ONE interesting sideline to your genealogy research is to discover the origins of your ancestors’ surnames, even going back to your grandparents’ generation, you have potentially four surnames to study.
There are now plenty of online sites where you can see the distribution of a particular surname in different parts of the British Isles. This information can be extremely useful when assessing the likely birthplace of an ancestor. My surname for example is very popular in the North West, but less so in say, Devon.
An excellent new site aimed at women can be found at http://surname.sofeminine.co.uk/w/surnames/uk.html which gives the concentrations of around 9,000 of the most common surnames. It also gives listings of surnames for individual counties along with the frequencies for each name.
A random click on the Mills surname for example reveals that in Great Britain some 65,966 people share that name and also that it is the 108th most common name in Great Britain.
Another particularly useful database can be found at a National Trust site: www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/default.aspx The site is part of a project based at University College London which investigated the Šdistribution of surnames in Great Britain. The site allows users to search the databases and to trace the geography and history of their family names. I discovered here that my own surname is Norwegian in origin comprising the elements ‘Hryggr’ and ‘byr’ which means ‘farmer on the ridge of a hill’.
A free database where you can also leave comments on your researches can be found at www.surnamedb.com/ I used this site to establish the meaning of some notable names with Liverpool connections:
I found that McCartney, for example is an Anglicised form of the Old Scottish Gaelic “MacArtain” or the Irish “MacCartaine”. The Gaelic prefix “mac” means “son of”, and “Artain” is a diminutive of the Old Celtic byname “Art”, bear, hero.
These Gaelic family names are traditionally taken from the heads of tribes or a famous warrior. This surname is widely recorded in Scotland from the 16th Century.
The surname Gerrard is adapted from the Old Germanic “Gerhard” or “Girhard” It was introduced into Britain by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 in the Old French forms “Gerard, Gerart” and “Girart”. These were composed of the elements “geri, gari” meaning spear, and “hard”, hardy, brave, strong. The name was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name Rooney is of Irish origin. It derives from the medieval Gaelic O' Ruanaidh, meaning the descendant of the champion.
Sweeney originates in Scotland as an Anglicised form of the Gaelic “Mac Suibhne”, composed of the elements “mac” meaning son of plus “Suibhne” a personal name meaning pleasant.
It would be impossible to trace our ancestry without our hereditary surnames, but it is important to realise that these have only been in general use from around the 16th century with the introduction of taxation.
Prior to then when travel was very limited, people were just known by their neighbours in their Šhome villages.
A man would not be known as Robert Smith but ' Robert the smith.' Robert the smith Šmay have been the son of someone who was called John the sawyer.
However, it would be many Šyears before a son would take his father's name as a surname (Robert Smith or John Sawyer). The Špace that this happened quickened when personal taxation was introduced and people had to be Šidentified by a name on a list. Surnames can be put into three or four main classes.
First, place names: Many of the nobility or gentry, particularly those granted land after the Norman Šconquest of 1066, took the name of the local village or town. Thus we have many early charters or Šcourt papers referring to, eg. John de Chester (John of Chester) etc.
In time these names spread Što encompass the local yeomen and thus a class of name, referring to the local town or village, Šcame about. Many surnames also took the name of a feature in a landscape or a well-known area.
Newton Šcomes from 'new tun' (or town).ŠPatronymic names: Robert son of William in time became Robert Williamson; other examples Šare Johnson, Peterson, Rogerson, etc. Š
Occupational names: Miller, Fletcher (arrow maker) Carter, Collier, Weaver, Shoemaker, ŠButcher, Baker, etc are all trades which have become adopted as hereditary surnames over Štime. Š
Nicknames: People would be given names by their neighbours on the basis of a physical Šcharacteristic or appearance: John Brown and John Whitehead are two examples.