James Surname

[seamusolong]

I am trying to find out if the Surname James is Welsh in origin , I have Ancestors named James Elizabeth James born 1665 to William James 1640 and Elizabeth according to the Clan James it is a Welsh Surname Would the Welsh have immigrated to England before say 1640 Anything that can be found on this topic will be greatly appreciated Again Thanks Seamus

[osprey]

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,540298.0.html

why the double post when you already have replies on the other one?

The surname is found in England as early as 1160 according to the dictionary of surnames I have. It's a Celtic surname according to this site. My James line is from Cornwall.

http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Surnames.aspx

Why do you think people born in Wales wouldn't move?

    

[halfasheep]

Hi there, I wouldn't rely on any of the websites that tell you that a surname originated in a certain location as being fact.

Do any of your James descendents originate in Wales? Where was James Elizabeth James born for example? One surname database (out of hundreds that come back on Google) suggests that it is in fact an English surname as England started using surnames first - Wales used the patrynomic system well up until recent times, whereas English surnames go back a few hundred years.

An example from early records include Christiana Jemes of Cambridge, in the Hundred Rolls of the year 1279

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/James#ixzz1QKO7vpnE

I can see ClanJames bases the Wales origin on the fact that the surname is popular in South Wales, although it equally appears to be very popular in a lot more English counties. It suggests that James' moved to England with work migration, but equally a lot of people migrated to Wales due to the coal and iron industries, especially from Devon and Cornawall (where the surname is also popular)

[seamusolong]

Dear Halfasheep , Thank you for your imput , it is Helpful as I am not at all familiar With this surname ,                                                                                                            To Osprey , thank you for your information I am sure this will be helpful in formulating an opinion on this Surname , and now to the heart of the matter , I did not realize I had been in violation of RC rules , The initial post  did not give me enough information on which  to base  an opinion backed up by documentation , It appeared to me to be what I thought was a predisposition to be Anglocentric in theory that being all names are English , As for the migration aspect , I did not attempt to state that People from Wales would not migrate to England , I am trying  to learn about the Origins of this Surname having never come across it before , I apologize for offending anyone sensibilities so you can retract the Talons  kind regards Seamus

[halfasheep]

It's not a problem. I was a little blinded by assuming that my Hughes line came from North Wales as it is a very popular name there, and concentrated my research there. As it is, my Hughes line actually came from Herefordshire.

I think it's fair to say that surname research is probably only useful in the case of unusual names (like One-name studies), or if the surname relates specifically to a town/area (like Roxburgh from Scotland)

The other thing is, people had a tendency to take on surnames of families or clans they were associated with in the good old days - hence you get people with the surname Bruce assuming they are descended from Robert The Bruce, whereas a distant relation could simply have been associated with the clan and adopted the surname as a means of identity (or status).

I'd take a lot of what you read with a pinch of salt - I had reams of paperwork on my various surnames, and not a single surname has been traced back to where the websites say they should be 

[Gwythyr]

I also facing the same problem. 5 generations ago, my family still used "James" as surname... but by being captured by French (1697), my first English-Canadian ancestor been forced to became catholic and his name and passed from "William James" to "Guillaume Gemme" (but some of his sons and great sons kept alternating James/Gemme). He was a fisherman born at Pamphill in the Dorset (near Poole, in 1683)... however, through out searches, i found almost no other traces of James in the area (before William's father, Nicholas born in 1657) instead of other James in the Welsh Valleys (~65 miles north).

Like others said, most welsh surnames came from people father's name (ex. Gwylym ap Gruffudd) and was used to change from generation to the other... meanwhile in England, surnames barely change. Therefore, English' "James" and Welsh' "James" are most certainly not related (strictly taking about very old families).

The origins of England's James dating back to the 11th century when a James came along William the conquerer in 1066. Lands been gave to them in the Surrey. So these James (previously Jacomus), originate from Normandy, France (nearly 1000 years ago)... and these are the ones that are mentioned in almost all genealogy charts. But like said upper Welsh James aren't sharing the same roots.

So to get a better idea about the origins of your own James family, you'll have to try to dig deeper and pin point the area where they was from... and then "deduce" their origins (while keeping in mind that people keep migrating).

[Horgan]

I have ancestry with the sire name James from risca and Llandaff Wales?