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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Cornwall Lookup Requests => Cornwall => England => Cornwall Completed Lookup Requests => Topic started by: dtcoulson on Saturday 03 March 18 11:41 GMT (UK)
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Hello people,
Having spent countless hours examining my ancestry in the north of England I have observed that about twenty first-names account for most of the people in the nineteenth century: Elizabeth, Isabella, James, Thomas, Joseph etc. You can probably guess the names I mean.
But now I am studying a line of ancestors in Cornwall and I am coming up against names that I have not seen before (in the early 1800s that is): Nicholas, Joanne, Susanna, Simon, Matilda....
Am I seeing evidence of some minor religion at play, or perhaps some migration from the Continent, or something else? Or are these names more widespread across England than I have observed?
Keen to hear you opinions.
-David C
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A survey of the Chin/Ching family of North Cornwall, from the Protestation Rolls (1641) shows:
Richard, Roger, Nicholas, Francis, Emanuell, William, Cheren, Theophilus, Phillip, Thomas, Samuel, Anthonie and Abraham.
Cornish forenames include: Demelza, Lamorna, Loveday, Lowella, Morwenna, Tamzin, Tegen, Kenwyn, Conan, Denzel, Jago, Jowan, Kevern, Kitto, Pesco, Perran, Tremayne, Trystan and Veryan.
Cornwall is very different to the rest of England! ;D
Indeed, I once overheard a conversation in a pub:
"Where you going Saturday?"
"Going to England, shopping." - He was going to Plymouth! ;D ;D
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But is there a faith-based explanation for these unusual names?
If these people have their own church community then they would be missing from Parish BMD data.
Can we recognise a faith by the names of its members?
-DC
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Cornwall was always it's own community, and consider themselves separate to England.
There is a history of Methodism - in particular Bible Christians (of which some of my family were members).
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Simon and Matilda were names in England almost 1000 years ago. Matilda was sometimes Maud. Most famous was Empress Matilda/Maud, daughter of King Henry 1st who fought a civil war against King Stephen for the throne of England. Simon de Montfort was one of the most important figures in English history. Both of them were Anglo-Norman.
If it was a religious connection such as Methodism wouldn't the names be more likely to be Biblical or virtues?
There were a lot of women called Agnes among the community of one of my Catholic lines in the Fylde region of Lancashire, among them my 4xGGM b.1765. Isabella appears several times in another of my Catholic lines from that region and in neighbouring families. A son of my Agnes married a woman from a Catholic family from County Durham. She had a brother Ferdinando which was a name passed down through her mother's family. So far I've identified 5 Ferdinandos/ Ferdinands in the family, 1st born 1705. Rest of men in family have common names.
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Thanks all
-DC
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I don't think of the names you mention as particularly unusual. From my own research I note a different group of commonly used names in different counties and even different families. One family line in Sussex uses Susanna frequently for over four centuries. Some of them were also fond of Philadelphia.
I've also seen plenty of men named Nicholas in both Sussex and in Lancashire.
Nell
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I have just been looking at another branch of my history, in Wiltshire and I notice those same first names popping up on-screen as I noticed in Cornwall: Susan, Rebecca, Joanna, etc. Therefore these names are not special to Cornwall, as you all have pointed out. I had not noticed this previously.
My Coulson ancestors up in Durham seemed to recycle the same twenty names over and over, giving me the impression that this was standard practice nationwide.
Anyway, thanks for the discussion, everybody. I am ready to close this topic.
-DC
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I think it's just a family thing?
My Vanstone family, in 1881, have few forenames:
Ann, Elizabeth, Ellen, James, John, Mary, Richard, Samuel, William being the most common.
My Garrad line used Abraham for many years - usually the eldest son - although staunchly CofE.
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My husband’s grandmother was Catherine George, her mother was Salome and her brother was Samson.
Barb
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A religious aspect not mentioned is naming children after saints with local connections. Cuthbert belongs to Durham of course but there was a fondness for the name in other parts of Northern England. His monks transported his body around until it finally came to rest at Durham. A small cell of monks from Durham existed at Lytham on the Lancashire coast, opposite side of England to Durham. Parish church of Lytham is still St. Cuthbert. Many families in that region of Lancashire named a son Cuthbert, sometimes shortened to "Cuddy".
Sir Cuthbert Clifton became Lord of the Manor of Lytham at beginning of 17thC. Some of his tenants and staff may have named a son in his honour. He may have been godfather to some. Members of later generations of his family were godparents to babies in my family and some were named for the godparent or other members of the Clifton family (one example being a baby christened Frederick).
The family from Co. Durham which I mentioned in post #4 also had children called after aristocratic godparents. If some namesakes had several surviving children and grandchildren then those names might appear frequently in later generations.
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Then, of course, there are names peculiar to locality?
In the Isle of Man these would include Cesar, Juan (pronounced joo-an), Christory, Colby, Faragher, Finbar, Orry, Fenella, Greeba, Joney, Voirrey, Mona, .
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My great-great-great grandfather in Cornwall, Ambrose Bowden, and his father and grandfather were all called Ambrose. His wife and grandmother were both called Elizabeth. His mother was Beatrice. Elizabeth seems very common in Devon and Cornwall, Ambrose and Beatrice less so.
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Here is a calculated list of the most common forenames in Cornwall compiled from baptism records:
http://www.cornwalleng.com/cornish_names.html
There is nothing particularly unusual about the most common forenames.
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Here is a calculated list of the most common forenames in Cornwall compiled from baptism records:
http://www.cornwalleng.com/cornish_names.html
There is nothing particularly unusual about the most common forenames.
Fixed link: http://www.cornwalleng.com/cornish-names.html
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I have a Joanna in my tree born 1843 in Dudley now West Midlands. I have an Ambrose - a saint's name. On my paternal line a common name was Simeon - a biblical name from the new testament but one family had Noah, Delilah, Moses and Reuben. Maternal line two names from the old testament are repeated for several generations Phineas and Hezekiah.
Found this to show where Joanna came from
Joanna is shown as the wife of Chuza, steward to Herod Antipas while being listed as one of the women who "had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities" who accompanied Jesus and the Apostles, and "provided for Him from their substance" in Luke 8:2–3.