Some Ponderings on Surnames

Some Surname Ponderings

I used to like to say that Surnames, Locality, and History are the three main aspects of Genealogical Research, and that Surnames are the most important of the three. But, beyond the confines of Genealogy, our Surnames are important in so many ways in our lives, it is hard to begin thinking of ourselves without including some reference to our surnames. Our name identifies us and gives us individuality, although increasingly the society tries to inflict numbers on us for our identity. In Denmark, and I suppose throughout Scandinavia, where names are so alike as a residue of patronymics, the telephone listings append an occupational title as an additional identifier

But I have come to believe that researching a single surname is not all we need to do to determine Identity. Within the surnames we research we need to include the Kinship families who were a part of our ancestors' lives. And so, kinship has become the main ingredient of the equation.

Just as Names are the key to Identity, Identity is the key to personality and individuality. Recently I lost a fanny pack containing every tangible shred of identity I have. I couldn't prove I am who I am, and consequently could not be hired for a job I had applied for, and almost could not receive a much needed refund due me. Here's another problem I have recognized -- what works for "The System," doesn't always work well for us. I have a wonderful new cousin now, due to the internet. But for 70 years both she and her biological mother (my Great-Aunt) were prevented from finding one another, and deprived knowing the other's identity by the state of Michigan -- even though BOTH would have liked to have found the other! This is a terrible thing!

Within our naming system, women in our culture traditionally "lose" their surnames when they marry. This is a great difficulty in research, and also for how we come to think of ourselves. For something so bound to identity, women's names have been treated in a very cavalier manner. I fought a losing annual battle with the tax assessor who regularly addressed the tax bills to (example) Mr. John Jones and wf. I called up and said I wanted to complain about the tax bill. When they asked my name, I responded, "This is the wf." It got a chuckle, but not a big one, and although they said they would, it did not get my identity reinstated. Many divorced professional women find themselves curiously bound to their ex-husbands' surnames because they are identified that way in their profession. In addition to marriage, other loss of identity occurs in our contemporary society though adoption, and even within our own naming system which ignores the matrilineal aspect completely.

It is often said, as we read through family histories, that Uncle Leroy "changed" the name from Smith to Smythe, or that Cousin Henry's branch of the family started spelling it Smith instead of Schmidt, etc., but actually, official changes were rare. In very early colonial times such official changes were noted by appending alias (or als.) along with the old name. Why were these official changes made? In some cases, it was required for purposes of inheritance, sometimes it seems because the person wanted a name more in keeping with his New World environment than where he came from in the Old World, and sometimes it seems to have been to avoid some unsavory identification with the old name.

Mathias Mathiason (or Matson) is regularly identified in the Cecil County, MD records as "Mathias Freeman alias (or als.) Mathiason." Why did he change his name to Freeman? It may have been a combination of several things. A Hannah Matson (one of the Delaware Valley Swede/Finns) was tried for witchcraft, and fortunately escaped the fate of the persons tried in Salem, but there may have been a residue of scandal attached to the name.

Surnames came into being fairly quickly in England during the 13th century. We tend to think of the British Isles as a very homogenous area, but historically and ethnically it was not. The population was ethnically influenced by the native tribes of Angles, (and many Celtic Others) combined with Saxon invaders from the Germanic areas of Europe and Scandinavia, again by the Romans, and finally by the Normans from the French areas of Europe, led by William the Bastard (if you hum Hail Brittania in the shower) or William the Conqueror (if you're a Francophile and the Marseillaise is your tune,) in 1066.

Very little was written during the Dark and Middle Ages, let alone genealogies. We have the great English masterpiece Beowulf, and not much else besides church and religious documents, and most of these have not survived. Extant documents show the beauty and regard given to the written word, painstakingly created and/or copied by monks or others associated with the Church simply to preserve the words, and sometimes the pictures. All was done by hand. When the Church split between "East" and "West," or between Constantinople and Rome, religious tracts and writings, along with the greatest writings of the ancients were carried by rebellious priests, and these would later lead to the flowering of the Renaissance, as people became increasingly interested in learning about their history through these writings. The invention of printing presses eased the process, but it was the invention of moveable type which changed the value of the written word in Western Civilization. Writing, books, literacy, knowledge came to the masses, and about this same time, so did surnames. People gained individuality.

Those who are anxious to claim an elevated lineage are quick to adopt what has been written about surnames associated with "royal" or titled bloodlines, but be cautioned: only direct descendants of a titled family are permitted to use the crest and arms associated with the title. So, before you start shelling out for the family crest, or the "History of your Surname," (and there are many, many of these shady publishers around, eager for gullible purchasers,) check first. Others purport to have lineages back to David (!) Or back to Charlemagne (!) Or back to some knight who arrived with William the Bastard/Conqueror(!) Well....... let's just say I doubt it!

