WHAT'S YOUR SURNAME? - If you've wondered where it came from

[Breda_Walton]

I, as you might have guessed, am a Walton. My first boyfriend was a Brady. Imagine the stick we got for that!

[slinky]

Any ideas on Perry?

My mothers maiden name however, is most entertaining!

It's Hiscock... She is Sue, Sue Hiscock..

Many moons ago she trained as a nurse and wore a badge... it said Nurse Hiscock..

Her mother is called Patricia.. yes.. Pat Hiscock..

Oh the shame!

slinky

[thepassenger]

Definition: An English or Scottish place name for a man who lived near an enclosure ("haeg" or "heye," an area of forest fenced off for hunting.. The surname may also have been derived from the old English "haes" or the old French word "heis," both meaning "brushwood."

So according to my surname I'm some sort of grounds keeper or poacher... poacher??? I'm a PIKEY!

[Timmy30]

slinky said:

Any ideas on Perry?

Something to do with Perry cider perhaps?

[slinky]

Timmy30 said:

slinky said:

Any ideas on Perry?

Something to do with Perry cider perhaps?

A fair chance.. I believe the family crest has three pears on it.. I'm not sure though..

slinky

[killer2005]

slinky said:

Nurse Hiscock..

Childish giggle

[simpo two]

vlc said:

When surnames first came into popular use in 14th-century Europe, many people came to be identified by what they did for a living...

Then soon we'll have surnames such as Officeworker, Civilservant, Chav and Illegalimmigrant.

That appears to cover most of the UK.

[Breda_Walton]

Lad at school was called Steven Twilley. Needless to say his nickname was Ben

[vlc]

FourWheelDrift said:

Not my surname, but I remember the surname Fuller on Tony Robinson's Worst Jobs program. With three sheep to every man, woman and child, wool is our biggest export. But nobody likes stiff and itchy cloth that falls to pieces, so we have several openings for fullers. As a fuller, you are expected to walk up and down all day in huge vats of stinking stale urine.

...then Tony [baldrik] is wrong as the surname derivision is for 'Walker' as they were the ancestors who 'walked' for a living.

Breda_Walton said:

Lad at school was called Steven Twilley. Needless to say his nickname was Ben

...but she forgets to mention it was a school-girl called Brenda who investigated if it were physcially true or not, [an by deep-throating i heard]

[BB-Q]

With the surname Shepherd- and knowing that my great grand father actually was a shepherd for a living- I don't think I need to look up where mine came from!

[smokeylizard]

Burton?, All I can think of are the places and i believe its the name of something in ships rigging?

[Eric Mc]

The Saxons weren't really into surnames. It was the Normans who insisted that they had to tag surnames onto their Christian names - so they could be identified and diferentiated from each other - a kind of early form of ID system. I bet the Saxons moaned like stink over it too. Therefore, non-Celtic or Norman based English surnames tend to relate to the occupation of the individual or the locality of where he/she lived.

Celtic surnames were based on the Celtic clan system - therefore Owen O'Connor meant Owen of the Connor clan. "Mac" means son of - so a Celtic name such as mine i.e. Eric McLoughlin really means "Eric, son of Loughlin". Norman surnames were prefixed usually by either "Fitz" (which also means "son of) or "De" as in "of". Therefore Maurice Fitzmaurice means "Maurice, son of Maurice" and Chris De Burgh means Christopher, of the Burgh (or Burke) family.

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 11th October 22:43

[pooh]

Campbell is Gallic for crooked mouth.

[Eric Mc]

I'd say it's Gaelic rather than Gallic.

[dc53]

Clarkeshoe shop

Edited by dc53 on Wednesday 11th October 22:49

[pooh]

And you would probably be correct.( I couldn't work out which was the correct spelling)