The Meaning of British Surnames.

An amateur's opinions.

                British surnames have five sources of explanation. They are:-

  1. Occupational - from trade, service or rank.
  2. Locative - from whence they came.
  3. Patronymic - named for their father (rarely mother).
  4. Nickname - descriptive of the person.
  5. Invented - a name chosen by or for the bearer.

 

                In all categories the languages used were:-

  1. Celtic - Welsh, Cornish, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic & Manx Gaelic (Very little survives from the Picts).
  2. Anglo-Saxon - Germanic base shared with later invaders (southern England).
  3. Danish - Germanic base shared as above (northern England, southern Scotland).
  4. Norse - In the Hebrides, Shetlands, Orkneys & Highlands. (Again Germanic & very similar to Danish).
  5. Norman - Again Germanic (Normans were Norsemen or Vikings) but mixed with French.

OCCUPATIONAL.

                A description of their work or rank. Many trades no longer exist & some that do are not recognised easily.

Examples - Benbow = bend bow, an archer, Parsons = a servant of the parson rather than a son when most were celibate, Baxter & Furner = a baker, Pepper = a dealer in pepper.

LOCATIVE.

                Where they came from. The name needed to be unique in the circle of the individual.

Examples - John Kent would not be so known unless he left Kent and George Hall would be more likely to work at the manor than own it. Many prefixes & suffixes give clues to locative names (see below). A final “s” signifies “at” not a plural.

Locative Elements In Names.

 

PATRONYMIC.

                Named for their father (rarely mother) but includes “servant of” and “residing with” (as above a final “s” can signify “at” as well as son or ownership). Celtic names survived in Cornwall, Wales & of course in Gaelic Irish & Scots. In Gaelic Mac- and Mc- mean “son of”, O’- means “grandson of”. The Welsh surnames are almost exclusively patronymic and were taken much later than in the rest of Britain. The remnants of “Hu ap (son of) Evan ap Rhys ap John - - - ” can be seen in names like Pugh, Bevan, Preece and Upjohn as well as Hughes, Evans, Reece and Jones. Anglo Saxon, Danish & even Norman names share a common Germanic source of originally single (Budda, Cada, Binni, etc.) then double names (Aethel-Beorht, Ead-Weard, etc.) with slight variations & a French influence on the Norman. A suffix of “ing” denotes “son of” or “the people of” - eg. “Viking” comes from vik - a creek, inlet or fjord giving a meaning of “the people of the fjords” or “seamen”. 

 

Early Christian Name Elements.

 

Modern Christian Names Which Influenced Surnames.