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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,348 members
    • 2,199 studies
    • 7,846 surnames

Sector

By economic sector

Agricultural

“Agricultural activity has generated far fewer occupational surnames than non-agricultural, despite having far more people engaged in it.”

(Rogers, 1995, TSD, p190)

Pastoral/Livestock

“In rural areas the large numbers of names which are derived from the specialist tasks of herding the different species of domestic animals provide some evidence about local agriculture.”

(HoBS p204)

Sheep/wool: Shepherd, Shepman, Shearman, Teasler
Cattle: Cowherd, Bove, Bover, Bullman, Bull, Bullock, Calf
Swine: Hogg, Bacon
Goats: Goatherd, Goat
Dairying: Cheese, Wick
Enclosures: Pound, Penfold, Pitfold
Butchery: Butcher, Flesher, Shayle, Bolas, Slayer
Hides: Tanner, Barker
Meadows: Mead, Wish, Mather, Mowe(r)
Italics= pastoral origin uncertain

Arable

“Very few surnames are from any of the operations of arable farming, despite the importance of that activity during the Middle Ages and later, and despite the large numbers of people engaged in it.”

(HoBS p204)

Tilling: Ploughman, Tiller, Thresher
Harvesting: Mower, Stacker

Manufacturing

Textiles

Walker, Fuller, Tucker

“Of all the industries extant during the centuries when surnames were being developed, none generated more than the later stages of textiles when, as Fransson observed, specialisation or the division of labour was at its greatest.”

(Rogers, 1995, TSD, p192)

Retail

–

Servants

e.g. Vickers

Craft/Profession

Taylor, Baxter, Brewster (disputed)

Office – Lay


Court Officials: Reeve, Franklin

Manor Officials: Judge, Gabler

Town Officials:

County Officials: Sheriff

Office – Ecclesiastical

Status

Free: “The name King existed in most English villages in the 14th century subsidy rolls and earlier sources – together often with Abbot and Lord.”

(Wilson p121)

Unfree:

By object (tool)

Axe, Pick, Swingle

By Product

Maslow

By Nickname

Herring, Catchpole

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Modern British Surnames

ww1

  • Modern British Surnames
    • About the research
    • Distribution
    • Variance
    • Statistics
    • Bibliography
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    • Taxonomy
      • Personal names
      • Relationship names
      • Occupation names
        • Form
        • Language
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        • Sector
        • Gender
      • Topographic names
      • Toponyms
      • Nicknames
      • Cross-facets
      • Naming systems

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Program
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

Contact Us

Email: Guild General Contact
Postal address:
c/o Treasurer,
3 Windsor Gardens,
Herne Bay,
Kent, CT6 8FE. UK.
Call us free on:
UK: 0800 011 2182
US & Canada: 1-800-647-4100
Australia: 1800 305 184

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