Showing posts with label toponym. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toponym. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Genealogy Research: Family Naming Conventions can be Helpful


When doing ancestry research, it is not uncommon to hit a brick wall once in a while, and when you do, some knowledge of naming conventions can help. 

A long time ago before we started keeping records, most people had just the one name and members of the same family did not have a common family name. As the size of villages grew and several people ended up with the same name, it became necessary to differentiate people with the same name in order to avoid confusion. For example, in a village where several people were called John, the village people may have differentiated the Johns as follows: John who hunted with a bow and arrow was called John the Archer; John who baked the village bread would have been called John the Baker; John who made a living carving wood would have been called John the Carver; and John, the son of William would have been called John, William’s son.

Over time, these names would have morphed to John Archer, John Baker, John Carver, and John Williamson.

Surnames (last names or family names) generally had four basic sources: Patronymic names, Geographic and place names, Occupational names, Descriptive names.

Patronymic Names

The most popular type of surname is derived from a patronymic: the father’s name augmented by a suffix, typically one meaning ‘son of’ or ‘daughter of’, a custom spread by the Vikings as they settled in parts of the British Isles.

In countries such as Finland, the use of patronyms instead of family names was very common well into the 19th century, and was the rule in rural parishes prior to 1900. Thus, Karl Johansson means Karl, the son of Johan. And Lovisa Martensdotter means Lovisa, the daughter of Marten.

Courtesy of the Vikings, the English name John Williamson meant John, the son of William.

Geographic and Place Names

Toponyms are another important source of surnames. Thus, the names of villages, towns or other geographical areas and places often ended up as family names. 

For example, people with the surname of Waldeck may trace their heritage back to the sovereign principality of Waldeck that comprised territories that are now included in parts of the present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony in Germany. The most common surname in Portugal, Almeida, is derived from a town name. The most popular family name in Austria, Gruber, comes from a word meaning ‘pit or mine’.

In some locations such as eastern Finland, farm names were sometimes used as family names. The French surname, Fontaine is a topographic name for someone who lived near a spring or well. And the last name Carlton is a locational name.

Occupational Names

The second most common origin for surnames stems from occupations (called metonymic names): Miller, Carpenter, Smith (the most common surname in England), Carver, Baker, Joiner, Archer, etc. 

Occupational names appeared across language and geographical borders. Thus Carpenter in English was Zimmerman in German and Timmerman in Dutch. Miller in English was Melnik in the Ukraine, Müller in Switzerland and Germany, and Mylläri or Möllare in Finland and Sweden.

Descriptive Names

Quite often, the physical characteristics of a person became the surname e.g. Long, Short, Strong. The surname Olifant (meaning elephant) was given to a large, lumbering individual.

Things can get a little confusing if your ancestors migrated because many immigrants changed their names when arriving in their new country, especially if they spoke another language. For example, many Finland-Swedish immigrants settled in America in the late 1800’s. A way of adapting one's last name to another language or culture, a practice widely applied in Finland, is to translate or to reshape the name. This practice was used often by Finland-Swedish immigrants. Thus, upon arrival in America, the family name Båtman became Boatman, Viktor Albert Mattsson Storkung became Albert Mattson, and Amanda Johansdotter Anneberg became Manda Berg.

Genealogy research is difficult at the best of times, but understanding naming conventions can be of considerable help when you hit the proverbial brick wall!