Just recently, I got my hands on Leslie Dunkling's The Guiness Book of Names. Both Dunkling and Guiness are interesting names that will be commented upon later in this blog. However, this post will be based on what Dunkling had to say about the origin of British family names.
Before the 11th century and the Norman conquest, the people living on the British Isles had one name. They made sure that the names were unique and since the communities they were living in were smallish, this was not so difficult. Hence, from the beginning, there was very little confusion.
The system was distorted by the invading Danes. The Vikings believed in the re-use of names and one name did then not suffice. The problem was solved with "bynames", sort of a nick-name added to the original name. This byname could be flattering but quite often Scandinavian bynames described a handicapp or something that the bearer would be less proud of. These names were not family names, but a stepping stone towards them.
When the Normans came in 1066, it got worse. They were even more proned to use the same names for different persons than the Scandinavians. To get legal documents useful they simply had to have another name to positively identify a person. The bynames got more and established and a process had started that by the beginning of the 15th century had culminated in most people having a family name that was inherited withing the family. Dunkling makes the remark that the details in this process are obscure and perhaps never will be sorted out.
Although the dynamics of creating family names to some extent still exists today, we can conclude that most of the development of British family names was concluded by the year 1400.
Before the 11th century and the Norman conquest, the people living on the British Isles had one name. They made sure that the names were unique and since the communities they were living in were smallish, this was not so difficult. Hence, from the beginning, there was very little confusion.
The system was distorted by the invading Danes. The Vikings believed in the re-use of names and one name did then not suffice. The problem was solved with "bynames", sort of a nick-name added to the original name. This byname could be flattering but quite often Scandinavian bynames described a handicapp or something that the bearer would be less proud of. These names were not family names, but a stepping stone towards them.
When the Normans came in 1066, it got worse. They were even more proned to use the same names for different persons than the Scandinavians. To get legal documents useful they simply had to have another name to positively identify a person. The bynames got more and established and a process had started that by the beginning of the 15th century had culminated in most people having a family name that was inherited withing the family. Dunkling makes the remark that the details in this process are obscure and perhaps never will be sorted out.
Although the dynamics of creating family names to some extent still exists today, we can conclude that most of the development of British family names was concluded by the year 1400.
PS Picture from Shutterpoint. The motif is a half-timbered Celtic Pub, presumably in Normandy. Several family names were most likely created in houses like this.
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