Introduction

In the Origin of English surnames 1: work and status, I included a general summary of the history of English surnames, and how they came into being in 11th century AD, and became normal, in the 13th and 14th centuries, for the whole English population.

The first post in this series was about surnames deriving from occupations, work, trades, and status.

Just as in the case of people named after their trades (John the Baker, or Henry the Carpenter) a father’s name was often used to tell different people with the same name apart. So a village might have had John, son of David / Davidson as well as John the Baker and John from-another-village.

As trades turned into surnames, the son of John the Baker came to be known as Henry Baker, even if he made barrels for a living. Similar, John Davidson’s son became Henry Davidson, instead of Henry Johnson.

Adding -son to the end of a first name

In England, the most common patronymic (or matronymic, as some surnames derived from a mother’s name) surname was to add “son” to the end of a name.

If the father’s name was a long-ish one, such as Andrew, Simon or William, it was often contracted over time in the surname. The following “son” names are all among the most common 100 surnames in England today:

1. Anderson (Andrew’s son)
2. Harrison (Harry’s son)
3. Jackson
4. Johnson
5. Richardson
6. Robertson
7. Robinson
8. Simpson (Simon’s son)
9. Thompsom / Thomson (Thomas’ son)
10. Watson (Wat was a common name in the 14th century, for example, Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants’ Revolt in the 1380s. Wat was sometime short for Walter, sometimes a name on its own)
11. Wilkinson (son of Wilkin, often short for William)
12. Wilson (son of Will or William)

Contractions of “son”

Sometimes the English “son” suffix just became an “-s” or “-es” at the end of a surname. Both version often survive, so “Harris” and “Harrison” or “Roberts” and “Robertson” are both found frequently, and were often used by the same family interchangeably in the 14th or 15th centuries.

The “s” or “es” endings were more common in Wales, so many modern surnames with this ending are either more Welsh than English in origin, or are both. “Jones” is an example of a surname which is usually thought of as Welsh (and there are one hell of a lot of Welsh Joneses) but it was also sometimes used in England instead of “Johnson”.

The following surnames are in the top 100 today:

1. Adams (English)
2. Davis (son of David, also sometimes Davies, both English and Welsh)
3. Edwards (occasionally Welsh, more often English, probably because Edwardson is a bit of a mouthful)
4. Evans (son of Evan, a mostly-Welsh first name originally spelled Ifan, and a version of John)
5. Griffiths (son of Griffith, a Welsh name and /or title meaning “Lord”" or Master”)
6. Hughes (son of Hugh, English and Welsh)
7. Jones (son of John or Jonathan, also a very common Welsh surname)
8. Matthews (mostly English, can be Welsh)
9. Phillips (mostly Welsh, but a few English origins)
10. Roberts (English sometimes, more often Welsh in origin)
11. Rogers (English)
12. Stevens (son of Stephen, mostly English, sometimes Welsh)
    
13. Williams (both English and Welsh)

The Norman “Fitz”

The Norman word “fitz”, similar to the French “fils”, for “son of” was commonly found in 11th and 12th century families.

It wasn’t always used in relation to a first name, though. Henry II, for example, was often known as “Henry Fitz Empress” before he became King, because his mother, Matilda, had been Empress of the Germans by a first marriage.

Some surnames developed out of this, such as the current UK names Fitzgerald and Fitzalan, neither of which is particularly common, but both of which certainly still exist.

The use of Fitz as a patronymic surname was most often retained by Anglo-Irish families, for some reason.

Over time, “fitz” came to be used as “son of royalty” rather than son of any old person. It was used for royal bastards, often. Examples include Richard Fitzroy, illegitimate son of King John, Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII and some of Charles II’s many bastards. “Roy” in this sense derives from the Norman French for “King”.

Welsh surnames from a father’s first name

Welsh surnames deriving from a father’s first name (or, occasionally, a mother’s) often used the “s” or “es” suffix as above. Others used “ap”, meaning “son of”. There are still some examples of UK surnames with “ap” in them, for example, the Welsh actress Llinor ap Gwynedd, and the BBC Wales journalist Iono ap Dafydd.

