{"id":406,"date":"2021-10-04T15:28:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:24:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:24:56","slug":"cumbrian-names-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/04\/cumbrian-names-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"Cumbrian names and their origins"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my previous post<\/a> on Cumbrian names, I looked briefly at at the riding names (the border reivers), and at the big landowners and politicians who dominated Cumberland and Westmorland for centuries.<\/p>\n

Part 2 looks at commonly found Cumbrian names, and at the origin of surnames.<\/p>\n

Types of surname<\/b><\/h2>\n

Surnames came into use in England from the 11th century, simply to distinguish individuals. As the population grew, it wasn\u2019t very useful to have, say, 14 Johns and 12 Thomases in one village without a way to distinguish which one you meant.<\/p>\n

Thus people became: John, Tom\u2019s son; John the butcher; black-haired John; John from the hill\u2026 etc. Over the years, these became standardised to families and generations. Although in Wales, the practice continued (for several centuries) of the name only applying to the individual. Thus Hywel ap Evan was Evan\u2019s son. But Hywel\u2019s son would be Rhys ap Hywel. (The \u2018ap\u2019 \u2013 son of \u2013 led to names like Powell, Price, Pritchard, ie ap Hywel, ap Rhys, ap Richard).<\/p>\n

The main types of surname are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n