What is the Origin & MEANING of your SURNAME
In the following article you may discover the meaning of your surname?
Once a person would wait outside a court with a long stick. Attached to it was a string that was placed around the neck of escaping culprits. Do you know the name given to this job that is now a surname? It is mentioned in the article.
Today many actors change their surname. John Wayne’s born name was Marion Morisson. Is the actual name of Australian actor, Eric Bana,……..Banalopolis, Banastanomous or Banadinovich ?
Are people with surnames containing ‘BOTTOM’ understated ?
Many surnames have changed from times of long ago because of misspelling on birth certificates, disagreements in families and used of hyphenation.
I once had a relative whose grand parents came to Australia from Europe after World War II. They were urged to change their surname to avoid the flak of having a German name. So they changed it. In the phone book, for a long time, my brother in-law’s entry in the phone book registered as SUCK !
Surnames developed as the population increased.
Can you imagine finding the correct ‘John’ in a small village…did you want ‘John’ the baker ? ‘John’ with the strong arm ? Ben’s son John ? or ‘John’ who lived near the wood ?
Surnames stemmed from four main sources:
A. Patronymic e.g. John BENSON.
B. Names of places e.g. John AT(T)WOOD.
C. Occupations e.g. John Baker
D. Nicknames e.g. John Armstrong
A. PATRONYMIC NAMES
Using–son to show the father :
E.g. Aitcheson, Addison, Anderson, Benson, Clarkson, Dickson, Dyson, Gibson, Hanson, Jamieson, etc.
Using –son to show the mother :
E.g. Alison, Nelson, Ibbotson (Isabel mother), Gilson, etc.
Using Mac/Mc in Gaelic/Irish to denote, ‘son of’ :
E.g. McAllister son of Alexander; , MacBride son of St Brigid , Mc Duff son of Dubh (‘dark’) etc.
Using O’ to denote grandfather:
E.g. O’halpin, O’CONNELL (‘high, powerful), O”FLAHERTY (‘bright, ruler’) , O’SULLIVAN (‘ black eyed’), O’NEILL (‘Champion’). Etc.
Using –s to denote lineage:
E.g. Johns, Dickins, etc.
Using –ich to show ‘son of’ :
E.g. Banadinovich, etc.
Using first names as surnames :
e.g. anthony, allen, baldwin, cecil, dennis, godwin, graham, henry, neale, owen, etc.
Using ‘OS’ meaning ‘good’ or ‘god’ :
oswald, osborne, osmond, (H)osegood, (H)orsegood, etc.
From Norse ancestors:
THURSDAY (from Thor) ; THURSTON, THURLOW, THURKETTLE (Thor’s kettle). A kettle was a drum and found in CHEETLE and CATTLE as surnames.
‘orm’ the serpent as in ORMSKIRK, ORMESTON, ORMEROD, etc.
From Anglo-Saxon roots:
E.g. BUGG; BUGGINS…some one who lived in a BURGH or castle.
BURNARD, BURNETT, BARNETT from bearnheard ( bear)
The wolf and raven were companions of Odin so we get surnames WOLF(E); RAVENHILL.
From Scandanavian sources we get SCULL as a surname. Sculls or squills being goblets.
From the Norman Invasion of England in 1066 we get:
TUPPENYS from Tupigny in Flanders ;
MORLEY from Morlaix,
RICHARD, ROBERT(S), ODO, RALPH, HUGH, WALTER, WATTER, WATTS, WATLING, WYATT, etc.
From the Welsh we get WELSH, WELSHMAN, PRITCHARD, RITCHIE, HITCH, RICK, HICK, etc.
From influence of the church, use of biblical names as surnames increased:
MATTHEW (MATTHEWS), PETER (PETERSON, PETERSEN, PETERS), LAWRENCE (from St Lawrence), etc.
Surnames from occasions:
FRIDAY, MUNDAY, HOLLIDAY, HALLIDAY, PENTECOST, CHRISTMAS, NOWEL, MIDDLEMAS, MIDWINTER, etc.
Born near or at Easter: PASKE, PASH, PASCAL, PAISH, and possible PAGE.
HOBDAY and HOCKDAY came from the High Day festival.
The addition of KIN (German) or ON (French) to denote ‘from’:
SIMPKIN, SIMPKINS, TOMKIN, TOMPKINS, TOMPKINSON, etc.
Use of ‘COCK’ or ‘COX’ meaning ‘red’ or ‘early riser ‘ :
HAYCOCKS, HAYCOX, WILCOCKS, WILCOX, LAYCOCK, etc.
