My next three less common Cornish surnames all have obvious points of origin although in the case of the first this may be a district rather than a single parish. Pawlyn is a pet form of Paul, retaining the conservative spelling of Pawl which was usual in the early 1500s. At that time people called … Continue reading Some Cornish surnames with single points of origin
Category: surnames
Three more rare Cornish surnames, although one was from Devon
Olivey is claimed to have come from the Latin saint Oliva, although it’s just as possible it was a variant of the name Oliver, from an old French first name. Oliver was quite common in sixteenth century Cornwall but I can find no Oliveys that early. The spelling Olivey first appeared on the Lizard and … Continue reading Three more rare Cornish surnames, although one was from Devon
Local Cornish surnames, but which locality?
All three of the following surnames were originally derived from placenames, although the exact location of that name is open to a little doubt. Nancollas is a surname which has a long association with St Austell. John Nancolas was found in that parish in 1543. But there is nowhere called Nancollas in Cornwall. One possible … Continue reading Local Cornish surnames, but which locality?
The role of luck in the history of surnames
While giving a talk on surnames last week at Madron, just outside Penzance, I was reminded of the role of chance in the history of family names. One unpredictable aspect was the relative proportion of male children born. If several boys were born into a family and they all survived, then the family name was … Continue reading The role of luck in the history of surnames
Three surnames from the Fal district
The nineteenth century distribution of a surname is sometimes a good guide to its point of origin, sometimes less so. Take the following three names, which are all likely to have begun life in the district around the Fal estuary in south Cornwall. Mankee was a name associated entirely with west Cornwall in 1861, with … Continue reading Three surnames from the Fal district
Cornish surnames where the spelling obscures the origin
Sometimes the changing spellings of surnames can tend to confuse us. The first example is fairly obvious. The name Lidgey began life in the early 1600s in Redruth and on the Lizard (where it was more likely to be Ludgy). It doesn’t take a great deal of detective work to find the placename Lidgey at … Continue reading Cornish surnames where the spelling obscures the origin
More Cornish surname puzzles
Actually, two of the following are not too puzzling. Their point of origin seems clear enough even if their later geography is less so. Keskeys is the most straightforward. It clearly originated in the place of the same name in St Erth parish. That was spelt Caerskes in 1363, which takes us closer to the … Continue reading More Cornish surname puzzles
Were Cornish speakers slower to add an -s to their name?
Because the practice of adding an -s to a personal name that then became a surname first arose in England and within English-speaking communities, one might assume that non-English speakers were slower to adopt it. It didn't stop them eventually doing so, of course. Quite the contrary, as the number of Williamses or Evanses in … Continue reading Were Cornish speakers slower to add an -s to their name?
When did William (or Richard or Robert or … ) add an -s to his name?
Some of our most common surnames in Cornwall were very uncommon 500 years ago. Take the names Williams and Richards for example. Nowadays these are the the most frequent surnames found among the native Cornish. In the 1540s there were hardly any examples of people named Williams or Richards. But of course there were scores … Continue reading When did William (or Richard or Robert or … ) add an -s to his name?
Some surnames that don’t look Cornish but are
There are several surnames that give few hints of their Cornish provenance. It often comes as a surprise to learn that they have impeccably Cornish pedigrees. The name Hurdon for example has a long history. William Hurdon was living at Lezant, next to the Tamar, in 1544 and he had a namesake in the neighbouring … Continue reading Some surnames that don’t look Cornish but are
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