English Place-Name Surnames Tend to Cluster Near the Place Named
Year: 1983
Type: article
Abstract: Some English surnames that are identical with place names arose at or near the place named and gradually spread from there. For instance, McKinley has carefully plotted the Medieval history and subsequent spread of several names that derived from towns in Yorkshire; however, only about 40% of places were uniquely named at that time, and names were often changed before regular inheritance become usual. 1 These difficulties are especially severe in attempts to trace indivjdual migration away from the place giving the name. Such migration was~in the majority of cases, within 14 or 20 miles. 2 The problem is less severe when one considers the spread of surnames throughout all England and Wales in the whole period up to the late 20th Century. Even names of ambiguous multiple or unknown origins are likely in some cases to be from the modem places of the name. Furthermore, when names arose elsewhere than the named places they often arose nearby. If the spread of surnames is expressed quantitatively and attention paid to the general pattern rather than individual cases, surnames can provide an indirect measure of past gene flow. Previous studies have developed quantitative methods using the commonality of surnames (isonymy) to estimate the degree of relationship between populations. 3 The present analysis shows from the present distribution of certain surnames from place names that, despite the internal migration that has occurred in England and Wales since surnames were established, and despite ambiguities concerning origins, surnames are still more common near places of the same name than would be expected at random.
Source: Names
Authors: Gabriel W. Lasker, Bernice A. Kaplan
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2007910204