A Dictionary of English Surnames

A Dictionary of English Surnames
Name	A Dictionary of English Surnames
Author	P. H. Reaney; later revisions by R. M. Wilson and others
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	Surnames; Onomastics
Publisher	Routledge & Kegan Paul (original); various later publishers
Pub date	1958 (first edition)
Media type	Print
Pages	variable

A Dictionary of English Surnames is a standard reference work in English on the origins, forms, and distributions of family names used in England and the English-speaking world. First published in 1958, it has been revised and expanded through subsequent editions and supplements, and has informed scholarship and practice in history, genealogy, and linguistics. The work is notable for its systematic use of historical records and comparative philology to trace surname etymologies and variant spellings.

Background and Publication History

Conceived during a period of renewed interest in social history and historical linguistics, the dictionary emerged amid projects like the Victoria County History, the Domesday Book studies, and the growth of county record offices such as those in London, York, and Exeter. Its preparation involved consultation with archival institutions including the Public Record Office and university centres at Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the University of Manchester. The original author drew on the scholarship of figures such as Eilert Ekwall, Elizabeth Gelling, and Frank Stenton, and was shaped by contemporary debates exemplified in work by J. R. Green and G. M. Trevelyan.

Editions and Editorial Methodology

The first edition appeared in 1958, followed by revised editions and supplements reflecting new data from projects like the Poll Tax studies, the Hundred Rolls, and parish registers collected by county antiquarians in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cornwall. Later editorial teams included scholars associated with institutions such as the British Academy, the Royal Historical Society, and university presses at Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Editors adopted paleographic methods used in editions of the Close Rolls, Patent Rolls, and transcriptions from the Bodleian Library, standardizing orthography while recording variant forms from sources like the Calendar of State Papers.

Scope and Content Overview

Entries range from common surnames such as Smith, Taylor, Brown, and Wilson to rarer names attested in manorial records for places like Brampton, Sherborne, and Tynemouth. The dictionary treats locative names linked to places including York, Lincoln, Devon, Cornwall, and Norfolk, and occupational names tied to trades recorded in guild rolls for London livery companies as well as names with Norse influence from regions such as Cumbria and Northumbria. It also addresses surnames of Anglo-Norman origin connected to families recorded in the Inquieres Post Mortem and the Pipe Rolls.

Sources and Etymological Principles

The work relies on primary sources including Domesday Book, medieval tax lists like the Subsidy Rolls, ecclesiastical registers preserved by diocesan archives such as Canterbury Cathedral and Durham Cathedral, and wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. It applies comparative methods drawn from the traditions of Old English and Old Norse philology, referencing lexical work by scholars tied to the Philological Society and comparative grammars used at University College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Principles include chronology of attestation, analysis of phonological change evident in sources like the Hundred Rolls, and attention to onomastic phenomena documented in studies associated with the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland.

Reception and Scholarly Impact

Scholars in history and philology from institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Leiden University, and the Sorbonne have cited the dictionary in work on migration, settlement, and social structure, alongside complementary studies by Patrick Wormald and Sir Lewis Namier. Reviews in journals like the English Historical Review and Nomina highlighted its utility while urging caution on contested derivations mirroring debates found in publications from the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and the Scottish Record Society. The dictionary has informed corpus projects at the Bodleian Libraries and digital initiatives at the British Library and continues to be referenced in comparative surname studies across Europe and North America.

Usage and Influence in Genealogy and Onomastics

Genealogists using resources from the Society of Genealogists and family history centers affiliated with Ancestry.com and the National Archives (UK) employ the dictionary to interpret variant spellings in parish registers, probates, and emigration records held at ports like Liverpool and Southampton. Onomastic researchers publishing in venues such as the Journal of Historical Linguistics and presenting at conferences of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences draw on its methodology when linking surname distributions to settlement patterns identified in archaeological reports for sites like Hadrian's Wall and excavations in Canterbury. The book's approach to etymology has influenced teaching at departments of history and linguistics at King's College London and the University of Edinburgh.

Category:Onomastics Category:English-language books