The English surname Stafford is an habitational name from any of the various places in England so called. The county seat of Staffordshire (which is probably the main source of the surname) is named from Old English stæð ‘landing place’ + ford ‘ford’. Examples in Devon seem to have as their first element Old English stan ‘stone’, and one in Sussex is probably named with Old English steor ‘steer’, ‘bullock’. The "Dictionary of National Biography" gives no less than twenty one entries to the name of which the earliest is Ralph de Stafford (1299 - 1372) the first Earl of Stafford, who fought in the great battles of Crecy and Poitiers against the French, and having played a prominent part in those victories, he took on the Scots in 1356. Today there are approximately 45,000 bearers of the surname Stafford living in The United States.

STAFFORD RAISED FAMILY CREST RING