The ten surnames below ranked 31st to 40th in the list of the most common surnames in Cornwall in 1861, just before the peak of emigration (and a century before mass immigration began).
We’re now beginning to meet more variation in the type of surname we’re encountering, with the first occupational names and nicknames making their appearance.
| rank | surname | type | number of households |
| 31 | Andrew/s | personal name | 441 |
| 32 | Collin(g)s | personal name | 424 |
| =33 | Hill | landscape name | 399 |
| =33 | Smith | occupational name | 398 |
| 35 | Tonkin | personal name | 384 |
| 36 | Hooper | occupational name | 348 |
| 37 | White | nickname | 330 |
| 38 | Brown | nickname | 296 |
| 39 | Allen | personal name | 293 |
| 40 | Bawden/Bowden | multiple | 292 |
Meanwhile, Tonkin, originally Tomkin and a pet name for Tom, seems to have been a particularly popular choice in Cornwall’s Cornish-speaking districts.
Maps of all these surnames in the 1500s and 1641 can be found here.
Further details of most will be found in my The Surnames of Cornwall.
Cornish studies resources 
My ancestors may have come from Cornwall to N. America-Melanson’s (also spelled Mallinson)?
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I note that several of the names are English – Smith, Hill, White, Brown – does this mean their ancestors move to Cornwall from England or that simply the names were given in areas where people spoke English rather than Cornish?
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For most, the latter. The maps for the early distribution of Hill and Smith strongly support this although Brown and White are more ambiguous. It could well be that in the Cornish-speaking areas the clergyman or other clerk translated the names of people who were known locally as Angwin or Angell to their English equivalents. This certainly happened with Angove.
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Ok thanks.
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