After William was securely ensconced in England for awhile, he initiated a great census taking to determine exactly what he'd gained by his invasion, and results of this enumeration became known as the Doomsday or Domesday Book. It was not like our modern census, which attempts to enumerate everyone, but a means for William to determine how much he was worth in revenues from the conquered lands, and how many landlords and tenants he count upon to pay him fees for possession of the land. It was an enormously confusing time. As the new Norman tenants moved into place, they displaced the Anglo-Saxon ones -- but sometimes not! There was a mixture of language -- French and English -- and so Latin was used to bridge the gap. As the Normans took control, English names were translated into French nomenclature. Thus for about a century there was great turmoil and a great process of change. It is 99.9% impossible to say with any certainty what any original name was before William the Conqueror, and even throughout the process of evolution, and for some time after, there is little certainty.

This is why. Surnames evolved in various ways, and the ways were not constant. Identity evolved by using Given or Forenames to identify children of a certain person. William's children were sometimes called William's Son, or John, son of William -- but not always! Sometimes they were written in Latin, sometimes in French, and sometimes Old English. These kind of names developed into Williamson, Johnson, Richardson and so on. Sometimes the surname referred to an area, a locality, or the village name. Sometimes it referred to what the person did, or the title he held within the village hierarchy. Surnames came into use to give identity to which William was meant. Was it William who lived by the stream? Good! He is first known as William Ate Water, and later William Atwater! His son, Henry, the man who bakes bread for the villagers is known as Henry son of William. Or is he? Some call him Henry the Baker! And when Old William Atwater was in his prime he was recorded in the books of the manor as William the Miller, because it was his mill which produced the flour that his son Henry used for his bread! William's other son, James still runs the mill and may be known as James Miller or James Williamson or James Atwater. Some inventive souls may start calling him James at the Bridge or James Bridge and this surname might ultimately evolve into Bridges for his descendants. So what is the Surname of this family? The answer is: We don't know. This is why genealogy beyond this period is fanciful at best.

More examples:

Occupations: Fisher, Shepperd, Wright, Smyth, Carter, Baker, Miller.

Localities: Ate Wood, Ate Well, Ate Green (the Village green), de Wendale, de Wistrow, Bovecheriche (above the church. Christian names: William the son of Aleyn became William Allen, and William the son of Roger became William Roger.

Some times the names were translated first into Latin, such as Bercar, Faber and Molindarius, and then anglicized into Shepperd, Smyth and Miller. Sometimes it has been concluded that names using the French "de" or "le" indicated the person was Norman, but more likely the person writing the name for the record was more comfortable using French than perhaps, Latin. Sometimes people who were English found French usages more politically correct, and so they simply adopted the terms "le" and "de." In these cases, the name (for example,) de Penitone (which evolved into Pennington) would indicate the person's connection to the location of Penitone. It did not necessarily indicate a relationship between all the people who styled themselves "de Penitone." Sometimes occupational titles used within the social system -- village or manor -- Beadle, Reeve, Hayward or Woodward vanished for that person when he was no longer the Reeve or Beadle. Sometimes Richard Oldman became Richard le Muleward (Richard the Millkeeper) or Richard le Mouner (Richard the Miller). Sometimes a person took a woman's name! Some children derived their names from their mothers, and many such derivations took place when a man married a woman with property from her first husband. John Oldman married Sarah le Wyte and became John le Wyte.

Just as things were settling into some semantic harmony during the late 13th century, a new direction came about. Instead of a person taking his name from the place, the place came to be renamed after the person. So when John ate Hethe took over Cutt Mill, it became known as Hethe Mill and John became known as John ate Hethemill.

These brief generalities on English surnames are taken from a very good book Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages, which is part of an interesting series of books written by Frances and Joseph Gies on medieval life in Europe. In turn, much of this information used by the Gies was based on George Homans extensive study, English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century, New York, 1975 (first published 1941) and other similar Medieval English studies and works by Edward Britton, J. A. Raftis, P. D. A. Harvey, Barbara Hanawalt, and R. H. Hilton.

To return to William, and the Domesday Book, here is what was attempted, as described in The Ely Inquest, a contemporary publication at the time:

"...They inquired what the manor was called; who held it at the time of King Edward; who holds it now; how many hides there are; how many ploughs in demesne (held by the lord) and how many belonging to the men; how many villagers; how many cottagers; how many slaves; how many freemen; how many sokemen; how much woodland; how much meadow; how much pasture; how many mills; how many fisheries; how much had been added to or taken away from the estate; what it used to be worth altogether; what it is worth now; and how much each freeman and sokeman had and has.

