UK surnames and their origins

Understanding people's surnames and the origins of those names

1. Genealogy

Where do you come from?
B
M
D
B
M
D
Surnames

2. Genealogy
What’s in a Name?
•In England alone there are around 45,000
different surnames, each with a history behind it.
•The sources from which names are derived are
almost endless: nicknames, physical attributes,
counties, trades, heraldic charges, and almost
every object known to mankind. Tracing a family
tree in practice involves looking at lists of these
names - this is how we recognise our ancestors
when we find them.

3. Genealogy
Why?
When communities were small each
person was identifiable by a single name,
but as the population increased, it
gradually became necessary to identify
people further - leading to names such as
John the butcher, William the short, Henry
from Sutton, Mary of the wood, Roger son
of Richard. Over time many names
became corrupted and their original
meaning is now not easily seen.

4. Genealogy
Local Names
•25% of English surnames are derived from
particular places
–Barnsley Yorkshire
–Pickering Yorkshire
–Lancaster, Lancashire
–Chester, Cheshire

5. Genealogy
Natural Names
•Derived from features of the landscape,
and indicate where a family lived in a
parish
–Wood, Brook, Green, Townend, Hill, Atwood
–Bywater, Underwood, Bridge, Marsh
•Sometimes different words for the same
feature
–Wood = Shaw, Hirst, Firth, Holt

6. Genealogy
Defined by Work
•At the time of surname formation the most
common occupational surnames became
hereditary: Smith, Wright, Tailor, Turner,
Bowyer, Baker, Butcher, Sawyer,
•Most villages had one craftsman pursuing
each trade
•Some trades are now obscure, e.g.
Palliser, Frobisher

7. Genealogy
Defined by Work
•Sometimes the surname relates to a
position, rather than a craft/skill
–Sheriff, Constable, Priest, Deacon
•The use of dialect words for the same craft
produces distinct regional patterns
–Fuller
–Tucker in the southwest
–Walker in the north
–Bowker in south-eastern Lancashire

8. Genealogy
Defined by Work
•Sometimes a nickname becomes a
surname
–Prince
–Abbot
–Knight
–Bishop
–King
•Often that person was working for one of
the above, not holding the position himself

9. Genealogy
Surnames of Relationship
•Some surnames derived from the father’s
first name, e.g. John, Richard
•Most took –son added to the father’s first
name, e.g. Johnson, Richardson or –s
added, e.g. Johns / Jones, Richards
•Some OE / Viking personal names survive
the Norman conquest, e.g. Oddy, Gummer

10. Genealogy
Like father, like son
The son of William could become
Williams
Williamson
Wills
Wilson
Wilkins
Wilkinson
Wilkes or Wilcocks/Wilcox

11. Genealogy
Surnames of Relationship
•The Normans had a limited range of
personal names, so pet forms became
common, often with the addition of –kin,
-cock, -et, -ot, -mot, -on, and –in
•Hodgkin
•Willmot
•Wilcocks/cox
•Willets

12. Genealogy
Terms of Endearment
•Nicknames, based upon personal
characteristics, becoming surnames
•Animals: Fox, Sparrow, Finch
•Colours: Grey, White, Black, Brown, Pink,
Green, Violet
•Physical: Short, Broad, Long
•Personality: Pennyfather, Proudfoot,
Bellamy

13. Genealogy
Strangers
•Strangers were often identified by their
place of origin or race
–Cornwall
–London
–Lombard
–Fleming
–Breton
–Dennis
–Norman

14. Genealogy
Names have changed
•Most people were not literate until the late
19
th
century
•Surnames spelt in various ways by e.g.
different parish clerks
–e.g. Shepherd to Sheppard
•Names have also changed as
pronunciation has changed

15. Genealogy
Most common surnames of
English Origin
•Smith
•Brown
•Taylor
•Johnson
•Walker
•Wright
•Thompson
•Robinson
•White
•Green
•Hall
•Wood
•Harris
•Martin
•Jackson
•Clarke
•Clarke
•Turner
•Hill
•Cooper

16. Genealogy
Welsh Surnames
•Hereditary surnames not generally used in
the Middle Ages
•Instead, the Welsh added an “ab” or “ap”
(son of) to personal names, followed by a
contraction:
–ab Owain / Owen to Bowen
–ab Evan to Bevan
–ap Rhys to Preece, Price
–ap Hugh (Hywel) to Pugh

17. Genealogy
Welsh Surnames
•Later many Welsh families adopted
English surname practices
–eg Evans
•or repetition of first name as a surname
–e.g. Owen

18. Genealogy
Most common surnames of
Welsh Origin
•Jones
•Williams
•Davies
•Evans
•Thomas
•Roberts
•Hughes
•Edwards
•Lewis
•Morris
•Morgan
•James
•Phillips
•Price
•Griffiths
•Richards
•Ellis
•Powell
•Owen
•Lloyd

19. Genealogy
Scottish Surnames
•Scottish surnames divide themselves into
two classes, Highland, and Lowland.
•In a very few instances they were
assumed before the eleventh century, and
indeed by far the larger proportion, since
the thirteenth century

20. Genealogy
Lowland Scottish Surnames
•Lowland surnames having been adopted
mainly through Norman influence, are
most frequently local, such as Carmichael,
Ridell, Rutherford; but many are derived
from baptismal names, as Dickson,
Henderson, Syme; from peculiarities, as
Armstrong, Brown, Douglas; from armorial
bearings, as Foulis, Heron, Lillie; from
office, occupation, and trade, as Baillie,
Hunter, Lorimer.

