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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,556 members
    • 2,324 studies
    • 8,271 surnames

Kinship

Lack of kin

Parrish, Bastard, Fitzroy

Proximity

Neighbour

Family relationship

Indirect relationship

By marriage

-maugh/-mough/-mot(t), -muff,-muff, -mouth, -more
These Middle English terms relate to a relation in general, or a brother-in-law in particular e.g. Hickmott

Occupational + Maugh etc: Portermaugh

Son-in-law

Od(h)am(s), Ginder(s) =”a surname of relationship which became a family name when son-on-law inherited the land of a father-in-law” (Reaney, OES, p81)

Brother-in-law

Fairbrother, possibly from the French Beau Frère (brother-in-law).

Direct relationship

Bynames of this form (-neve, -brother, -daughter, -wif) persisted into the late 14th century. They are heavily associated with ‘the north.’

Feminine

Suffixes indicating feminine relationships were dwarfed by names ending in -son. They tended to be recorded in Latin, compared to the lower register of Middle English (ME) used for men.

“the expanse of these ME formations for other relations other than –son clearly evokes a non-Scandinavian effect”

(Postles, The north through its names 2008, p60)

Mother(s)

There are thirteen occurrences of the surname Mother(s) in the 1881 Census.

Wife, Wyf

Associated with widows, e.g. Wife (38 in 1881), Mogwife (9).

Widow

Widdowes, Widders < Wedue, le Wydu

Sister

–

Daughter, dochter

Associated with unmarried women.

Unstable, and no suffixed forms have survived to today (though ‘Daughter’ and ‘Daughters’ were recorded in 1881) though the simplex form Dafter still exists, as does Dauter.

It may have been applied as a nickname for a sole heiress due to inherit her father’s land. (Reaney OES p81)

In 14th century, Yorkshire and Lancashire, it was fairly common as a byname.

Exceptions: Daughtery, Dawtrey derive from ‘de Hauterive.’

Masculine

Father

Fathers, Father, Fadder, Bairnsfather

“Fadder and Fathers, Mothers and Brothers may all derive from a well-established personal name, Old Danish Fathir, Mothir, and Brothir.” (Reaney OES p80)

However all also occur with the qualifier le, e.g. William le Brother, and so can be relationship names.

Son (and Soane)

“It is impossible to be dogmatic about the chronological appearance of –son names in relationship to other suffixes of relationship. It might be argued that vernacular –son names appeared first, though a combination of Scandinavian Middle English language use and that –wif/-wyf, -doghter and other suffixes of relationship developed secondarily in the wake of –son formations.”

“One of the enduring, if marginal, features of patronyms and metronyms with –son was their tendency to exhibit instability into the late middle ages, long after other forms of surnames had generally stabilised.”

(Postles The north through its names 2008, p60)

Brother(s)

–

Uncle

Eames, Neam(e), Uncle, Ungles
However the Sussex Uncles (and East Anglia) < Old Norse personal name Ulfketell
(Dunkling, DoS p259; Reaney, OES, p82)

Nephew

Neve, Neave, Neff, but also used as a nickname for a parasitic, thriftless person.
Note that in Scotland it usually derives from the place-name Nevay in Angus.

Cousin

Possible interaction with placename ‘Coutances’ or with ‘Cusson’ = son of Cuthbert/Constance (?)

Heir

Ayer, Ayr, Ayres, Eyre, Hair, Hayer, Heyer.
Alternatives: from placename ‘Ayr’, or anglicised forms of the Irish surnames O’Hare and Hair.

Relative age (under nicknames?)

Old/Older

Senior, Sayner, Sinyard, Henn (Welsh=Old)

Young/ Younger

Gamble, Child (though can also be a term for a young nobleman); Ogg (Gaelic= young)

Problem

If Personal name is the main element, then class there (1.1)

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Modern British Surnames

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