What were the most common surnames in Cornwall in 1861? But first, why 1861? At this time – and indeed until the 1890s – in-migration into Cornwall from England was minimal, Cornwall having a higher proportion of locally born residents than any English county. Mass migration had set in during the late 1840s but the largest exodus was still to come, after the later 1860s. That took with it many distinctively Cornish surnames. But the 1850s was the decade when Cornwall’s mining economy peaked. For all these reasons 1861 seemed the best choice to capture the traditional, native stock of surnames.
The 20th most numerous Cornish surname in 1861 was Phillips and its direct spelling variants. In the medieval period Philip was a common first name, in part owing to Philip being one of Christ’s disciples, usually a short route to popularity (excepting Judas). Interestingly, it was also a favourite in south-west Wales. It had been adopted as a surname across Cornwall by the early 1500s, although by the 1600s confined mainly to mid and west Cornwall. This was because a vernacular version Philp emerged in east Cornwall in the late 1500s and became a separate and common name there.
Unlike Philp, Philip began to receive a suffixed -s in the 1630s. By the mid-1700s this process was complete. Philip was now Philips or Phillips. By 1861, when there were 424 households in Cornwall headed by a Phillips, the distribution of the surname reflected Cornwall’s population geography, with most living in the Central Mining District of Camborne-Redruth and a secondary concentration at St Austell.
Cornish studies resources 