Despite up to 500 daily visitors (a few days even more) no-one noticed the deliberate (ahem) mistakes in my list of the 20 most common surnames in Victorian Cornwall. Where were the Jameses? In fact, they should have been found at number 11 in the list. And what about the Nicholls? Why hadn’t they appeared … Continue reading Apologies to the Jameses and Nicholls
Category: surnames
1. Williams
By now most readers won’t be too surprised to learn that Cornwall’s top surname - and by a long way, 35 per cent more frequent in 1861 than its nearest competitors – was Williams. William was a French version of the Germanic Willihelm that was brought to the British Isles by the Normans. By the … Continue reading 1. Williams
2. Thomas
The runner up in our top 20 Cornish surnames list is Thomas. Another name from the New Testament, as one of Christ’s disciples Thomas was always going to be a favoured choice for a boys’ first name. This was boosted by the cult of St Thomas, popular among the Normans and the life (and death … Continue reading 2. Thomas
3. Richards
We’re now down to the last three surnames, each of which could boast over 1,000 households in the Cornwall of 1861. Like Harry and Harris or Stephens and Stevens, Richard and Rickard share the same root, being merely alternative pronunciations (one from Parisian Old French and the other from Picardy.) In medieval Cornwall and England … Continue reading 3. Richards
4. Rowe
The surname dictionaries insist that Rowe originated in a name for someone living by a hedgerow or in a row of houses. Given its pre-eminent place in the rollcall of Cornish surnames and the personal names origin of the others in this list, that explanation seems a bit lacking. Even if some with the byname … Continue reading 4. Rowe
5. Stephens or Stevens?
According to The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names, Stephen was the ‘partially vernacular’ medieval form of the biblical name Stephanus, which had its origin in turn in the Greek Staphanas. This first name had become popular as it was the name of the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in Jerusalem three years after the … Continue reading 5. Stephens or Stevens?
6. Martin
The Latin name Martinus gave us Martin in medieval English and French. The popularity of this name was then boosted by the cult of the fourth century St Martin of Tours. In the 16th century the family name Martin was more evenly spread across Cornwall than many other surnames coined from personal names. Moreover, in … Continue reading 6. Martin
7. Harris
The Old French first name Henri, from the Germanic Heinric, was introduced to the British Isles following 1066. This, together with its close relation, the Norman-French Hanri, became Middle English Henry. But in the cottages and communities of the common folk, this name usually became Harry. Harry, like other first names, was then appropriated as … Continue reading 7. Harris
8. Mitchell/Michell
It’s back to the top 20 Cornish surnames. Michael was a first name drawn from the Hebrew language and the Bible. But its vernacular form in the early 1500s was Michell, also spelt Mychell. Or, put another way, the learned form of the name Michell was Michael. When Michell also became a surname it was … Continue reading 8. Mitchell/Michell
The Surnames of Cornwall: new edition goes live
We interrupt this series on Cornwall's top 20 surnames to bring you news that a new edition of The Surnames of Cornwall is now available as an e-book, paperback or hardback. For further details see here. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow with Cornwall's 8th most common surname.
Cornish studies resources 