British Family Names
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cs 25o/ £22, Cornrll IBniwwitg |fta*g BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Hcnrti W~ Sage 1891 A.+.xas.Q7- B^llll^_ DATE DUE ,•-? AUG 1 5 1944 !Hak 1 3 1^46 Dec? '47T Jan 5' 48 ft e Univeral, CS2501 .B23 " v Llb«"y Brit mii!Sm?nS,£& ori8'" and m 3 1924 olin 029 805 771 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029805771 BRITISH FAMILY NAMES. : BRITISH FAMILY NAMES ftbetr ©riain ano fIDeaning, Lists of Scandinavian, Frisian, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman Names. HENRY BARBER, M.D. (Clerk), "*• AUTHOR OF : ' FURNESS AND CARTMEL NOTES,' THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY OF MAULBRONN,' ( SOME QUEER NAMES,' ' THE SHRINE OF ST. BONIFACE AT FULDA,' 'POPULAR AMUSEMENTS IN GERMANY,' ETC. ' "What's in a name ? —Romeo and yuliet. ' I believe now, there is some secret power and virtue in a name.' Burton's Anatomy ofMelancholy. LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1894. 4136 CONTENTS. Preface - vii Books Consulted - ix Introduction i British Surnames - 3 nicknames 7 clan or tribal names 8 place-names - ii official names 12 trade names 12 christian names 1 foreign names 1 foundling names 1 Lists of Ancient Patronymics : old norse personal names 1 frisian personal and family names 3 names of persons entered in domesday book as HOLDING LANDS temp. KING ED. CONFR. 37 names of tenants in chief in domesday book 5 names of under-tenants of lands at the time of the domesday survey 56 Norman Names 66 Alphabetical List of British Surnames 78 Appendix 233 PREFACE. The following pages are offered to the public in the belief that they will be found useful to those interested in the study of names or engaged in compiling family histories. Although the vast catalogue of British surnames may not have been exhausted, yet by many years' labour more than eight thousand repre- sentative modern names extracted from directories, newspapers, voting lists, etc., have been traced to their source, and when it is remembered that this includes the numerous variations and ramifications of these patronymics, the extensive scope of this work will then be appreciated The utility of the lists of ancient names to the student of local etymology must at once be apparent, whilst to the genealogist (whether British, Colonial or American) the revelations as to the transformation of family names will be of the utmost service. H. B. Ravenstone, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. BOOKS CONSULTED. Islands Landnama-bdk. Domesday Book. Rotuli Normannise. T. D. Hardy, 1835. Rotuli Hundredorum, 2 vols., fol., a.d. 1273. Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, temp. Regis Johannis. T. D" Hardy, 1835. Lewis's Topographical History. National Gazetteer of Great Britain. Virtue. Kelly's County Directories of England. Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dictionary. Ostfriesischen Sprache, 3 vols. Koolmann. Directories of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Nor- mandy, Norway, Sweden. Murray's Handbook of Normandy with Maps. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Edmund's Names of Places. Taylor's Words and Places. O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees. Chambers' Etymological Dictionary. Bailey's German and English Dictionary. Wernick's Dutch and English Dictionary. Rask's Icelandic Grammar. Books Consulted Lenstrom's Swedish Grammar. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Terms, 2 vols. Normandy and England. Palgrave. Buchanan's Scottish Surnames. Ellis's Introduction to the Study of Domesday Book. Worsaae's Danes in England. Lower's Patronymica Britannica. — INTRODUCTION. ' A painful work it is and more than difficult, wherein what toyle hath been taken, as no man thinketh, so no man believeth, but he that hath made the trial.' Anthony X Wood. DURING a lengthened research in studying the place-names of the Danelagh (the district north and east of Watling Street, the old Roman road from London to Chester), the writer accumulated a great number of names from ancient sources necessary for unravelling the tangled skein of local etymology. It occurred to him that these might be utilized in the treatment of British surnames, and his first idea was to publish the lists with an intro- ductory chapter on the origin of surnames, for the use of students of this branch of archaeology, who were in need of such things, for easy reference. With this view the author wrote an article in the Antiquary (September, 189 1), in order to draw attention to the subject, as Lower's 'English Surnames ' is both out of date and altogether unreliable. After this he met with, for the first time, the last-mentioned author's ' Patronymica Britannica,' a more ambitious work, and a great improve- ment upon the previous attempt, but still deficient in precise information and investigation. The dictionary form, however^ seemed to be the