Sprake

Sprake One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Sprake

Variants: Sprakes

Category: 2 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way, but currently in some countries only.

DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/sprake

Contact: Mr Malcolm Sprake

About the study

The study of the name Sprake is a fairly new venture, started late in 2010 although I have been undertaking a family history project since 1997. Has any family historian knows some families very rarely stayed in one place, and this was true of my Sprake family. I found myself finding distant relatives spread over the south of England, Wales and the Midlands. Having nearly exhausted all the research that I could do relating to my own family in Nottinghamshire (the first settling here in 1856) I then decided to research the branches of my name prior to that date the earliest being 1539, this has in turn lead to a large database of my Sprake family which I now propose to expand and include Sprake families not related to me, whether they be individuals or family groups. I would welcome any inquires to the information that I hold and would most certainly welcome any contributions that are offered whether they be UK based or worldwide

Variant names

Any person who holds the name Sprake will know from past experience that all to often it is either misspelt or pronounced incorrectly, to the point that when asked for your surname rather than just say it, you tend to spell it. It is for this reason that I have decided not to include any variants at this stage. There may be just too many to list. However I have added one and that is the name Sprake with an s on the end , I have done this has there are families with the name Sprakes so most likely it is a true variant.

Name origin

The specific origin of the name Sprake seems to be rather illusive, has we all know that even today it is commonly miss spelt and pronounced, so what it was originally may be entirely different to todays version. It is certainly a name which originates from the south of England, namely Dorset, Somerset or Hampshire has it is most frequent in these counties in the early censuses. It has been suggested that the name is of Scandinavian origin derived from the old norse name of Sparkr meaning lively or sprightly and is thought to have been brought over to England by early Scandinavian settlers.

Historical occurrences of the name

Name frequency

According to statistics produced in 2002 there were 589 persons by the name of Sprake in the UK, which equates to 9 people in every million being called Sprake and puts the name has being the 10173 in popularity.
In Australia it is 5 in every million and 17665 in popularity and in the US the name is 60070 in popularity.

Distribution of the name

To give an idea of how the Sprake name is distributed over England, Scotland and Wales according to the 1841 census there were 186 individuals named Sprake living in 12 counties the most being in Dorset 77, Hampshire 46 and Somerset 31 the rest are spread over the remaining 9 counties. By the 1911 census there were 369 individuals named Sprake nearly twice in number these were spread over 27 counties. The most still in Hampshire 106, Dorset 61 and Somerset 31 in addition to these there were 50 in the London counties (Essex, Middlesex and Surrey) 36 in South Wales (Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire) and 23 in the Midlands (Nottinghamshire)
There are members of the Sprake family living in other countries so at some stage I will be adding details of the worldwide distribution of the Sprake name.

Data

DNA

Contact Details

Mr Malcolm Sprake

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Sprake in the Guild Indexes

(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)

Global Marriages (public) 41
Global Marriages (members)* 42
Probate Index* 3

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