Dear Listers,
Further to my previous comment on the demise of patronymics in Wales, I've
found a reasonably authoritative statement on the topic in the "The Welsh
Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales", edited by John Davies et al., University of
Wales Press, Cardiff, 2008.
On page 838, the entry for 'Surnames' includes the following:
"...from the 15th to the 17th century, the patronymic naming system was
replaced by fixed surnames."
the article continues:
"The commonest method was to take the father's baptismal name, and, having
Anglicized the spelling, to make it the fixed surname for the future."
The author of the entry on surnames is not identified, but I see that John
Rowlands is listed as one of the contributors to the encyclopaedia, so maybe
it was he.
The timespan of late 1400s to early 1700s during which patronymics were
phased out matches by own impression based on studying Welsh parish register
entries.
This does not mean, however, that ALL families in All areas of Wales were
using fixed surnames by the end of the period specified above. Exceptions
persisted well into the 19th century.
A thorough study of Vaynor parish register entries would be necessary to
provide a definitive answer to Venita's original question.
Kind regards,
John
--------------------
John Ball, Brecon, Mid-Wales, UK
E-mail: john(a)jlb2011.co.uk
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Administrator - Powys (& BRE/MGY/RAD) RootsWeb mailing lists
-----Original Message-----
From: John Ball
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 12:50 PM
To: powys(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [POWYS] Patronymics in Vaynor?
Lynne Ingalls wrote:
Venita - If you're talking about the LDS extractions on the IGI, then 1813
was about the year they stopped using patronymics.
==============
Dear Lynne, Venita,
Actually, 1813 was the year from which the LDS stopped assuming patronymics
were the norm. In 1813 parishes begun using a new entry form for registering
baptisms; the new form included a column for surnames.
Apart from a few notable exceptions (e.g. in parts of Caernarfonshire),
patronymics were already becoming uncommon well before 1813. Just look at
the entries in pre-1813 parish marriage registers. The brides and grooms
were generally using perfectly normal surnames such as Jones, Evans (rather
than Evan), Williams (rather than William), Hughes (rather than Hugh), and
so on. They were no longer using the father's given name as a surname.
The mid 19th century marks the point at which most of Wales had abandoned
patronymics, but the decline in use began early in the 17th century.
As regards Vaynor parish in Breconshire, I would expect that in the early
18th century patronymics would still be quite common, but by the end of that
century fixed surnames would have largely superseded patronymics.
The change in naming practices is discussed by Rowlands and Rowlands in all
three of their publications, but unfortunately they are not specific
regarding dates and places.
"Welsh Family History - A Guide to research" FFHS 1998 (2nd edition)
"Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry" FFHS 1999
"The Surnames of Wales" FFHS 1996
Kind regards,
John
--------------------
John Ball, Brecon, Mid-Wales, UK
E-mail: john(a)jlb2011.co.uk
Personal Homepage:
http://www.jlb2011.co.uk
Images of Wales:
http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/
Welsh Family History Archive:
http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/wales/
Joint Webmaster, Breconshire Local & Family History Society
http://www.blfhs.co.uk/
GENUKI Breconshire Maintainer:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/BRE/
Administrator - Powys (& BRE/MGY/RAD) RootsWeb mailing lists