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GENTRY Family History

This very unusual surname has long been a source of puzzlement to researchers, and it is not recorded in any of the usual dictionaries of surnames. It is almost certainly French in origin, like the surname 'Gentle' deriving from the old French 'gentil', a word introduced by the Normans after the 1066 invasion, and meaning 'high born'. It has been recorded at various times as Jentry, Jendry, Gentery, Gentry, Gentiry and Guntrey, and in France as Gentil, Gentreau, and Gentric, the latter being very close in both spelling and pronunciation to the English forms.