England Patronymic Surnames - International Institute

Patronymics
The first type of surname, derived from the personal name (occasionally the occupation) of a person’s father, or sometimes mother or other relative. A typical English patronymic is Johnson (John’s son) which can be shortened with the genitive ‘s’ to Johns. The -son form was more common in northern England. The -s form was preferred in south and central England, hence the proximity of Wales to these areas influenced the type of many Welsh patronymics. Metronymics from a mother’s given name are rarer and include Annis (Agnes), Catling (Catherine), Cussons (Constance), Dyot (Dennis), Marriott (from Mariot, diminutive of Mary), Mollison (Molly) and Marjoryson (Marjory), Sibley (Sibilla), Tennyson (Dionise) and Tillotson (from Tillot diminutive of Till, nickname of Matilda). They seem to be derived mainly from the names of women who were heiresses in their own right, widows having a posthumous child, deserted wives or, rarely, for an illegitimate child.

English Patronymics
The prefix Fitz as in Fitzwalter (from French fils and Latin filius) is a patronymic meaning ‘son of.’ The connotation of illegitimacy was introduced by Charles II who named one of his bastards Fitzroy, (‘son of the king’), and Fitzclarence was an illegitimate son of the Duke of Clarence, later William IV. Contrary to popular legend, other Fitz names are purely patronymic and do not denote royal ancestry.

Patronymics from Pet Names and Diminutives
In the Middle Ages there was a profusion of pet forms of given names, as well as diminutive versions. Pet forms we still recognize today include Gibb for Gilbert and Hal for Henry, but there were many more which have contributed to surname formation. In North and central Europe Hans was a common pet form of Johannes, a cognate of John, and is the polygenetic source of the thousands of Hansons and Hansens.

Diminutives were also formed using various suffixes largely introduced by the Normans. They could be added to the original, or particularly to the pet form of a given name, to form a surname. Examples are shown below.

Chart: Diminutive Surnames Formed From Given Names

Diminutives can also be formed from other bases, such as nicknames like Russell from Rouse ‘red-head,’ and not all words with the above endings are diminutives, thus Brickett is from Birkett ‘dweller by birch trees.’ Why were they used? One reason was to differentiate between two children of the same name in the same family, a not uncommon practice, particularly in Scotland. In Italy there are huge numbers of surnames derived from diminutives of given names. A common group a late mediaeval English patronymics based on the standard form, pet forms and diminutives are listed below. Here it is seen that:


 * An initial letter R was converted into D, H or occasionally N, in the diminutive or pet form.


 * Suffix –kin added as diminutive, with -k sometimes dropped for euphony.


 * Patronymic formed by adding -son or -s to either the pet form or the diminutive.

The names can also form the regular patronymics starting with R.

Chart: Patronymics of Robert, Roger and Richard

Additional Information
See England Names, Personal

See Guessing a Name Variation for more information. ___________________________________________________________________

Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English - Understanding Names in Genealogy offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.