Genealogy Chat

Yes I am dim. Can someone please explain to me where they originate from please. I asked a question to a surname researcher on local radio by email about a family surname I always thought was a viking name Rainford. She said no it originated from St. Helen's Merseyside, a place called Rainford which was founded by the Anglo Saxon's

Anglo Saxons were Germanic people who dominated England before 1066

The Anglo-Saxons came from various areas of modern Germany. This is actually the same area that the ancestors of the Danish Vikings and the Normans were from originally. A recent TV programme called Face of Britain showed there was no genetic difference from these groups. The Anglo-Saxons were responsible for a lot of place names in England.......mainly the south and south east. The Vikings gave us placename endings which are more common in more northern counties like Yorkshire. Sue

Rainford is not mentioned in any documents before 1189, and therefore does not appear in the Domesday book. The place name Rainford probably originates from a Personal Name, Regna, which is Old English. (thus, Regna's Ford). So, the place name gave rise to the surname, and your ancestors may, or may not have been, Anglo Saxons, but almost certainly originated in this village. OC

You might find this interesting. Remove brackets. http://www.channel4(.)com/history/microsites/H/history/e-h/face.html Sue

Thanks OLDE CRONE, interesting

Thank you SUSAN, I have had a quick look at the site it looks very interesting, I will have a good look over the weekend. Thanks to you all.

Remember that place names almost always came before surnames were in use, and many people took their surname from the place they lived, for want of anything else to use as a surname. Surnames were not in common use before 1500 or so. English Surnames fall into four main groups: Place names, such as Rainford! Patronymics - such as son of John = Johnson Occupational names - Smith, Shepherd, Butcher etc. Descriptive names - Redhead, Littlejohn, Whistler, Armstrong. And there are many names which do not fall into any of these categories! OC

O.C. I sometimes wonder if my Horsteads originated in Horstead, Norfolk or whether they had a similar name and it changed to Horstead because of the proximity of the village. Tough one. As they seem to appear in the 17th century - before that the closest I can find to the name is the Hosted tribe which dominated a similar area.

O C what would the surname Long be from?

Long is from category five...doesnt fit any of the first four, sorry! But it could be a descriptive name of course...John Long, meaning a tall man. Equally, it could be a corruption of LANG, or the anglicised version of a foreign name (Longue) You really have to track the family back sometimes, before you get a clue as to why they have their particular surname. Heather And is it possible that the Hosted lot were actually a previous corruption of Horstead? OC

Heather I know that my Long name in my tree came from Tipperary and Killkenny but I don't think it is a typical Irish name? You wrote Long man, just brought back a memory of primary school I had forgotten. We had to do plaques and draw a picture of what your name meant and my teacher said Long man is what our surname means. I was a bit unhappy to say the least and as I was the tallest girl in the class!

Amanda I certainly wouldnt worry about offending the person who sent the cert! You are right, it is an unusual name and I bet it is something like McHuish really. OC

Well, me being me, I would phone first, in my oily, wheedling voice. If that failed, then I would send a photocopy of the cert they sent you - shows you are in possession of the cert and not trying to pull a fast one, and will show the date THEY issued it. Sorry you got an unhelpful one. I have almost always been very lucky, and they go to the ends of the earth for me. Trick is to get them interested in a mystery, I find - I think they get bored and welcome something to get their teeth into! Good luck, let us know how you get on. OC