The Old Poor Law in Gwennap

In the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, politicians made the workhouse the centrepiece of the New Poor Law, a more ‘efficient’ and cheaper way to relieve the poor in England, Wales and Cornwall. Workhouses were intended to discipline the poor by forcing idlers to work and shirkers to become strivers. But in practice, they … Continue reading The Old Poor Law in Gwennap →

Cornish cultural conservatism and surname formation

Some surnames formed from within the Cornish-speaking community and ending in -ow had a tendency for this suffix to shift from a written -ow to -a. For example, Higow was found also as Hicka, Mathow as Matta and Clemo sometimes became Clyma. How far the pronunciation of this unstressed syllable changed is another matter. The … Continue reading Cornish cultural conservatism and surname formation →

Cornish cultural distinctiveness: surnames with an -ow suffix

In the 1800s some surnames found in Cornwall helped to reinforce the myth of a Mediterranean origin for the Cornish, as multiple examples of names ending in -o, -oe or -ow seemed to hint strongly at Spanish antecedents. This was a romantic assumption with appeal to visitors and natives alike and was reinforced by other … Continue reading Cornish cultural distinctiveness: surnames with an -ow suffix →

Tailors and bilingualism in 16th century Cornwall

The 80th most common surname in Victorian Cornwall was Taylor, an ubiquitous name found across southern Britain. This was already the case in Cornwall in the early 1500s when it appeared from the far east along the Tamar to West Penwith. But in Cornwall Taylor had a competitor. In the Cornish language the word for … Continue reading Tailors and bilingualism in 16th century Cornwall →

Close cousins: Warren and Warne

According to most surname dictionaries Warren and Warne have different origins. Warne was traditionally supposed to be a name derived from places in Devon and Somerset; Warren from a place in northern France or from the first name Warin or Werin. Even the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names retains the distinction, although suggesting that Warne … Continue reading Close cousins: Warren and Warne →

Where was Cornish spoken in the middle ages?

From around 1100 to the 1330s Cornwall’s population tripled, from under 30,000 to a peak of around 100,000. After a few decades of stability, the Black Death in the middle of the 1300s turned population growth into fall. In fact numbers in Cornwall steadily declined to a low of around 60,000 by the beginning of … Continue reading Where was Cornish spoken in the middle ages? →

Curnow/Kernow. When the obvious meaning may not be so.

Check out the surname dictionaries, even the mammoth Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, and you'll find Curnow classed as a locative name, a form of Kernow, the Cornish for Cornwall and a surname presumably given to a Cornishman. But this simple and apparently clearcut explanation may not be the right one. … Continue reading Curnow/Kernow. When the obvious meaning may not be so. →

Even nicknames start somewhere

If you're attempting to use past distributions of surnames to pinpoint their origin, names from places (for example Trevithick or Penrose) clearly hold out the best chance of success. Nevertheless, sometimes the early pattern of nicknames or even surnames from first names can provide clues as to where that surname may have first arisen in … Continue reading Even nicknames start somewhere →

Cornwall’s 50 commonest surnames

Another ten surnames will take us to 50, actually 51 as there is a tie for 50th place. The list is still dominated by surnames derived from given or first names. This is similar to Wales and a symptom of the relatively late adoption of surnames in mid and west Cornwall when compared with England … Continue reading Cornwall’s 50 commonest surnames →

Ten more surnames

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 … Continue reading Ten more surnames →