21. Genealogy
Lowland Scottish Surnames
More examples include; derived from localities,
as Maxwell, Nisbet, Ralston; baptismal names,
as Anderson, Bennett, Lawrence; trades, as
Baxter, Fletcher, Nasmyth; offices, as
Bannerman, Grieve, Walker; professions, as
Clerk, Freer, Kemp; peculiarities of body and
mind, as Fairfax, Laing, May; armorial bearings,
as Cross, Heart, Horn; nativity, as Fleming,
Inglis, Scott; and from many other sources.

22. Genealogy
Highland Scottish Surnames
Highland surnames are chiefly
patronymics, with various prefixes and
additions, as Farquhar, Mackenzie,
Robertson ; but there are some
exceptions, a few being derived from
localities, as Lennox, Murray, Boss; a
good number from peculiarities, as
Cameron, Campbell, Grant; and some
from armorial bearings, and offices, as
Frazer, Skene, Stewart.

23. Genealogy
Most common surnames of
Scottish Origin
•Wilson
•Scott
•Campbell
•Simpson
•Stewart
•Robertson
•Murray
•Graham
•Gibson
•Thomson
•Reid
•Henderson
•Grant
•Ross
•McDonald
•Hamilton
•Johnston
•Kennedy
•Davidson
•MacDonald

24. Genealogy
Most common surnames of Irish
Origin
•Kelly
•Murphy
•O’Brien
•Ryan
•O’Neill
•Byrne
•McCarthy
•Burke
•Quinn
•Doyle
•O’Connor
•Lynch
•Gallagher
•Sullivan
•Carroll
•Duffy
•Boyle
•Farrell
•Brennan
•Flynn

25. Genealogy
Guild of One-Name Studies
•The world's leading organisation for one-
name studies
•A one-name study is a project researching
facts about a surname and all the people
who have held it, as opposed to a
particular pedigree
•Currently, over 2,300 people have
registered nearly 7,850 study surnames
with GOONS.

26. Genealogy
Pettit
•Definition: From the Old French for
"small," the Petit surname was often
bestowed upon an individual of small
stature.
•Surname Origin: French
•Alternate Surname Spellings: PETTIT,
PETET, PETTET

27. Genealogy
Riley
This surname can be either English or
Irish. It is found in both countries in
several spellings including Riley, Ryley,
Reily, Reely and Reilly, as well as the pure
Gaelic McReilly, O'Reilly and O'Ralilly.
In England the surname is usually
locational, iIn Ireland from the pre 10th
century Gaelic O'Raghailligh, meaning the
descendant of Raghallach

28. Genealogy
Embling
This surname is a variant of Emmett,
which is of early medieval English origin,
and is a Middle English diminutive of the
female given name "Emma". Introduced
by the Normans, the modern surname can
be found as Emmett, Emmott, Emmitt,
Emmatt, Hemmett, Emeline, Emblin(g)
and Emblem.

29. Genealogy
Ecclestone
This name is of English locational origin
from any of the various places so called in
Cheshire and Lancashire which get their
name from an ancient British word
meaning "church" reflected in the Welsh
"eglwys", plus the old English "tun", an
enclosure or settlement.

30. Genealogy
Goodwin
This Anglo-Saxon name is derived from
the personal name "Godwine", composed
of the elements "god", meaning either
"god" or "good", with the second element
of "wine", meaning friend or protector or
"sweyn", meaning "follower of“. It is
recorded in various forms including
Godwin, Goodwin, Goodswin, and the
Norfolk and East Anglian Godswen,

31. Genealogy
Dawson
This surname is of English origins. It has
twenty-two coats of arms, and is a patronymic
form of the medieval male given name Daw.
This is a nickname form of David, adopted from
the Hebrew male given name Dodavehu
meaning "beloved of Jehovah". In Britain the
popularity of the name was increased by the
fame of St. David, the patron saint of Wales, and
by the fact that it was borne by two kings of
Scotland,

32. Genealogy
Barker
•Definition: 1) A tanner of leather, derived from
Middle English "bark," meaning to tan 2) From
the Old French "berquier, berchier, bercher,
berkier, berker," meaning shepherd. 3) A variant
of the German surname Berger, used to
describe a man who lived on or by a hill or
mountain, from the Old High German "berg,"
meaning mountain.
•Surname Origin: English, French, German
•Alternate Surname Spellings: BERKER,
BERCHER, BERGER, BERGEY, LE BARKERE,
BARKE, BARKA, BARKAR

33. Genealogy
Crouch
•English, of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a
topographical name for someone who lived by a
cross. The derivation of the name is from the
Middle English "crouch", a cross, itself from the
Old English pre 7th Century "cruc". This word
was replaced in Middle English by the Old Norse
form "cross".
•Dutch: from Middle Dutch croech ‘jug’, ‘pitcher’,
hence an occupational name for a potter.

34. Genealogy
Malyon
•This rare and unusual surname is a
dialectal variant of the medieval personal
name "Marion", a diminutive of the given
name Mary, itself coming from the Latin
"Maria", from "mar" meaning drop, plus
"yam", sea. The first recorded spelling of
the family name is shown to be that of
John Malyon, which was dated 1351 -
1354, in the "Personal Names of Essex"

35. Genealogy
Pashley
•Habitational name from Pashley in the parish
of Ticehurst, Sussex, named with an
unattested Old English personal name Pæcca
or Pacca + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
A district of Eastbourne, Sussex, bearing this
name derives it from the surname; a family
called Pashley had moved there from
Ticehurst by the later part of the 13th century.
•The surname now occurs chiefly in southern
Yorkshire.

36. Genealogy

Where do you come from?
Surnames
www.Surnamedirectory.com
www.Rootsweb.ancestry.com