Fountaindale Public Library

Great British family names & their history, what's in a name?, John Moss

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 296-299) and index

maps

index present

non fiction

Great British family names & their history

bibliography

1041514482

John Moss

what's in a name?

For better or worse, what we are is often determined by our family; the events that occurred many years before we were born, and the choices that were made by our forebears are our inheritance - we are the inexorable product of family history. So it is with nations. The history of Great Britain has been largely defined by powerful and influential families, many of whose names have come down to us from Celtic, Danish, Saxon or Norman ancestors. Their family names fill the pages of our history books; they are indelibly written into the events which we learned about at school. Iconic family names like Wellington, Nelson, Shakespeare, Cromwell, Constable, De Montfort and Montgomery... there are innumerable others. They reflect the long chequered history of Britain, and demonstrate the assimilation of the many cultures and languages which have migrated to these islands over the centuries, and which have resulted in the emergence of our language. This book is a snapshot of several hundred such family names and delves into their beginnings and derivations, making extensive use of old sources, including translations of The Domesday Book and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, as well as tracing many through the centuries to the present day

Part one: North-east England -- Part two: North-west England -- Part three: the West Midlands -- Part Four: the East Midlands -- Part five: East Anglia -- Part six: the South East -- Part seven: the South West -- Part eight: Scotland -- Part nine: Wales -- Part ten: Ireland -- Bibliography -- Useful web sources -- Acknowledgements -- Index

adult

Great British family names and their history