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How do I find the Origins of a family name?

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♥Betty Boo from Dundee♥

♥Betty Boo from Dundee♥ Report 8 Dec 2007 20:37

They lived in England but I want to find out where they came from.

Betty

♥Betty Boo from Dundee♥

♥Betty Boo from Dundee♥ Report 8 Dec 2007 20:56

Have to go offline now but will check thread later, thanks in advance.

Betty

Sue in Somerset

Sue in Somerset Report 8 Dec 2007 21:10

Try doing a search of the UK name distribution on this site

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=&cj=1&sid=surnames&o_xid=0001278801&o_lid=0001278801&o_xt=703401

and

http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/

There are good books in libraries which can tell you about the origins of surnames. Be very careful about sites online which offer to sell you coats of arms based on surnames as they are often inaccurate.

If the surname is an occupation origin or nickname one then you may not get a place as such because a lot of the same name could have arisen in different places.
If it seems very concentrated in one area then that probably means a one origin name in a particular place.

I have several books on surname meanings if that helps.

Sue
x

Heather

Heather Report 8 Dec 2007 23:30

In general names come from places, occupations or appearance - give us your name and we will all make a wild guess at which - LOL

Merlin38

Merlin38 Report 9 Dec 2007 07:57

Something to bear in mind is that a change in surname spelling can completely change the apparent place of origin.

One branch of mine started off as Wethersby, and in 1841/1851 the name was confined to Herefordshire. The name spelling got changed to Weatherby, which was concentrated around Tyneside and The Potteries during the same period.

Researching:
Barratt, Brownhill - Nottinghamshire Brittain - Massachusetts and NY State

Heather

Heather Report 9 Dec 2007 12:43

Have sent you a link to ancestry name distribution Betty. Looks like (sadly!) you may have another Irish one there - oh dear, I am SO grateful I have No Irish in my line. Ive given up on OHs lot from Cork who went to Liverpool - luckily I did find a Naval record for his GGF so at least we have some info and physical description etc.