Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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    • 2,163 studies
    • 7,657 surnames

Retained profile for the former
Atherton One-Name Study

This study is no longer registered with the Guild, but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.

A study website has been preserved by the Guild: atherton.one-name.net

A study website has been preserved by the Guild: atherton-2018.one-name.net

About the study

The ATHERTON One-Name Study was created in January 2009 by Derek Atherton, a born and bred Lancastrian. In order to promote and deepen his research he also set up a Facebook Group and DNA project. During the nearly 10 year period that Derek collected data on the Atherton surname, he gathered details of over 45,000 ancestors. 
 
In 2018, Derek passed on management of the study to the next generation of Atherton’s to build on his research to record occurrences of the Atherton surname globally and across all time periods. 

Variant names

Based on the developments of the DNA project the following surnames have been identified as variants: Etherton, Artherton, Heatherington, Faircloth.
Please note: these variant surnames are currently only being researched as part of the DNA project.

Name origin

This name, recorded as Atherton and Eatherton (Etherton is the subject of a separate ONS), is of 7th century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon origins. It is locational from a place so called in Lancashire. The earliest recording of this placename is found in the Fees Rolls of that county for the year 1212, when it is spelt as 'Aderton', and then later in the Post Mortem Records of 1322 as 'Atherton'. The name is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name 'Aethelhere', of uncertain etymology, and 'tun', a settlement, town; hence, 'Aethelhere's town'. During the Middle Ages, when it became common for people to migrate from their place of birth to seek work elsewhere, they would often adopt or be given the village name as a means of identification. This resulted in a wide dispersal of the name. An early example of the surname recording taken from authentic church registers include Roger Atherton, who married Elizabeth Stringfellowe, on September 22nd 1599, at Farnworth North, Prescot, Lancashire.
 
If anyone believes the name originates elsewhere please get in touch!

Historical occurrences of the name

Amongst the interesting recordings associated with this surname is that of William Atherton, an early settler in the New World. He is reported as being granted a ticket to sail from the Barbadoes to Boston, New England, in October 1679. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Athertone, which was dated 1332, in the 'Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire', during the reign of King Edward 111, known as 'The Father of the Navy', 1327 - 1377.

Name frequency

In the ONS (Office of National Statistics - not to be confused with One-Name Study!) database for 2002 for England and Wales, the surname Atherton appears 10,715 time - this places the surname ranking at = 707. The database is also said to include a level of duplicate entries and misspelt surnames, as well as people currently living abroad and temporary visitors to England and Wales. However, experience suggests that multiplying the result of the surname by 0.93 will give a good idea of the living population of the surname.

Distribution of the name

In the 1880s, the Atherton surname was most prevalent in England and the USA. 

Today, the Atherton surname is still most prevalent in England and the USA followed by Australia, Canada and South Africa. However, the Atherton surname can be found globally.

Data

Early research into the name was conducted in the UK, however it soon expanded into the US, Canada and Australia. The plan is to continue building the global data sets further and research assistance to do this is always gratefully received!
 
In addition to these GRO Indexes (England & Wales) below, other data is available, so please do not hesitate to get in touch. Data available to view currently:
 
Atherton datastores.
Marriages from 1837 - 1911: Currently about 92% of spouses details are held.

DNA

The Atherton DNA study is managed through the Family Tree DNA website. The purpose of the study is to look for information not provided in the paper records in order to discover which family trees are related and provide information on the evolution of the Atherton surname. The DNA project has made substantial breakthroughs thanks to its enthusiastic project participants. Details on the study including how to participate can be found at: Atherton Family Tree DNA

Links

The Atherton One-Name Study (ONS) Website: Atherton One-Name Study
 
Facebook Group Page: Atherton One-Name Study
 

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Atherton 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)  12289
  • Global Marriages (members)* 12314
  • Inscriptions Index  1
  • Modern Newspaper Index  2
  • Probate Index* 57
  • Datastores  22965

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

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