The surname Langford is of territorial origin and was fisrt used in the South West of England during the Medieval period. Names of territorial origin were common, a man would have had the surname Langford if he was from the village of Langford. An example of this is Osm' de Langeford who was recorded in the Pipe Rolls for Wiltshire in 1130. The name Osm' de Langeford means Osm' from the village of Langford. "de" is a French word meaning from. This does not mean Osm' was French he was probably English but because the Normans had invaded Britain from 1066 official documents such as the Pipe Rolls and the Doomsday book were written in French. The "e" after the "Lang" and before the "ford" (Langeford) probably occured because in them days people could not spell very well and many variations came into use such as Longford, Lankford or Langsford. Osm' was probably from the Langford tri villages in Wiltshire. The tri Villages are a small cluster of halets named Hanging Langford, Steeple Langford and Little Langford and were documented during this period.  The Langford Tri villages have one of the oldest surviving Anglo-Saxon churches in the country. The Langford tri villages are on the banks of the river Wylye on the southern edge of Sailsbury plain.
The Langford family is also recorded in ancient records as having a very strong presence in the celtic territory of Cornwall, where it is said thet were a powerfull family of great antiquity with a manor and many landed estates in that shire and that they had been established there since well before the 12th century.  In 1229 Roger Langford was Sheriff of Cornwall and gave his name to the estete of Langford in Marhamchurch.  In the same century this family branched north to Nottinghamshire where Sir John Langford was a Knight of that county and gave his name to Langford in Nottinghamshire. They then branched back into Wiltshire (where the family name was originally from) and then into Hallatrow Somerset. Meanwhile Langford Hele (hill) in Cornwall was given its name by the senior stem of the family. Sir John Langford of this branch was decended from the Cornish Langfords and established the Devon Langfords at Langford in Devon.