: John de Warren
• 19^th Great-grandfather: Lawrence de Warren
• 20^th Great-grandfather: John de Warren
• 21^st Great-grandfather: John de Warren
• 22^nd Great-grandfather: Edward de Warren
• 23^rd Great-grandfather: Edward de Warren
• 24^th Great-grandfather: John de Warren
• 25^th Great-grandfather: John de Warren
• 26^th Great-grandfather: Joan Warren

My Warren’s in History

My most recent Warren is Mary (Warren) Bartlett. She was born about 1610 in England. She and her mother, Elizabeth (Walker) Warren, joined her father at Plymouth Colony in 1623. Mary married Robert Bartlett about 1629.

Her father, Richard Warren, came to America in 1620 aboard the Mayflower. See Wikipedia for more about him.

My Earliest known Warren is Joan Warren who is believed to be the 15^th great-grandson of Charlemagne Carolingian.

Locations of my Warren Ancestors

The only known locations of where my Warren Ancestors lived are England and Plymouth Colony.

My Direct Warren Descendants

I have 470 known descendants of Richard Warren in my tree; 64 Taft, 28 Barnes, and 23 Roberts.

I have previously written about six of them.

• Father: Hugh Eugene Roberts (1926-1997)
• Grandmother: Essie Pansy Barnes (1903-1982)
• Great-Grandfather: Joel Clinton Barnes (1857-1921)
• 2^nd Great-Grandmother: Mercy Eliza Taft (1822-1884
• 3^rd Great-Grandfather: Joel Cruff Taft (1800-1849)
• 4^th Great-Grandfather: Asa Taft (1774-1839)

Sources

• Ancestry Surname Page: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts
• Family Search Surname page.
• Forebears Surnames Page: http://forebear       s.io/surnames
• Ancestry – Don Taylor’s Roberts-Brown tree on Ancestry, accessed 25 February 2026.

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Endnotes

[i] Common surname origins include:

• Occupations (such as “Farmer”
• Physical characteristics (such as “Short”)
• Places or landmarks (such as “Hill”)
• Patronymics, derived from a father’s name (such as Johnson from ”son of John”).

[ii] ForeBears – https://forebears.io/surnames/warren

[iii] I have not had the opportunity to personally research these individuals. As such, their names and dates are tentative and/or speculative.

[iv] These ancestors are entirely speculative, based entirely upon other trees. Other than their potential names, I have no information regarding them.