Names of people in Medieval Europe.

*http://flemish.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/page/4/ Flemish. Scotland and the Flemish People.

(Jody Gray) this web site relates, in particular, to Scotland and the Flemish People that settled there; however, I’m going to use the information the applies, “generally speaking” to all the inhabitants of continental Europe and the British Isles before the use of surnames.

Before Hereditary Surnames.

  The most common way of naming in most of medieval Europe was by the use of a by-name, that is a surname that describes an individual in some way. The Scandinavians, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, had a habit of using the same personal name in different generations and branches of the same family. The result of this custom was that in time there were so many men bearing the same name that it was found necessary to distinguish them by a nickname or by-name descriptive of some physical charac­teristic, some habit or a reference to some particular incident.

  Another example was the to-names prevalent in the fishing towns and hamlets on the northeast coast of Scotland. All local people were descended from a few common ancestors, so to-names were used to distinguish them from each other. In Buckie, there were twenty-five George Cowies, including: George Cowie, doodle; George Cowie, carrot; and, George Cowie, neep.

  By-names – both English and Scandinavian – were found in England before the Conquest. Most medieval by-names were straightforward: a father’s name, a home village, an occupation, or perhaps some notable personal characteristic. Examples of Norman by-names were Roger de Montgomery and Roger de Toeni. In the case of by-names denoting nationality, such as le Fleming, the notable characteristic was that the people had a different nationality from those in the place where they had migrated to.

The Growth of Hereditary Surnames in Britain.

  The Norman Conquest (1066) had a significant effect on the development of the first hereditary surnames in Britain. In 877, Emperor Charles II had sanctioned the heredity of fiefs in the Capitulary of Quierzy-sur-Oise. This led gradually to the adoption of hereditary surnames in northern France, which some Normans brought with them to England in the years following the Conquest. Some who came with William the Conqueror had a name that referred to where they came from. William had enlisted 60 Flemish knights and some of these bore the name le Fleming and variations of the name. That name would have been given to them in Normandy. There would have been no need when they were living in Flanders as it would not have distinguished them from the rest of the native people.

   The development of hereditary surnames was a long and complex process. There were marked regional variations and differences between one social class and another. The change was propelled by a variety of forces, including the feudal system, literacy, fashion and convenience.

  All surnames fall into one or other of four classes (alternative terms in brackets):

1. Local Surnames (Locational, Locative, Toponymic, Territorial, Landed) e.g. Wood, Sutherland, Scott.

2. Surnames of Relationship (Patronymic, Fealtic) e.g. Wilson, Robertson, MacDonald.

3. Surnames of Occupation or Office (Occupational, Official, Trade) e.g. Smith, Taylor, Hunter.

4. Nicknames (Descriptive, To-Names) e.g. Noble, Brown, Campbell, Cruickshank.

  Fleming is a Local Surname, which is the largest class of surname. Local surnames include a wide range of types of place. Such surnames accounted for up to 50% of all surnames in many areas.

  The Table below shows an analysis of the distribution of classes of surnames in some English counties, cities and towns. This has been constructed from various sources between 1066 and the early 14th century. The main source is the Subsidy Rolls which were records of taxation in England made between the 12th and 17th centuries. By their nature, these were primarily confined to prosperous householders.

  This limits the analysis to an extent because many surnames, particularly of lower class people, were seldom recorded. However, the general findings are probably correct. These show that 40% of surnames in London, Sussex and Lancashire were local surnames. The average was around 1/3 across England. Clearly therefore there are many precedents for the formation of a surname like Fleming.

  (after the table) In the north of England, e.g. Yorkshire and Lancashire, a larger proportion of the men than elsewhere had no surname. Surnames began to come to Scotland in the mid 12th century but were not in general use until many years later.

Why did surnames become hereditary?

  The rise of surnames was heavily influenced by the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror was accompanied by knights and other volunteers from various parts of wes­tern Europe, including Flanders. Some of these had hereditary surnames but most did not. There were also archers and mercenaries who fought at Hastings, few of whom had such a surname. Some of the knights received their reward in land and their names are recorded in the Domesday Book. Ten Flemings are listed in the Domesday Book. Some landowners took names from the district from which they had come, while others adopted by-names from the names of places on their newly-acquired English estates. For example, Robert de Stafford adopted that name because of his large holdings in Staffordshire, although he was the son of Roger de Toeni (who came from Flanders). There were some new settlers who had probably had a hereditary surname for a generation or more – for instance William de Warrenne – named after a small settlement in Seine-Maritime.

  After the Conquest immigrants included a steadily increasing number of attendants in noble households, teachers, and skilled workmen, traders and merchants. Their names were seldom noted until records became more frequent in the 13th century.

  The development of the feudal system was a driver in the adoption of hereditary surnames. It became important that the king should know exactly what service each knight owed. Lawyers and officials made sure that the parties to payments both to and by the exchequer – e.g. for transfers of land or those con­cerned in criminal proceedings – could be clearly identified. Mon­asteries drew up surveys with details of tenants of all classes and their services. Later, many people were assessed in the Subsidy Rolls. The upper classes, which were mostly illiterate, were those with whom the officials were chiefly concerned. They were the first where sur­names became numerous and hereditary. Surnames were seldom allocated by officials but began as by-names.

  The move from an oral to a written culture in the medieval period was important in the adoption of hereditary surnames. For most people, a surname was not needed when the spoken word was the main form of communication. Fashion became a large factor in the spread and speed of adoption of surnames. When others had surnames, it became something that people felt they had to have.

When did surnames become hereditary?

  Surnames gradually became hereditary over the 300 years following the Norman Conquest. In England, family names were first intro­duced by the Norman barons, some taken from their French fiefs, but also from the name of an ancestor or from a nickname. The system was found useful by officials and lawyers who gradually extended it to men who held no land. But for the middle and lower classes, fashion and convenience were key influences. From the 12th century there was a steady increase in the growth of family names among land-holders. Peasants started to develop fixed surnames about 1225 and they were in fairly general use about 100 years later. The north of England was slower to follow this. In Scotland, it took even longer, particularly in the northern or Gaelic areas.

  The variety of names steadily increased as new immigrants came in from northern France, Flanders and other parts of Europe.

Nicknames:
‘the Red’ (Rufus) e.g. William Rufus, King of England
‘the Bald’ (Bold) e.g. Charles 'the Bald' King of West Francia

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