The Origin of British Family Names - Part 2

From the year 1066 to about 1400, the period when British family names evolved, there were four basic ideas for how to create a name:

• The name related to a profession.


• The name described the person.


• The name explained a relationship to someone named, mostly “son of”.


• The name was derived from where a person lived.

There are several sub-categories in a couple of the main ones. Where a person lived could be explained in general terms like for example on a promontory or more specifically stating the name of a farm or some other place that was small enough to satisfy the demand for uniqueness. The name describing a person could aim for looks, character or where he came from. The profession names and the "son of" names are more difficult to see categories in, although the latter is disguised in different ways.
Apart from these main categories, we can see other principles at work. One example is names telling a story about what a person had done. There is a brilliant example of the latter that will be described in a post about British “colour names”, another in a post about an Estonian name.
According to Dunkling’s work, The Guinness book of names, the “where a person lived” names are by far the most common among British family names. This is so despite the fact that the most common names in England and Wales are Smith, Jones and Williams. The most common names in the USA are Smith, Johnson and Williams. Smith then is the only occupation name on the top list, the rest are “son of” names in various shapes.

PS Picture from Shutterpoint. The scene depicts a lavender farm in Cotswold. Plenty there to create a family name based on "where a person lived".