Cornish surnames

Cornish surnames are surnames used by Cornish people and often derived from the Cornish language. Such surnames for the common people emerged in the Middle Ages, although the nobility probably had surnames much earlier on. Not until the later Middle Ages did it become necessary for a common man to have a surname. Most surnames were fully established throughout Cornwall by the end of the 15th century.^[1] Today Cornish surnames can be found throughout the world as part of the Cornish diaspora.

Due to the linguistic similarity of Cornish, Welsh and Breton, some surnames can derive from any of the three regions.

Patronymics

The most common surnames in Cornwall are patronymics. The father’s first name being taken without alteration and a genitive ‘s’ added. e.g. John (of) Typically Cornish was the addition of an "o" for example in the surname Bennetto or a "y" as in the surname "Pawley".[1]

Cornish surnames deriving from the Cornish language

Placenames

The phrase Tre, Pol and Pen is used to describe people from, or places in, Cornwall, UK. Carew has By Tre, Pol and Pen You shall know the Cornishmen, however, Camden records the rhyme as By Tre, Ros, Pol, Lan, Caer and Pen You may know the most Cornishmen.^[2][3][4]

• Tre- in the Cornish language means a settlement or homestead
• Ros(e)- heathland
• Pol- a pond, lake or well
• Lan- a religious enclosure
• Car- either from carn, i.e. ancient tomb or rock pile, or from ker, a fortification
• Pen- a hill or headland

Many Cornish surnames and place names still retain these words as prefixes, such as the names Trelawny or Trevithick and the towns of Polperro, Polkerris and of course Penzance. "Carbines" from "carn" "byghan" meaning "little rock pile". Caution should be exercised with the derivation of "Car-" surnames as there seems also to be fusion with names containing the prefix "ker", a fortification as in "Carvosso" "(ker)car" "fosow" meaning "fort with walls or ditches" a placename found in Ludgvan. There is also "carrek" meaning a "rocky mass". "Rosdew" from Cornish "ros" "du" meaning "black heath" or "dark heath" and "Ros(e)warne" from Cornish "ros" "(g)wern" "heath with alders" or perhaps "heath by a marsh". "Landry" from "lan" "dre" meaning "enclosure of farmhouse or church-house". . Other examples of Cornish language placenames used as surnames:

• Gwavas- from Cornish "gwaf" meaning "winter abode or pasture"- an area near Penzance and also the surname of a well-known Cornish family (William Gwavas)
• Hammett- from Old Cornish [2] "havot" [Welsh "hafod"], a compound of "haf" (summer) and "bod" (dwelling). In East Cornwall, -m- was the Anglo-Saxon representation of the Cornish nasal -v-. [See Padel, Cornish Place-Name Elements (1985)]. Place-names: Hammett, Hammett Down in the parish of Quethiock; Great Hammett, Little Hammett in the parish of St Neot, Cornwall.
• Tremethyk- tre-methag, doctor's farm
• Trenowden- tre-Renowden, Renowden's farm, Renowden is the Cornish form of Renaud or Reginald
• Penprase- from Cornish "pen", "head" and "pras", "meadow"- meaning the "head of the meadow" or perhaps "chief/head meadow"
• Nan(s)- surnames- there are many Nan(s)- surnames in Cornwall, "nan(s)" meaning valley- for example Nankervis from "nans" and "kervys", meaning "valley of the deer/stag" and Nankivell/Nancekivell "nans" "Cyfel", "the valley of Cyfel" (Cyfel being a personal name) or perhaps from the Old Welsh/Cornish word "ceffyl" a "horse" .^[5] Nanskeval is located on the parish boundaries of St Mawgan in Pydar and St Columb Major.

Nanskeval house at St Mawgan in Pydar, Cornwall. A possible location whence the surname originated

Trades

As in many other parts of Europe, names were used to describe the occupation of the head of the family. "Angove", for example, being the equivalent to English "Smith", German "Schmidt" and Italian "Ferrero"- (Cor. gof=smith). Other examples of names derived from trades include "Dyer" (Cpr. tyor=thatcher) and "Helyer" (Cor. helghyer=hunter), both of which can be found in English too, i.e. "Thatcher" and "Hunter" respectively [3].

Other examples:

• Marrak from Cornish "marghak" meaning "knight" or "rider"
• Gloyn(e) from Cornish "glow" "(pr)en" meaning "charcoal", perhaps from the ancient profession of a charcoal burner

Animals

Some surnames were derived from animals which may indicate that the bearer of some of these surnames may have made a living from hunting, examples include "Bligh" (Cor.blyth= wolf) or "Coon" (Cor.cun=hunting dog).

• Gwinnel- possibly from Cornish "gwennol" meaning "swallow"

Festivals

At least one known Cornish surname derives from the name of a festival, namely "Pascoe" from "Easter".

