Names through history
How Surnames Began in Britain
At a glance
Before the Norman Conquest of 1066, almost everyone in England had just one name. Extra names, called bynames, spread after the Conquest and slowly became hereditary: first among Norman landholders, then among wealthier merchants and, from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the rural peasantry. Hereditary surnames were normal in most of southern and midland England by about 1400, but took a century or more longer in northern England and Lowland Scotland, while Wales kept true patronymics until the 16th to 19th centuries.
- Main period in England
- Late 12th to 15th centuries
- Earliest in Britain and Ireland
- Irish names in Ó, probably hereditary from the late 10th century
- Four main types
- Locative (place), relationship (mostly patronymic), occupational and status, nickname
- Key records
- Domesday Book (1086), Hundred Rolls (1279–80), lay subsidy rolls (to 1332), poll taxes (1377–81)
Names from the records
| Name | Meaning or origin | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Leofwine se rēade Old English, early 11th century | 'Leofwine the Red'. A byname for one man, not a family name. [1] | Recorded |
| Radulf de Mortemer Domesday Book, 1086 | 'Ralph from Mortemer' in Normandy. A Norman landholder named from his home estate. [1] | Recorded |
| Willelmus filius Ansculfi Domesday Book, 1086 (Latin) | 'William son of Ansculf'. Clerks often wrote names in Latin. [1] | Recorded |
| William le Bakere Norfolk, 1177 | A taxpayer who really was a baker. His descendants could be Bakers without baking. [1] | Recorded |
| Hugh Miller Hundred Rolls, 1279 | A villein at Alwalton, Huntingdonshire. Occupational. (Names as given in an English translation of the Latin roll.) [4] | Recorded |
| Emma ate Pertre Hundred Rolls, 1279 | Topographic: probably 'at the pear tree', where she lived. [4] | Recorded |
| Thomas son of Gunnilda Hundred Rolls, 1279 | Named from his mother, a matronymic description. [4] | Recorded |
| William son of William Reeve Hundred Rolls, 1279 | Father and son share the name Reeve, the kind of step by which a byname became a family name. [4] | Recorded |
| Donald Rogerson Scotland, 1364 | May really have been a son of Roger. Most modern Rogersons are not. [1] | Recorded |
| Tillotson Yorkshire and Lancashire | Thought to stem from one woman, Tillot de Northwod (1379), mother of John and William Tillotson. Tillot is a form of Matilda. [1] | Recorded |
| Kennedy Irish | From Ó Cinnéide, 'descendant of Cinnéidigh'. The personal name is often explained as 'ugly head', but some read it as 'helmeted head'. [1] | Uncertain |
| Powell Welsh | From ap Hywel, 'son of Hywel'. Welsh patronymics became fixed late. [1] | Recorded |
| Brown English | Sometimes a nickname from the colour, sometimes from a given name. Each family has to be traced. [2] | Uncertain |
- Recorded Found in historical records.
- Uncertain The origin or meaning is disputed or unproven.
One name each: England before 1066
In Anglo-Saxon England almost everyone had a single name, such as Wulfstan or Ēadgȳth (later Edith). A few people are recorded with an extra name to tell them apart, but these were not passed on. Several men called Leofwine in the early 11th century had bynames such as se rēade, 'the Red', or were described as coming from a particular place.[1]
A byname was simply a description. It belonged to one person and died with them. The difference between a byname and a hereditary surname is the key to the whole story.[2]
The Normans and the first family names
The Conquest moved land and power to Norman barons, who were often known by the names of their estates. Domesday Book (1086) lists landholders such as Radulf de Mortemer ('from Mortemer' in Normandy) and Willelmus filius Ansculfi ('son of Ansculf'). Large estates passed to heirs, and a handful of first names, such as Robert, Ralph and William, were extremely common. An extra, inherited name was useful.[1]
Over the next century or so the habit spread through the upper ranks and the wealthier merchants. Between the 13th and 15th centuries it reached the rural peasantry.[1]
The four main types
British surnames are usually sorted into four groups, though the labels vary a little between books.[1]
- Locative names come from where someone lived or came from. This is the biggest group. Some name a settlement (Burton, Rigby, Dunbar). Others describe a feature near the home (Brook, Hill, Wood), and in medieval records these often follow atte, 'at the'.
- Relationship names come from a relative, usually the father: Richardson, Richards, Hodgson. Names from the mother, such as Ibbotson (from Isabel), are rarer.
- Occupational and status names record a trade or rank: Baker, Smith, Taylor, Freeman.
- Nicknames describe looks, character or habits: Brown, Armstrong, Fox, Makepeace.
The groups overlap. Brown can be a nickname for colouring or come from a given name. Heron can be a nickname or come from the Yorkshire place Harome.[1][2]
When did surnames become hereditary?
There is no single date. In England, hereditary surnames were adopted mainly between the late 12th and the 15th centuries, earlier among the rich than the poor, and earlier in the south than the north.[1]
The SNSBI introduction puts the change as complete in most of southern and midland England by the end of the 14th century. Its page on Smith says "well established by the early 14th century" in the southern half of England. Both agree that northern England and Lowland Scotland took about another century, and that parts of Lancashire and Cornwall took longer still. Occupational names often went on describing a person's real job well into the 15th century in England, and later in Scotland.[1][3]
Elsewhere the timing was very different. In Ireland, names in Ó ('grandson, descendant') probably became hereditary in the late 10th century, and names in Mac followed soon after. Wales kept true patronymics, such as ap Hywel, for much longer. Wealthier families and those near the English border fixed surnames from the 16th century, but in many rural areas this did not happen until the 18th or even 19th century.[1]
The records that show it happening
Medieval governments wrote down names for land and tax, and those lists let us watch surnames form. The Hundred Rolls of 1279–80 survey who held land, sometimes down to the peasants. At Alwalton in Huntingdonshire they list villeins such as Hugh Miller, Emma ate Pertre, Thomas son of Gunnilda and William son of William Reeve: occupational, topographic, mother's and father's names side by side, some still descriptions and some starting to pass from father to son.[4]
Lay subsidies were taxes on movable goods. Few returns survive from before 1294, but those from then until 1332 list taxpayers county by county, and many from 1332 are in print. After the system was reformed in 1334, taxpayers' names were generally no longer sent to the Exchequer. The poll taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381 covered nearly all adults, men and women. The 1379 returns often give occupations, which helps show whether a name still matched a job.[5][6]
One caution: clerks often wrote in Latin or French. A smith might appear as faber, and filius Rogeri could stand for Rogerson, Rogers or Hodges.[1]