(1.2) Surnames of Relationship build version 0.2
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“Surnames of this type existing at the present day
are the survivors of a much larger number of surnames which can be found
before 1400, many of them by-names which never became hereditary” e.g. Childresfadre, Milnerstepson,
Le Pristesbrother Mckinley
History of British Surnames |
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Note: Mckinley treats
relationship surnames as a sub-division of the class of nicknames. Although they could be equally regarded as encompassing
patronymics.
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Form
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Prepositions
Le |
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Genitival
See also: other genitival forms e.g. occupational Parsons , or topographical, Mills, or relationship |
Cousins |
Kinship
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Lack of kin
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Parrish,
Bastard, Fitzroy Neighbour |
Family relationship
Indirect relationship
By marriage
-maugh/-mough/-mot(t), -muff,-muff, -mouth, -more Ø Occupational + Maugh etc Son-in-law
Brother-in-law |
These
Middle English terms relate to a relation in general, or a brother-in-law in
particular e.g. Hickmott Portermaugh Od(h)am(s) Ginder(s) =” a surname of
relationship which became a family name when s son-on-law inherited the land
of a father-in-law” (Reaney OES p81) Fairbrother – possibly from the French Beau Frère
[brother-in-law] |
Family relationship
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Direct
relationship
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Bynames of this form (-neve,
-brother, -daughter, -wif) persisted into the late
14th century. They are heavily associated with ‘the north’ |
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Feminine- |
Suffixes
indicating feminine relationships were dwarfed by names ending in -son. They tended to be recorded in
Latin, compared to the lower register of ME used for men “the expanse of
these ME formations for other relations other than –son clearly evokes a non-Scandinavian effect”
[Postles
The north through its names (2008)
p60] |
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Mother(s) |
Mother
– 13 occurrences in 1881 census |
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Wife |
Associated
with widows Wife
(38=1881), Mogwife (9) |
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Widow |
Widdowes, Widders
< Wedue, le Wydu |
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Sister |
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Daughter, dochter |
Associated with non-married women Unstable, and no suffixed forms have
survived to today. (Though ‘Daughter’ and ‘Daughters’ were recorded in 1881),
though the simplex form Dafter still exists, as does Dauter, Dafter. It may have been applied as a nickname for a sole
heiress due to inherit her father’s land {Reaney
OES p81] In 14th century, Yorkshire and
Lancashire, it was fairly common as a byname Exception: Daughtery, Dawtrey derive from ‘de Hauterive’ |
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Masculine- |
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father |
Fathers,
Father, Fadder,
Bairnsfather “Fadder and Fathers, Mothers
and Brothers may all derive from a well-established personal name, Old
Danish Fathir, Mothir,
and Brothir “ Reaney OES p80 But all
also occur with the qualifier le e.g. William le Brother can be
relationship names |
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son |
Soane “it is impossible to be dogmatic about the chronological
appearance of –son names in relationship to other suffixes of relationship.
It might be argued that vernacular –son names appeared first, though a
combination of Scandinavian ME language use, and that –wif/-wyf, -doghter and other
suffixes of relationship developed secondarily in the wake of –son
formations” “One of the enduring, if marginal, features of patronyms
and metronyms with –son was their tendency to
exhibit instability into the late middle ages, long after other forms of
surnames had generally stabilised”
[Postles The north
through its names (2008) p60] |
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brother(s) |
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uncle |
Eames q But the Sussex Uncles (and
East Anglia)< ON personal name Ulfketell Dunkling DoS p259 Reaney OES p82 |
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nephew |
Neve, Neave,
Neff But in Scotland usually derives from the place-name
Nevay in Angus |
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cousin |
q Possible interaction with placename ‘Coutances’ or with ‘Cusson’ = son of Cuthbert/Constance (?) |
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heir |
Ayer Alternatives: from placename
‘Ayr’, or anglicised forms of the Irish surnames O’Hare and Hair |
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knave |
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Relative age
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Senior,
Sayner, Sinyard, Henn (Welsh=Old) Gamble,
Child (though can also be a term for a young nobleman); Ogg
(Gaelic= young) |
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By Gender |
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>See under
kinship |
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By economic status |
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e.g.
Bateman If
–man denotes a servant, then this name form will be under-represented in the
lay subsidies “the intensive
and customary use of –man in by-names as a suffix to a personal name denoting
servanthood was more characteristic onomastically of an extensive northern zone which
extended down into the north Midlands” Postles
(2007) The north through its names
p78 |
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Ø See also other –man forms |
-man
forms are difficult to assign, because it is not always clear if the main
element is moreover a nickname (e.g. Blithman), or
an occupation, or even topographic |
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q class names like King, Pope Bishop under nicknames |
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