Personal characteristics or nicknames

Another category of surnames is derived from personal characteristics or nicknames/hypocoristics . e.g. "Coad" (Cor.coth=old), "Couch" (Cor.cough=red) and "Tallack" (Cor.talek=wide-browed).[4]

Other examples:

• Teague te(k)g- from Cornish "fair" or "beautiful"
• Gwyn(n)- from Cornish "gwy(d)n" "white"

The surname Cornish

The surname "Cornish" with variants "Cornysshe", "Cornyshe", "Cornysh", "Cornishe", "Cornisshe" and "Cornis"- standardised as "Cornish"- is to be found throughout Great Britain and Ireland. The name seems to originate from a time when ordinary people were still not using surnames in the modern way. A native Cornishman who had left Cornwall for another part of Britain or Ireland was given the name "Cornish", i.e. the Cornishman. In "A Dictionary of British Surnames", P.H. Reaney (1976), the following entries and dates are to be found^[6]:

• Cornish, Cornes, Badekoc Korneys (1296)
• John Corneys (1327)
• Henry Cornysh (1375)

The first recorded instance is in the National Dictionary in 1547. It is likely that the Adam Corneys recorded in 1300 is identical to Adam Le Cornwalais recorded in 1275. Other related names to Cornish that designate a Cornish origin include "Cornwall", "Cornwell", "Curnow", "Cornu", "Kernew", "Kernow" etc. In previous centuries these names may have alternated along with "Cornwallis" and "Le Cornwalais".

"Welsh" names

Especially in West Cornwall, many names typically associated with Welsh are also found. In the Cornish language, ultimately a language linked to Welsh and Breton, the prefix ‘map’ may have been used, as in Welsh, to indicate the relationship of father to son, this later becoming "ap" (as in NW Breton area, Leon dialect, Breton WP) and then finally the "p" alone being prefixed to the name, e.g. (m)ap Richard becoming "Pri(t)chard". Another feature of these patronymics was the diminutive suffix "-kin" being added the father’s first name e.g. "Tonkin", which may derive from either Anthony or Thomas. It is a common misconception that a Welsh sounding name in Conrwall is less "Cornish" than a more stereotypical name beginning with tre-, pol- or pen.

• Prowse/Prouse from "ma(b)p" "ros" meaning "son of the heath"
• Prynne "ma(b)p" "Ryn", "son of Rynne"

Surnames found at high frequencies in both Wales and Cornwall include:

• Davies
• Williams
• Evans
• Jones
• Morgan

Anglicised names and folk etymology

Owing to the gradual language shift in Cornwall from the native Cornish language to English, approximately until the mid-18th century, some Cornish language surnames underwent change through folk etymology. The Cornish meaning of the name was no longer understood and so it was changed into a similar sounding English word, not necessarily anything to do with the original meaning in Cornish. The same process has been noted in Cornish placenames too. One example of this process regarding surnames is the surname "Kneebone" which actually derives from the Cornish "Carn Ebwen" or the "tomb", "carn" of "Ebwen". The change must have occurred at a point when the original "k" at the beginning of the English word was still pronounced and thus suggests an early period in which it was anglicised.

Non-Cornish language surnames typically associated with Cornwall

There are also many names typically found in Conrwall that may have a completely non-Cornish language origin, excluding those names taken from English, yet a strong association with the area. These names reflect the historical connections between Cornwall and Brittany and also the Norman occupation of Cornwall. The Normans themselves employed Bretons in the administration of Cornwall and thus "imported" Breton names in Cornwall are not unusual.

• Vingoe- possibly of Norman origin from French "vin-gout" "wine taster"
• Arundell- the name of an aristocratic family in Cornwall.
• Arscott possibly from Breton "harscoet" meaning "iron shield"
• Briton, Brittan etc. - from "Breton", a name given to a Breton resident in Cornwall
• Ferris - Of Scots origin, commonly found in the Restormel and Carrick areas.

Famous persons with Cornish surnames

Not all people who consider themselves Cornish have a necessarily Cornish surname nor do all Cornish surname bearers necessarily identify themselves as Cornish in nationality.

• Dashiell Hammett
• Cam Nancarrow
• Jack Nance
• Richard Nanckivell
• Beverly Penberthy
• Edward William Wynne Pendarves
• David Penhaligon
• Rick Rescorla
• Mike Teague
• Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet
• Marcus Trescothick
• Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet
• Richard Trevithick
• John Courtenay Trewin

See also

• Surname
• Patronymics
• Hypocoristic
• Nickname
• Welsh surnames
• English surnames
• Normans
• Nankivell (surname)

Specialist Bibliography

• Gover, J.E.B., The Place Names of Cornwall (1948)
• Jackson, Kenneth, Language and History In Early Britain, Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1953)
• Padel, O.J., Cornish Place-Name Elements, Nottingham: English Place-name Society (1985)
• Reaney, P.H., A Dictionary of British Surnames, (II Ed. 1976), Routledge.
• White, George Pawley, A Handbook of Cornish Surnames, Camborne: Chy'nelyn, Tregenna La. (1972)

References

1. ^ http://www.cornishsurnames.com/HowSurnamesEvolvedFS.htm
2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=aX_SAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA149&dq=by+tre+pol+and+pen+shall+ye+know+most+cornishmen&hl=en&ei=FDj_TaLQFtG58gOYhoX6DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
3. ^ Tre, Pol and Pen - The Cornish Family by Bernard Deacon
4. ^ Cornish surnames - By Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know all Cornishmen
5. ^ Ceffyl (Welsh)
6. ^ http://www.cornishsurname.matthewcornish.info/origins.htm

External links

• http://www.cornwallfhs.com/
• http://www.uk-genealogy.org.uk/england/Cornwall/visitations/index.html
• http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kernow/
• http://www.cornish-surnames.org.uk/
• http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kevrenor/csnames.htm
• http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kernow/
• The meaning behind Welsh names
• General History of surnames, including Welsh
• Collection of Welsh Surnames (along with Male and Female first names)
• Welsh patronymic naming system
• Late Sixteenth Century Welsh Names
• What's in a name?
• Article on the relevance of surnames in genealogy (PDF File)
• Welsh-Border Surnames from 'ab Edmond'