Family Names and Family History

David Hey
 

Family names are an essential part of everyone’s personal history. The story of their evolution is integral to family history and fascinating in its own right. Formed from first names, nicknames and occupations, names allow us to trace the movements of our ancestors from the middle ages to the present day. David Hey shows how, when and where families first got their names, and proves that most families stayed close to their places of origin. Settlement patterns and family groupings can be traced back towards their origins by using national and local records. Family Names and Family History tells everyone interested in tracing their own name how to set about doing so.

 ‘Talk to very large number of people about their surname and you will find that the family came in with the Conqueror ... William evidently had a very easy time of it. It is clear that he had only a handful of opponents to meet, and that the story of the Battle of Hastings, is a gross historical fraud.’ C. W. BARDSLEY

DAVID HEY was Professor of Local History at Sheffield University and is the author of The Oxford Guide to Family History.

£19.99: January 2001: 224 pages 22 illustrations: ISBN 1 85285 255 0