8 - Surnames in the surveys

Summary

Space does not allow a full examination of the personal names found in the surveys; but a few salient points should be mentioned here, particularly for those perhaps unfamiliar with Cornish nomenclature at this period. The surnames demonstrate characteristics which have already been noted as typical of late-medieval Cornish naming, and also two features which have not been remarked upon before. The features which have been observed elsewhere are two forms of fluidity in surnames, first the use of the father's christian name as a surname (e.g. Ralph John, son of John Thomas, in c. 1510-20, p. 148n.), and second the fresh adoption of place-names as surnames (e.g. Pascoe Kerne, p. 199, also called Pascoe Kerne of Tresylian, p. 229, and Pascoe Tresylyan, p. 209, all in 1571-75). Further instances of both of these characteristics will be examined below. Of the two further distinctive features which have not been noticed before, the first is the lack of descriptive (‘nickname’) surnames, and the comparative lack of occupational ones. The vast majority of surnames in this volume, probably well over 90 per cent, are either local ones (derived either from a place-name, or from a description of a person's residence) or familial (derived from a father's or ancestor's christian name). The second feature is the frequency of three-part names, of various kinds: names such as John Tomme Harry and John Petit Predannek abound, causing obvious problems of indexing.

All of these four aspects deserve examination. One or two questions of definition must first be dealt with. ‘Surname’ is used here in the sense of ‘the distinguishing name (or names) following the christian name’ (some scholars prefer the term ‘byname’); when such a surname persists over three or more generations in one family it becomes an ‘inherited surname’. Much effort has been expended on the question, When did surnames become hereditary?’ Postles and McKinley have provided a welcome recent discussion for the adjacent county of Devon. Basically the answer is that it depends partly upon the social level: many Norman lords already brought inherited surnames with them when they arrived in 1066, but at the lower levels of society it was not until the fourteenth century that hereditary surnames became widespread in much of England.