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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,687 members
    • 2,391 studies
    • 8,463 surnames

Your own name

Names were originally bestowed through the knowledge of their meaning, perhaps because it was felt this name described the attributes of the offspring, or talismanic qualities that the parents hoped their children would acquire.

  • Find the meaning of your own personal name, using a suitable dictionary of first names.
  • Does it aptly describe you or your ideal vision of yourself?
  • From what language is it derived?
  • Can you find other personal names that derive from the same source?

The choice

  • Do you know who determined your own given name and why it was chosen?
  • What other alternatives were rejected?
  • What name would you have been given if you were born the opposite sex?

In my case, my parents first liked ‘Richard’ but then thought that the diminutive ‘Dickie’ did not sit happily with my surname. Once settled on a first name, my second name was to be ‘Oliver’. This would have given me the initials POD. Thinking I would be nicknamed Pod the Bod or Peapod, this was hastily abandoned, and I was given my grandfather’s name. If I had been a girl – well I am keeping that to myself :-))

For personal names, consult the website Behind the Name.

All given names have meaning, though through time that meaning has become obscured, and personal names may be as undeciphered jewels. Many personal names derive from the Bible, but have been transmuted through differing languages. Nonetheless, they share the same root.

Which of these names can be grouped together in sharing the same meaning?

John, Marilyn, Marianne, Jean, Marie,
Miriam, Maria, Siobhan, Marius, Johannes,
Mary, Yannis, Giovanni, Ann, Jennifer,
Mario, Ian, Hannah, Siobhan, Ivan

© VASST (Table reproduced here with their permission)

Scroll down for answers.

Answers:

  • Mary, Marie, Maria, Mario, Marianne, Marilyn – all derive from Miriam meaning bitter, the Hebrew name of the Virgin Mary
  • John, Jean, Siobhan, Johannes, Ann, Hannah ,Yannis, Giovanni, Sean, Ivan and Ian – These all come from the Hebrew, Jochanan – God is gracious
  • Odd ones out – Marius and Jennifer. Marius is a Roman name (possibly from Mars, the god of war); whilst Jennifer is the Cornish equivalent of Guinevere- a Welsh name, meaning white

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Modern British Surnames

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Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Project
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

Contact Us

Email: guild@one-name.org
Address for correspondence:
c/o Secretary, 113 Stomp Road,
Burnham, Berkshire, SL1 7NN, U.K.
Registered office address:
Box G, 14 Charterhouse Buildings,
Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA U.K.
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