All this was to be recorded thrice, namely as it was in the time of King Edward, as it was when King William gave it and as it is now. And it was also to be noted whether more could be taken than is now being taken."

Willliam's great tax assessment was first written in Latin, then sorted several times and finally divided into counties, landholders, hundreds or wapentakes, and manors. It began at Christmas in 1085 and the enumeration of the wealth of England was completed in only eight months. It recorded the heads of households and important landowners and their property. The summarization was completed in 1087. With this history of the installation of bureaucracy into the realm of taxation, we can understand the term -- Doomsday Book -- and also how William's alternative identity "the Bastard," came about (!)

In America most new, different, and variant spellings, along with distinct surname changes can be attributed simply to the way the name is dealt with in the public documents which have become our limited contact with our ancestors' past. The closer we get to our own generation the more likely we are to find consistent spellings and/or spellings that we use contemporaneously. Some of the reasons we encounter so many different names:

1. Variants

Variants cause much misunderstanding of how words, names, language, and even societies and cultures evolve. A variant comes into being when someone transfers the name from the spoken name to the written name. A Germanic ear hears and translates the name differently than a Scots ear. My name McDaniel came from the Scots patronymic of Donald. Mac Donald is "Son of Donald." Written by an English ear it became MacDonald, McDonald, McDannald, McDanild, McDaniel, etc, A very detailed and interesting book originally published by the Bureau of the Census in 1909 is A Century of Population Growth, 1790 to 1900. (This has been republished by the Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore.) This book doesn't just present census statistics, but expands upon what the statistics mean. One of the most valuable sections gives every variant spelling of a surname on the 1790 census if there were more than 100 persons enumerated with the name. It breaks down the number of persons of the name in each state.

Some examples from A Century of Population Growth:

Pennington: Penengton, Penenton, Penington, Pennenton, Pinnington

These are only variants found in the 1790 census. Others I have found:

Peddington, Pedington, Peninton, Paninton, Peniston

This is not the whole story of variants, however. Many times, because "Others" were writing down spoken names, the whole name becomes confused with a distinct surname. In the case of Penningtons, they are often hiding under the names of Pendleton, Pemberton, Penton, and maybe Peden, and others. Once the legitimate designation of another distinct family is given, it is a terrible burden to undertake to undo it. I believe in my own Pennington family this merged identity took place in Baltimore County, MD in the early 1700's, and it is not until the late 1700's that it begins to unravel. BUT, even after that (during the War of 1812), some of this family (I think!) were referred to as Pemberton and some as Pennington. Further complications of the Pemberton/Pennington question is that the most prominent of the name were Quakers and both surnames originate in the same areas of England.

3. Spelling and Misspelling

Spelling was an iffy thing, whatever the language. In England, Samuel Johnson undertook to write a standardized dictionary, which helped somewhat with words in general, but didn't have much to do with standardizing of surnames.

Misspellings are not quite the same thing as variants. Misspelling implies a right way to spell a word and a wrong way. Variants are evolutions, while misspelling usually falls into the area of transcribing a name incorrectly by not being able to read it properly on the original. Misspellings usually occur in secondary records where a transcriber of a census (for example) has created an index, or from a copyist struggling unsuccessfully to read faded or penciled script in a 150 year old Bible. Sometimes there are any number of transcriptions, and thereby hangs the tale. I have found Penningtons misspelled as Dennington, Bennington, Remington, and even Herrington, along with the usual variants above.

A caution on these misspellings and variants: Because several instances of name usage occur, do not proceed on the assumption that the prevalent distortion of your name will be used consistently. The only constancy in life is change! I have found Pemberton/Penningtons in Baltimore County, MD as mentioned, and I am pretty sure that a similar distortion has occurred in Wayne County, KY. A Richard Pemberton described in a bloody encounter with Indians in Tazewell County, VA seems likely to me to be a Pennington. Conversely on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a group of Quakers in Talbot County were distinctly Pembertons to begin with, and I'm not sure whether they remained so or not. The Pemberton name dwindles and may have become confused with the more northerly Eastern Shore Penningtons in Cecil and Kent County, MD, who also spread into Delaware.

Another caution: People in the 16th and 17th century didn't speak English the way we do, and with the influx of immigrants, the pronunciations simply didn't come off in the ways we think of them now. Taliaferro, a notable example in Tidewater Virginia, was pronounced Tolliver.

4. Patronymics

Scandinavian patronymics are different from Welsh Patronymics and both are different from Dutch Patronymics. This made it very hard on the people of the Delaware River Valley, who had to contend with all these tongues, as well as the contentious Irish and Scots' brogue, and the stubborn Germans' gutterals! As the immigrants became more New World acclimatized, they attempted to anglicize their Old World names. This should have made it easier, but of course there were holdouts, and if patronymics were used, one brother or son might stick to the patronym while another used the new system. This leads us once again to the question, "What was the actual surname for this family? Once again, we don't know. We can try and find out by finding documents which confirm or eliminate an individual.

