(1.2) Surnames of Relationship                                  build version 0.241

 

                        

 Aspect map build version 0.251

“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

Note: Mckinley treats relationship surnames as a sub-division of the class of nicknames. Although they could be equally regarded as encompassing patronymics.
Form

Prepositions

Le

Genitival

 See also: other genitival forms e.g. occupational Parsons , or topographical, Mills, or relationship

Cousins, Brothers

Kinship

Lack of kin

 
Proximity

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

 

Direct relationship

Bynames of this form (-neve, -brother, -daughter, -wif) persisted into the late 14th century. They are heavily associated with ‘the north’

 

                  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]

Mother(s)

Mother – 13 occurrences in 1881 census

Wife, Wyf

 

Associated with widows

Wife (38=1881), Mogwife (9)

                               Widow

Widdowes, Widders < Wedue, le Wydu

Sister

 

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

 

 

                 Masculine-

 

                                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

                                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]

                               brother(s)

 

                                 uncle

 

Eames, Neam(e), Uncle, Ungles

q  But the Sussex Uncles (and East Anglia)< ON personal name Ulfketell

         Dunkling DoS p259  Reaney OES p82

nephew

Neve, Neave, Neff , but also used as a nickname for a parasitic,  thriftless person.

But in Scotland usually derives from the place-name Nevay in Angus

cousin

q  Possible interaction with placenameCoutances’ or with ‘Cusson’ =     son of Cuthbert/Constance (?)

heir

Ayer, Ayr, Ayres, Eyre, Hair, Hayer, Heyer

Alternatives: from placename ‘Ayr’, or anglicised forms of the Irish surnames O’Hare and Hair

knave

 Often synonymous with -man

 

 

Relative age {under nicknames?}

Old/Older

Young/ Younger

 

 

Senior, Sayner, Sinyard, Henn (Welsh=Old)

Gamble, Child (though can also be a term for a young nobleman); Ogg (Gaelic= young)

By Gender

>See under kinship

By economic status

 

-man

 

e.g. Bateman, Cheeseman

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

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

q       class names like King, Pope Bishop under nicknames