Using ‘OR’ or ‘ET’ introduced by Normans to indicate something ‘little’ :
EMMETT (little Emma) ; HEWETT , HEWITT ( little Hugh);
Using ‘ON’ or ‘IN’. This meant that ROBERT became ROBIN (ROBINSON) ; NICOL (NICHOL) became COLIN ; MARY became MARION, etc.
B. SURNAMES FROM PLACES
ENGLAND, ENGLANDER, and Scots turned these to INGLE, INGLES, INGLEMAN.
LANGLEY(S) came from those who lived in L’Angleys in France.
BRITTON denotes forbears from Brittany.
IRISH, WALES, WELSH, SCOTT self explanatory origin.
From France we also get PICKARDS ( Pickardy) ; CHAMPAGNES ( Champagne), PORTWINE ( Pointvin); STOUT ( Sturdy) and SHERRY ( endearment cherie).
From place in Devon we get BEER and from the Isle of Man we get MANN, and from Moorish we get MORRIS.
FROM TOWNS AND VILLAGES:
Brig-Stowe was a city by a bridge and the inhabitants mouthed it as Brigstowl which became BRISTOL. Thus the other family name BRIGSTOWE.
LIVERPOOL became a surname from those families who lived there or near. Liverpool came from Lither Pool ( pool by a slope).
From Anglo-Saxon settlement we get names from where lived in a settlement:
e.g. North Tun ( or farmstead) : NORTON, NORLEIGH, NORBURY, etc.
East Tun: Easton, Eastthorpe, etc.
Middle Tun: MIDDLETON
South Tun: SUTTON, SUDLEY, SUDBURY, etc.
West Tun: WESTON, WESTBURY, WESTERLY, etc.
Many surnames were formed by adding –ly or –lea meaning ‘grassy place’ to the surname:
E.g. CHALKY, CHALKLEY (grassy place near where Chalk was mined), BERKLEY, etc.
A ‘bottom’ means a valley in parts on the UK so we get BOTTOM, BOTTOMS, BOTHAM, BATHAM, BOTTAM, SIDEBOTTOM, TARBOTTOM, WINTERBOTTOM, etc.
SHUFFLEBOTTOM comes from sheep-fell-valley !
BIDDULPH, a small place in Staffordshire lead to surname. (Biddulph was a local hero- wolf killer) GRANTHAM was also in Staffordshire and corrupted became GRAHAM, GRAEME, GRAHAME.
Other surnames came from places in Europe:
E.g. MORTIMER : de Mortuo Mari (Dead SEA).
DACRE : D’acre (coast of the Holy Land)
SIDNEY : St Dennis
SINCLAIR : St Clair
SEYMOUR : St Maure
CHARTERS : Chartres
BULLEEN/ BOLEYN : Boulogne.
DEATH : D’Aeth in Flanders.
Flemish weavers who came to England influenced names:
SUTHERLAND, MORAY, DOUGLAS, LESLIE, INNES, FLEMINGTON, etc.
Local workers bitterly resented introduction of skilled workers, like the Flemish, from the continent,and many Flemings were beheaded in London at the time of Wat Tyler’s revolt. It was said they were killed if they could not say ‘bread and cheese’ without a foreign accent.
LOCAL NAMES:
ATLEE, HILL,DALE,FELL,MOORE, FIELDS where the ancestors lived.
When a field was cleared….trees felled(thus name field); one tree was often left, so people took their family name from that tree.
Thus we have:NOAKES (near oaks); NASH ( near ash), NALDER ( near alder) ASPEN, BEECH, BIRCH, HOLLY, SHRUB, WILLOWS and YEW.
A hay was a hedge. So we get HAGE, HAIG, HAIGH, HAWES, HAYWOOD, HAYWARD, HAYLEY.
BYWOOD, BYFORD, BYGATE, BYTHESEA indicated where people lived.
Those living near a ridge may have taken names such as LONGRIDGE, LANGRIDGE, LONGRIGG, HAZELRIGG, BROWNRIGG, RIDGEWAY, etc.
The Surname CONNELLY may have come from a quiet village in Devonshire called CONELY, A coney was a rabbit.
Surnames came from river and land near rivers.
TEEMS (Thames), CHERWELL, TEES, SURTEES, CALDER, etc.
Smaller streams had –beck in their names. Thus surnames such as BECKER, WARBECK, BROOK, BROOKER, etc.
HOLME/HOLMES came from meadow surrounded by water.
LYNCH was a strip of grassland.
KNAPP was the top a hill.
Mr PEEL lived by a pool.
Mr PLATT lived by a little field.
GREEN: person who lived by on the village green.
FORD: person who lived near a river crossing,
FORT: person who lived near a fort or fortified place.
