Surnames have long provided key links in historical research. This ground-breaking work shows that English christian names are also significant for those researching local communities and family history - and that they are a fascinating topic in their own right. Did you know, for instance, that the names Philip and Thomas were once used for girls? Or that there was a woman called Diot Coke in 1379? When George Redmonds became interested in christian names, he found that the information on his own name in dictionaries was contradicted by local records and that the standard works' emphasis on etymology only gave part of the story. Half a lifetime's research has convinced him that every christian name has a 'pedigree', which can be regional, local or even centered on one family. Here he explores the implications of this for both amateur and academic historians. Drawing on examples from Anne to Zaccheus, he covers a wealth of topics including the stabilisation of first names as surnames; the influence of individuals, parents, godparents and communities on naming; the popularity of names over the last 700 years; and more recent changes in naming practice. He challenges many published assumptions - and offers new insights into the customs and attitudes of our ancestors from the Middle Ages to the present day.

This book combines linguistic and historical approaches with the latest techniques of DNA analysis and show the insights these offer for every kind of genealogical research. The book will be welcomed by all those engaged in genealogical research, including everyone seeking to discover the histories of their names and families.

DNA testing is now being used by thousands of genealogists around the world. DNA and Family History is the first guide to this pioneering subject, designed for family historians and surname study organizers at any stage in their research. In simple language aimed at non-scientists, Chris Pomery examines the background and the issues.

Fascinating detective stories into the connections between names and related subjects.

Family names are an essential part of everyone's personal history. The story of their evolution is integral to family history and fascinating in its own right. Formed from first names, place names, nicknames and occupations, names allow us to trace the movements of our ancestors from the middle ages to the present day. David Hey shows how, when and where families first got their names, and proves that most families stayed close to their places of origin. Settlement patterns and family groupings can be traced back towards their origin by using national and local records. Family Names and Family History tells anyone interested in tracing their own name how to set about doing so.

In this handbook, scholars from around the world offer an up-to-date account of the state of the art in different areas of onomastics, in a format that is both useful to specialists in related fields and accessible to the general reader. Since Ancient Greece, names have been regarded as central to the study of language, and this has continued to be a major theme of both philosophical and linguistic enquiry throughout the history of Western thought. The investigation of name origins is more recent, as is the study of names in literature. Relatively new is the study of names in society, which draws on techniques from sociolinguistics and has gradually been gathering momentum over the last few decades. The structure of this volume reflects the emergence of the main branches of name studies, in roughly chronological order. The first Part focuses on name theory and outlines key issues about the role of names in language, focusing on grammar, meaning, and discourse. Parts II and III deal with the study of place-names and personal names respectively, while Part IV outlines contrasting approaches to the study of names in literature, with case studies from different languages and time periods. Part V explores the field of socio-onomastics, with chapters relating to the names of people, places, and commercial products. Part VI then examines the interdisciplinary nature of name studies, before the concluding Part presents a selection of animate and inanimate referents ranging from aircraft to animals, and explains the naming strategies adopted for them.

This is a book for those thousands of family historians who have already made some progress in tracing their family tree and have become interested in the places where their ancestors lived, worked and raised children. It emphasises the diversity and extraordinary complexity of the rural and urban communities in provincial England even before the great changes associated with the Industrial Revolution.