Authors: Tom and Mu Tucker, Marquis of Newcastle’s Regiment

Orders of the day, Volume 31, Issue 5, Sep/Oct 1999

Englishmen had at least two names from about the 11th century onwards. These were a Christian - or christened or given name, followed by a family name. The family name always had a meaning; the given name was dictated by religion, fashion and social grouping. The family name has now become our surname. Its original meaning has been lost by progress, societal developments and change in language use.

These surnames fall into three main groups which make up about 90% of all surnames. The groups are patronymics (the son taking the father’s name), occupational names, and place or place-related names. There is a small group of surnames which arise from the mother’s name, usually denoting illegitimacy, and also names describing appearance: e.g. Redhead, Little.

These are typically a name like John, Thomas or Peter, followed by the suffix ‘-son’ or ‘-kin’. Hence Johnson, Thomson, Robinson or Peterson. Since spelling was phonetic, variations like Jensen and Paterson occurred, as did Peterkin and Tomkin. While the most common given name in the 17th century was John, it has many different forms, such as John, Ian, Ion, Brian, Sean, Jan, Ewan. The next most common given names were Thomas and William; at a very rough guess, perhaps 30-40% of males shared these three names.

The most common of these was Smith, derived from smith - i.e. any job which involves working with metal items, while any name terminating with ‘-wright’ or ‘-rite’ indicated a tradesman, e.g. Cartwright. Other occupational names have been lost where the trade or skill is no longer practised: Tucker, Fuller and Walker were all ‘wool walkers’ or thickeners of cloth - a trade or skill used in the hand preparation of wool. More obvious examples of occupational surnames are Baker, Taylor, Shepherd, Cooper (barrel-maker). As most trades were passed down orally from father to son, the use of your surname indicated a pride in the fact that you had learned your trade from the skills of at least one earlier generation.

These are a wonderfully rich source of our heritage because some are both place names and also by implication occupation-related names. A man might simply take the name of the town or city from which he originated - London, Chester, York being typical examples. However in a community where the local topography was important, names like Bottomley (the clearing in the bottom of a valley), Winterbottom (a clearing protected from winter weather) or Shufflebottom (sheepfold bottom) would give an indication both of where the man lived and what his job was.

Many re-enactors adopt a suitable surname to denote the role they are taking in a cameo. This can lend an air of authenticity to an otherwise unconvincing narrative. Parish registers are worth looking at - from the Leeds parish registers of the 17th century are the following: Omphrey Baxter, Jelyan Goodayle, Thomas Girnwood, Lettis Greathead and Ffortune Smythe! Then under the Puritan ethic of the Commonwealth we had such delights as Praise-God-That-I-Am-Saved Barebones.