best for ready reference, and he thought a few examples, to show the way in which he had wrought out the names, would be of service to those who are interested in this important study. Hence it came about that this work has gradually grown until it assumes its present proportions. The chief object has been to avoid anything like guess-work or fancy interpretation, and to seek for a definition among such sources as seemed likely to supply it, so that, when a word could not be referred to any reasonable origin, it was put on the shelf until time, experience, and dis- covery should verify it. Besides the works of reference which he consulted, he found it necessary to prepare, for his own use, the lists of names already mentioned, and these have been of so much service that he trusts they will be found equally available for all those who wish to enter upon this arduous but fascinating task. They will certainly be more readily turned over now they are in type than when in manuscript. : British Family Names In addition to these he has examined directories and maps of Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Flanders, Germany, Nor- mandy, etc. Many a name that seemed to defy all explanation was found to be that of some obscure village, so disguised as to be almost past recognition. Who, for instance, would expect to see Sevenoaks in Snooks, St. Olave's Street in Tooley Street, St. Etheldreda in Tawdry, Douglas in Diggles, Wilburgham in Wilbraham, Tuberville in Troublefield, Longueville in Longfellow, Longchamps in Longshanks, Blondeville in Blomfield, Adburgham in Abraham and Abram, Renshaw in Wrencher and Wrinch, Wymondham in Wyndham ? Indeed, as Mr. Lower truly says ' Corruptions which many family names have undergone tend to baffle alike the genealogical and etymological inquirer.' The following will serve as illustrations of the corruption to which names are liable. The family name of Weewall (N. Vifill, D. Wivet) occurs frequently in the parish register of Peckleton, Leicestershire, and between 1735 and 1750 there are many variations of the spelling, scarcely two entries being alike. It appears as Whewaugh, Whewvaugh, Wheevaw, Weway, Weevvaa, Wheewhal, Whewwhaw, Whealwhal, Weewal, Wheelwall. In the North of England it took the form of Whewell. Tiie name of the great English dramatist is generally spelt Shakespeare, but there are many ways of spelling the name according to English orthography. Here are a few of them as appearing in old documents : Shakspere, Shaxpere, Shakspire, Shaxspere, Schaksper, Shakespere, Shak- speare, Schakespeyr, Shaxespeare, Shagspere, Shaxpur, Shaxsper, Shak- sper, Shackspeare, Saxpere, Shakespire, Shakespeire, Shackespeare, Shakaspear, Shaxper, Shakspear, Shaxpeare, Shakspeere, Shaxbure, Shackspeyr, Shakespear, Schakesper, etc. Goodwin is found in ancient documents as Godden, Goddin, Goddinge, Godewyn, Godin, Godwin, Godwyn, Goodden, Gooding, Goodyng, Gooden, Goodwen, Goodinge, Goodwin, Goodwyn, Goodwyne. Bugge as Buci, de Bougy, de Bucy, Bugi, Boci, Bogge, Busse, Boge, Buggey, Bussey, Bogg, Boag, Boake, Bogue, Beucy, Beucey, Boogie, Buggy, Buggie, Bukie, Bouky, Boog, etc. Mr. W. P. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L., in 'Notes on Finnimore, Philli- more, and their Allied Surnames,' gives fifty-nine different ways of spelling the former, and thirty-four of the latter surname. — — BRITISH SURNAMES. 'This is a subject which involves many curious questions of antiquarian interest, bearing upon the language, habits and pursuits of our countrymen in bygone days. It is one, also, that immediately concerns every man who feels an honest pride in being called by his father's name.' Notes and Queries, vi. 201. 'To find out the true originall of surnames is full of difficulty.' Camden. Much speculation has arisen as to the date when surnames were first used in this country. It is now pretty well admitted that they began to be adopted about a.d. iooo. According to Lower, the practice commenced in Normandy, and gradually extended itself to this country ; but the use of surnames was occasionally hereditary among the Anglo-Saxons before the Conquest, and the general adoption of family designations. He quotes from a document referred to in Sharon Turner's ' History of the Anglo-Saxons as existing among the Cottonian MSS. ' (No. 1,356 in Cod. Dipl.), bearing no date, but undoubtedly earlier than 1066. It states that ' Hwita Hatte was a keeper of bees at Hcethfelda, and Tate Hatte, his daughter, was the mother of Wulsige, the shooter ; and Lulle Hatte, the sister of Wulsige, Helstan had for his wife in Wealadene. Wifus and Dunne and Seolce were born in Hcethfelda. Duding Hatte, the son of Wifus, is settled at Wealadene ; and Ceolmund Hatte, the son of Dunne, is also settled there ; and ^Etheleah Hatte, the son of Seolce, is also there ; and Tate Hatte, the sister of Cenwald, Maeg hath for his wife at Weligan ; and Ealdelm, the son of Herethrythe, married the daughter of Tate.