England has so many surnames that it's difficult to pinpoint where they actually originated. The most common English surnames are usually Smith, Jones, Williams and Taylor. It's unsurprising that many people think it’s hopeless they’ll ever be able to discover where exactly their surname originated in England.
Surnames didn’t even exist in England until 1066 when, for the first time, people actually had to be recorded. Before this time, individuals were just known by the people in their village by their first name or nickname - now they had to suddenly make up a surname that could be passed down to their children.
The first surnames in England were names that identified them. As time went on, these names became hereditary and were soon shortened until they were simply Thomas or Baker.
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Occupational surnames were the most popular, which is why Smith (meaning blacksmith) is so common in England. There must have been a lot of blacksmiths in England for it to be the most common surname.
Other forms of names in England were based on habitational location (such as Ely), characteristics (such as White) and even individual's favourite Saints. Historic Cambridgeshire surnames usually fall within one of these categories.
The oldest recorded English name
The oldest English surname on record was actually from East Anglia. Believe it or not, the oldest recorded English name is Hatt.
An Anglo-Saxon family with the surname Hatt are mentioned in a Norman transcript, and is identified as a pretty regular name in the county. It related simply to a hat maker and so was an occupational name.
Habitational
These surnames are ones that we can pinpoint directly in Cambridgeshire and nowhere else because of their obvious origins. So, if you have one of these surnames, you can quite confidently claim you have historic roots in our beautiful county.
Notable mentions are:
- Cambridge (but could also be from the village of Cambridge in Gloucestershire)
- Ely
- Linton (also habitational for Scotland and Northern Ireland - so be careful with this one!)
- Girton (also found in Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire)
- Boxworth
- Wisbech - surname first found in Cambridge where they held a family seat as lords of the manor. (also spelt Wisbach, Wishbedge and Wishbeck)
Occupation
The most common surnames in Cambridgeshire. Occupational surnames were an easy identifier that could be passed down from generation to generation, just as the occupation was. Apart from the obvious Smith and Hatt, others are definitely worth a mention:
- Taylor - meaning a tailor, or 'a cutter-out of cloth'
- Clarke - meaning 'clerk', normally referring to a clergyman or a priest.
- King - most commonly used as a nickname in medieval villages. A substantial 2.16% of all people in England with the surname King live in Cambridgeshire and it only ranks at 33 across the country.
- Hall - meaning someone who lived in, or near, a manor house, or who was a servant in a manor house.
- Chapman - meaning the profession of a chapman, which is an old term for a tradesman or merchant.
- Ward - meaning guard, watchman or keeper.
The Saints
Some of the more unique and oldest surnames that can be discovered with a Cambridgeshire origin are those that were named after Saints. The cult of Saints was very popular in Cambridgeshire throughout the Anglo-Saxon age and the Middle Ages so many families would name themselves after their Saint of choice.
Notable mentions of this are:
Benedict (Saint Benedict of Nursia)
Clement (Saint Pope Clement I)
George (Saint George)
Jude (Saint Jude the Apostle)
Martin (Saint Martin of Tours)
Miles (Saint Miles Bishop of Susa)
Nicholas (Saint Nicholas of Myra)
Stephen (Saint Stephen)
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Of course, a surname isn't enough to completely track your genealogy. If your name was on this list and you want to really discover your Cambridgeshire roots, you should undertake some more research into it rather than taking the surname at face value, and be careful with tracking your origins simply from a surname. There's always so much more to the story.
If your surname wasn't on this list, don't lose hope! There are so many more surnames with their origins from Cambridgeshire that we simply couldn't include each one. Try doing some research into your name and let us know what you discover!
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