More frequently, the “ap” became subsumed into a single surname, such as the following which are still surnames in the UK today:

1. Bevan (from ap Evan)
2. Bowen (from ap Owen)
3. Price (from ap Rhys, or Reece)
4. Pritchard (from ap Richard)
5. Probert (from ap Robert)
6. Pugh (from ap Hugh)
   
   

   Continue reading 'The origin of English surnames 2: patronymics or father’s first name'»

A brief history of surnames in England

Surnames, in the sense of a fixed family name which passed down through the generations, came to England from the 11th century onwards, and pretty much universally during the 13th and 14th centuries.

In most towns, villages and areas before that, people would often have extra tags added to their names. If a village had 6 men called John in it, people would talk about John the Baker, John by the Church, John the Tall, and so forth. But John the Baker’s son Henry would, if he became a carpenter, be Henry the Carpenter, as an adult, not Henry Baker.

Surnames started off as an aristocratic idea - there may have been a few in Anglo-Saxon times, but the Norman Barons who came over with William the Conqueror really kicked it off.

William is a great example of pre-surnames - he was William the Conqueror (or William the Bastard, to his detractors) but his son, who followed him as King, was William Rufus (the red) because he had red hair or a red face. William the Conqueror’s next son to become King of England, Henry I, was commonly called Henry Curthose, because he wore short-lenght hose on his legs.

Occupational surnames

Many English surnames derive from occupations. As the 13th and 14th centuries drew on, John the Baker’s son was called Henry Baker, even if he followed another trade altogether.

The most common English surname today is “Smith”, as blacksmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths and so forth were abundant across England.

Obvious occupation-related surnames

Other fairly common surnames show an obvious link to trades and occupations:

• Archer
• Baker
• Carter
• Cook
• Carpenter
• Driver
• Miller
• Taylor
• Weaver

Obsolete occupations and words

In many cases, surnames come from occupations which don’t exist any more, or where the word for the occupation has changed over time, and therefore the origin of the surname isn’t obvious.

Examples include:

• Arkwright
• Bailey
• Barker
• Cartwright
• Chapman
• Cooper
• Fletcher
• Fuller
• Turner
• Wainwright
• Ward
• Wheelwright
• Wright

“Bailey” is a corruption of “Bailiff”, a person who helped establish law and order, and often helped run a large, powerful aristocratic or gentry household. Bailliffs were also Royal Officials in towns and shires, to help keep the King’s Peace.

A barker was a man who tanned leather - so the surnames “Tanner” and “Barker” have a common origin. Tanning leather was a filthy line of work, involving rotting animal remains, and urine and dog muck used to cure the skins.

A chapman was a man who sold things, often a travelling salesman with a pack full of items such as needles, thread, and nails.

A cooper had an important job in any community, he made barrels. Many things were stored in barrels - beer, ale, wine, salt, flour and grain, for example. “Cooper” is a common English surname, as lots of barrels were made and used.

Fletchers made arrows, a now obsolete term. “Fletching” applied specifically to the process of balancing the arrow with fins or feathers, but the term “Fletcher” was used for arrow-makers in general.

“Turner” means a man who turned things on a lathe, usually to create wooden objects such as table-legs or poles.

“Ward” comes from someone who guarded or protected something, often a town’s or city’s walls. Similar words such as “warden” have a common origin.

“Wright” means a person who makes things, from the Old English word wryhta, meaning “worker”. So an Arkwright made chests and cupboards, a Cartwright made carts, a Wainwright made wagons or carts (from an old word wain, meaning wagon / cart) and a Wheelwright made wheels.

False Friends

Some surnames look obvious, such as “Walker”, but the origins are actually different from what we might suppose. The surname Walker doesn’t derive from someone walking for a living, or being a messenger. A walker was a man who helped full cloth, that is, turn it into tougher, less shrinkable woolen material. It comes from the Middle English word walkcere, meaning a man who fulls cloth with his feet. The surnames “Fuller” and “Tucker” refer to men who worked in fulling cloth, too.

“Butler” is another false friend - it is partly an occupational surname, from the Old French word bouteillier, or servant in charge of wine supplies. There is a separate origin for the surname for descendants of Theobald Walter, who was a 12th century politician.

Status surnames

Many surnames appear to show a high-ranking status, such as Bishop, Lord, Duke, and King. In most cases, the surname was started by a man who was in the employ or service of a Lord or Bishop, rather than actually being one himself.

For the next blog post in this series, please see: Origin of English surnames 2: patronymics or father’s first name