« on: Friday 30 June 17 12:51 BST (UK) »
If we did not all have first and surnames, genealogy would be impossible past living memory. Usually people tended to stick to their first name they were given as a baby and the surname they inherited from their father. OK people could have an alias, were known by pet names or used their middle name as a common name, or even a different forename altogether but it goes to show how first and surnames were invented many centuries ago so everyone could know who was who. Such as the surname Newman in England I read once mean a New Man, an immigrant, or Walsh which is an Irish surname for a Briton or Welshman as apparently many British and Welsh soldiers were sent to Ireland during the Norman conquest. Or John the Butcher to John Butcher.
That is the biggest key to tracing ancestors, the names. We may come across many brickwalls but at least even if a John Smith, it is a start.
Researching:
LONDON, Coombs, Roberts, Auber, Helsdon, Fradine, Morin, Goodacre
DORSET Coombs, Munday
NORFOLK Helsdon, Riches, Harbord, Budery
KENT Roberts, Goodacre
SUSSEX Walder, Boniface, Dinnage, Standen, Lee, Botten, Wickham, Jupp
SUFFOLK Titshall, Frost, Fairweather, Mayhew, Archer, Eade, Scarfe
DURHAM Stewart, Musgrave, Wilson, Forster
SCOTLAND Stewart in Selkirk
USA Musgrave, Saix
ESSEX Cornwell, Stock, Quilter, Lawrence, Whale, Clift
OXON Edgington, Smith, Inkpen, Snell, Batten, Brain