Surname origins - Professor Turi King

To celebrate the International Day of families, learn about the categories of surnames and how they can tell you something about your family history.

Knowing the meaning of your surname, and other surnames in your family tree, gives you a wonderful glimpse into the past and tells you something about your ancestors. While there are various ways of classifying surnames, broadly speaking, they fall into five main categories: occupation, parental names, nicknames, location and feature of the landscape.

The use of hereditary surnames was brought to Britain by the Normans who had already been using them for a couple of generations. Before this, people who had what we would think of as a surname didn’t pass them down through the generations. They were known as bynames and could even change in a person’s lifetime.

Hereditary surnames were first used by the wealthy land-owning families as a way of securing continuity of inheritance. The practice of using hereditary surnames then gradually filtered down to the rest of the population starting earlier in the south and moving northward until by 1500s, it was becoming rarer not to have a surname.

In Scotland and Wales, the picture is a bit different. In Scotland, clan names and local customs played a part.

In Wales, the practice of using a single hereditary surname didn’t start until later and was slow to be adopted widely.

The most common surname in Britain is Smith, and comes from the category of occupational names. In this case, an ancestor is most likely to have been the village blacksmith. This would have been a very important occupation in the village just as the local baker, the cooper, who made barrels, and the thatcher, who repaired roofs, would have been.

While Smith may be the most common surname in Britain, many of the most frequent surnames come from a parent’s name, usually the father. Your surname could be Thomas or Thompson, son of Thomas, or, Marriot or Molson both of which come from Mary. In Wales, their practice of using a father’s name has led to surnames such as Jones, Williams, and Davies becoming among the most frequent surnames in Britain today.

Two types of surname derive from a place where an ancestor may have lived. The first of these is from a specific location such as a village, town or estate. And the second is from a prominent feature of the landscape. Examples of well-known surnames that are based on location are Attenborough, Durham and Thornton and being named after a place was usually associated either with owning land there or having lived there and moving elsewhere.

Surnames such as Bridge or Bell, could indicate where your ancestor lived in the village or town whereas living next to a natural feature could give you a surname such as Wood, Hill or Brook.

My favourite type of surname comes from a nickname because it can tell you something really personal about an individual. Brown is the most common surname of this type and is thought to come from a person’s hair colour or complexion, whereas Giffard is thought to come from fat cheeks. Newman is a surname that’s thought to describe a newcomer to a town or village.

One thing to remember is that your surname can have more than one origin. My surname King could have come from someone who worked for the King or as a nickname for someone who merely behaved as if he was one!

So whatever your surname: Shepherd, Andrews, Ecclestone, Orchard or Swift, your surname contains within it a glimpse into the life of one of your ancestors.

Locations used in this film:
00:00 Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester
00:25 Newark Castle, Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire
00:44 Harry Peach Library, University of Leicester
01:18 St Mary's Church, Attenborough, Nottinghamshire
01:42 St Giles Church, Medbourne, Leicestershire
02:07 Attenborough Village, Nottinghamshire
02:13 Attenborough Nature Research, Attenborough, Nottinghamshire
02:38 Medbourne Village, Leicestershire
02:51 King's Lock, Grand Union Canal, Leicestershire
03:13 Peacock Lane, Leicester
03:13 Richard III statue, Peacock Lane, Leicester

This film was produced by External Relations, University of Leicester in 2020.

Filmed & Edited by Carl Vivian
Written & Produced by Professor Turi King