THE HISTORY OF SURNAMES

The adoption of hereditary surnames was a long and drawn-out process

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, which outlines the origins of surnames found in Britain today and is based on The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016), has recently been published. I was a member of a team at the University of the West of England whose project ‘Family Names of the United Kingdom’ (2010–2017, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council) provided the research for both dictionaries. Having spent a number of years looking into the origins and development of surnames in Britain and Ireland, we were able to develop new methods and approaches for identifying and understanding changes in name forms and making conclusions on surname etymologies. In this article, I will outline some of the resources and methods used, and the findings that were generated. Before this, however, it is important to cover the basics of our surname history.