This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the strange,' i.e. the new-comer, the stranger; compare Newman.

Stephen le Straunge, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

John le Straunge, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Hamond le Straunge, Berkshire, ibid.

John le Strange, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Willelmus Straunge, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1578. Baptised — John, s. William Straunge: St. Michael, Cornhill.

1780. Married — Thomas Strange and Elizabeth Woods: St. George, Hanover Square.

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the Strang,' i.e. the strong, vigorous. Anglo-Saxon Strang; compare Lang and Long. The surname is Scottish and North English, but generally the former.

Adam Strang, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1767. Married — William Strang and Elizabeth Connell: St. George, Hanover Square.

Probably from OFr, estrange, foreign. Later the name through popular etymology was derived from Scots and N. English strong, strong. Home le Estraunge was intentive in the king's service in Scotland, 1255 (Bain, I, 1999). William Strange, burgess of Montrose, rendered homage, 1296 (ibid., II, p. 199). Thomas de (for le) Strang held land in Aberdeen, 1340 (REA., I, p. 68), and John Strang was elected common councillor there in 1398 (CRA., p. 374). Walter Strang was one of an inquest at Forfar, 1438 (RAA., II, p. 546). William Strangh, a Scottish merchant, had license to import Scottish goods into England, 1495 (Bain, IV, 1619). Sir George Strang, a cleric, was notary in Orkney, 1542 (OSR., I, p. 77) Henry Strang is the earliest mentioned schoolmaster in Dysart, 1579 (Dysart, p. 39). Richard Strange, advocate in Edinburgh, 1555 (Protocols, I). Strang of Balcaskie, an old family in the East Neuk of Fife. Sir Robert Strange was a distinguished eighteenth-century engraver. An old surname in Orkney. There is also an old West Norse personal name Strangi, but the origin is most likely as given above.

A North. English and Scot. form of Strong.

. . . strong and stíðmód [resolute].— Cynewulf, Dream of the Rood, 40.

Fra mi faas [foes] þat war sa strang.— 13th cent. Metr. N. English Psalter: Ps. xviii. 17.

King Hart intohiscumlie castell strang.— G. Douglas, King Hart.

(German, English, Scottish) One with great physical power, a strong man; one who came from a distance, a stranger.

An archaic and Northern form of Strong.

According to some genealogists this family first appear in England at certain jousts of arms, which took place at Peverell's Castle, in the Beak of Derbyshire. There were present on the occasion Owen, Prince of Wales, a Scottish Prince, and two sons of the Duke of Brittany, one of whom, from his foreign birth, was called Guido le Strange, and became progenitor of the various baronial houses of L'Estrange and Strange. "This race of Le Strange continued for many descents in the dignity of lords barons, in Latine records called Extranei, for that they were strangers, brought hither by King Henry the Second, in the year 1148." Weever's Funerall Monuments, p. 530.

Or Strong, the English form of Le Fort. Richard le Fort, Normandy 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); Adam, Samson le Fort, Simon Strong, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

Several of the mayors of Bideford, Devon, in the 17th century, bore the name of Strange (Watkins' "Bideford").