BRIDGEMAN: lived near a bridge and may have been the person who took a toll.
SLADE: lived near a river.
ROYDS, RODD, RHODES…lived near a road.
AC-ROYD lived in an oak clearing.
CHURCH, CHURCHER,CHURCHHAY,CHURCHGATE, CHURCHING, KIRK, KIRKMAN surnames came from the centre of the village, the church.
SNOOK, SNOOKS (I went to school with SNOOKS in Meckering, West Aust) from Seven Oaks (sen-nocks)
VIVASH West county of England, presumably place of five (V) ashes (trees).
B: OCCUPATIONAL NAMES
People in an office or of a rank carried a name describing their functions and/or duties. In time it often became their surname.
The STEWART/STEWARD/STUART courtier who served a King.
A WARDROP attended the wardrobe of a Royal household.
A BADMAN meant he was a bed man.
BARBER/BARBOUR attended the Royal hair.
BUTLER Head of the servants quarters.
SPENCER in charge of the buttery or larder.
SPENDER concerned with distributing bread.
POTTINGER made the soup.
MARSHALL gathered guests and took them to their places.
KNIFESMITH tended to knives.
SPOONER tended to the spoons. (No forker as they were invented later.)
CATCHPOLE used a pronged stake and string to catch escaping culprits, around the neck.
HOMER represents beaumer who made a knight’s helmet.
KISSER made cuishes (thigh armour)
People worked in towns and the country mostly in farming pursuits. This lead to a plethora of surnames.
FARMER(S), DITCHERS, BAKER (BAXTER fem equiv)
A SMITH smote metal ARROWSMITH ( made arrows), BROWNSMITH ( worked with copper), WHITESMITH (worked with tin), GOLDSMITH (gold) and a SHOOSMITH made horses shoes.
A WRIGHT worked with wood. Therefore WAINWRIGHTS, BOATWRIGHTS, WHEELWRIGHTS and ARKWRIGHTS were common names. The ‘ark’ was a bin for holding meat & flour.
Tending to animals would have been a HOGGARD or PORKER (pigs); a COWARD ( cow herd); GODDARD (goat herd); or GOZZARD (geese).
Names of people working in the clothing industry.
There was the SHEARMAN working with cloth and he would have had a KEMPSTER or KIMBER to comb the wool or flax.
Trampling the cloth or wool, would be a WALKER, FULLER or TUCKER.
The dyeing would be done by a DYER, DYSTER or LISTER (Scandanavian).
A LORIMER made bits for horses.
A MASSINGER was a messenger or herald.
A BARKER dealt with bark used in saddle making.
A CROCKER made crocks. He was a potter.
POTTINGER was an old Scots word for an apothecary.
Surnames from Nicknames
A KING (OE cyming) was a nickname for a person of kingly qualities or appearance.
An ABBOT(T) was one of appearance & manner of an abbot.
Armstrong as in Neil Armstrong, was a border name for one with a strong arm (maybe an archer).
Barrett/Barratt worked in commerce dealing in fraud and deception.
A BASS was a person of low, small height.
BENNETT was the blessed as in Benedictus but BEST was a nickname for keeper of the beasts (herdsman).
Mr Brown(e) had brown hair or complexion whereas Mr BUTT had a thick set stature.
Don’t call someone a COOTE. It meant bald and traditionally stupid.
A DUKE / DUCK was the nickname of a leader of an army whereas Mr FROST had a sense of frost; without ardour.
I once had a Principal, Mr George GOOD(E). He was Old English for God, Good.
HUSSEY was Medieval for hus(e)wyf ….mistress of the family, wife of the householder.
LOVELOCK, it been known, was maker or seller or the wearer of locks falling down on his ears.
Mr Maitland was ill mannered while Nathan, his son, was a Hebrew ‘gift from God’.
Mr Parfett was ‘perfect’ and Mr Pickett or Mrs PIGGOTT were very pointed in facial features.(from OF picot ‘pointed object’).
Mr White (Whiting) had a fair complexion and his boss, Mr Cruikshank, a crooked leg !
My surname is GEE. I was told it originated from GUY, a nickname given by a F rench King to his very trusted soldiers.
Muriel first appears in Brittany and Normandy in the eleventh century. It was a nickname meaning “bright sea’.Its pronunciation was Merial or Murrell and so came the surname Merrels.
PLUNKEt, ( PLUNKETT, PLUNKITT). There is an unusual name PLUCK, which has nothing to do with courage but is a nickname from the French ‘pluque’ meaning shaggy. Thus the name PLUNKETT or ‘the little pluck’.
