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Habitation
or Locality Surnames
Surnames
deriving from and originally designating the place of residence
of the progenitor are the largest group of surname type. Habitation
or locality surnames denotes names whose origin lies in the place
of residence of the initial bearer of the name. The can tell us
where the progenitor of the family came from (sometimes down to
the exact location of the residence of the initial bearer) and some
will even indicate a distinguishing sign which was associated with
that residence, sometimes this can be the town that they came from
or a prominent geographical feature near where they lived such as
rivers, and man made features such as buildings, crossroads and
many other objects.
Such names were
employed in France at an early date (such as La Porte "at the entrance
to") and were introduced into England by the Normans, many of whom
were known by the titles of their estates. The surnames adopted
by the nobility were chiefly of this type, being used with the particles
"de", "de la" or "del" (meaning "of" or "of the"), which were often
dropped later. The Saxon equivalent was the word "atte" ("at the"),
found in such names as John atte Brook, Edmund atte Lane, Godwin
atte Brigg, and William Atwood, John Atwell and Atwater;
Other common
names of this type include Marsh, Middleton, Sidney, Wood, Briggs,
Lane or Ireland, for example. Others are linguistic interpretations
such Cullen ("back of the river"), Dunlop ("muddy hill"), Winthrop
("of the friendly village"), Endicott ("an end cottage") and Bradford
("a broad ford").
The suffixes
"ford", "ham", "ley", and "ton", denoting locality, are of frequent
occurrence in such English names as Ashford, Bingham, Burley, and
Norton.
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