From Helen Jones' WELSH PATRONYMICS "What are patronymics?

The Welsh used an ancient PATRONYMIC naming system whereby the children of a marriage took their Father's forename as their surname. As a result surnames were not fixed and changed from generation to generation. It works like this:

Evan son of Thomas William would be known as Evan Thomas. Evan's son, John would be John Evan. John's son Rees would be Rees John. Rees's son, David, would be David Rees. David's son, James, would be James David."

There's more to it than that, and Helen explains quite clearly, some additional twists and turns.

For Dutch Patronymics and Surnames, I suggest you read Surnames From Patronymics by Donna Speer Ristenbatt. and DUTCH PATRONYMICS OF THE 1600s by Lorine McGinnis Schulze whose Olive Garden web pages apply to middle European immigrants and information. Both of these pages offer very good, in-depth explanations. The system itself seems uncomplicated, but Dutch names have some very complicated circumstances. Basically, the system is like the Welsh, but when people began immigrating to America from the Netherlands, they began a process of using surnames rather than patronymics. The difficulty is guessing, or following up on who adopted which surname. For instance, Jan Garretson, father of a husky family of five sons, Pieter, Hans, Hendrick, Garret, and Jan were in Old Holland his sons would all be called Janson. Maybe they were all born in Holland, and upon their arrival in New Haarlem or New Amsterdam, they were called Pieter, Hans, Hendrick, Garret, and Jan Janson, while their father retained his Jan Garretson nomenclature. Suddenly, however the British take over. New Amsterdam becomes New York, and the Dutch names sound funny. Papa Jan Garretson still wants to honor his father, so he remains Jan (or possibly John) Garretson. His oldest son becomes Peter Garretson, taking his father's old surname. Hendrick, always quarrelsome, wants to go on using the name he's been using: Hendrick Janson. His son is Jan Hendrickson, who wants to be like the main body of the family, and decides that he will be Jan Garretson. Hans and Garret go with Garretson as well, and so do each of their three sons who have all been given the traditional family names! Yikes! Worse, English ears and pens stumble over Garretson, and ultimately, the Garretsons have been rendered Garrisons on their deeds, Garretsons in the Dutch Reformed Church records, while the old family Bible records are for a family of Jansons.

Some Dutch people were known by their localities, and so the Van Winkles and the Van Horns were people from Winkle and Hoorn. Except, the Van Winkles's real name was Wallingse, and Lord only knows what the Van Horns was. They ended up being both Van Hoorns/Horns and simply Horns. The Waldrons, who immigrated from Haarlem in the Netherlands to Harlem in New Netherlands bear an old English name that intermarried with the Dutch. Or maybe not! This is now disputed. William Penn, whose genealogy should be straightforward and well known has the same problem. His mother was Dutch, or married to a Dutchman, or something. Is this a science or what!

Some final thoughts on surname research. Don't close your mind to the possibilities. Back up what you believe with actual names, dates, localities, and history and then make comparisons. Sometimes you have to research the alternative spelled name to eliminate them from the possibilities. Sometimes it is allied families who finally provide the answers. Don't trust someone else's information, even if it is written in a book. And my greatest and last nag! Don't use current genealogical software as a "database!" Use genealogical software to store information you need to find. Compile real databases out of DATA. Facts. Use Excel, Lotus, or these type of spreadsheet databases to record only the Facts, Ma'am!

My next article will be on how you can compile your own, accurate databases from records you find on the internet, and in archives and libraries.

It may be that the confusion over whether I'm a Pennington or a Pemberton will be finally determined as "Molecular Genealogy" comes increasingly into vogue. To read more about DNA studies that go beyond arguing whether Thomas Jefferson had Black children (Or Not,) take a look at Brigham Young University's Webpage on the subject of their project. You can even participate in their study, but individual information will not be provided to you as a result of your participation.

There is a very good, definitive page on Swedish naming practices by Barbara Price at Ancestry.com and Ancestry also has a good article about Scottish Names Go to Genuki for anything regarding British Isles Genealogy and research. Jan Oldevoll (of Bergen) takes a humorous look at Norweigan naming practices. For some ideas on Etymology of Names (focused on Wilhelm), and here is a great page of Dutch names, Patronymics, Brooklyn, etc.

Have fun searching and learning!

This Pathways article may not be reproduced in any manner without permission. Copies for personal use under fair use laws may be made as long as the whole article is copied, I am given acknowledgement as the author, and the copyright instruction is included.

cmacdee@centurytel.net OR cmacdee@excite.com