Family Names and Family History

(Paperback)

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Description

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, place 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 origin by using national and local records. Family Names and Family History tells anyone interested in tracing their own name how to set about doing so.

Reviews

Book mentioned in The Guardian (Saturday supplement), April 2007
"a scholarly and readable study of the growth of English surnames based on the valuble work of the Names Projects Group at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language. It will appeal to the general redaer and to the student coming to the topic for the first time." Contemporary Review, 01/07/07 -- Contemporary Review
Title mentioned in Who Do You Think You Are, 2008.
Hey's book provides a wealth of information on the evolution and development of the surname, its spread and mutation. * Publishing News *

Author Bio

David Hey was Emeritus Professor of Local and Family History at the University of Sheffield. His books include How Our Ancestors Lived, The Oxford Guide to Family History, The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History and Family Names and Family History. He was President of the British Agricultural History Society, Chairman of the Local Population Studies Society and consultant editor for The National Archives' family history magazine, Ancestors. David Hey was Emeritus Professor of Local History at Sheffield University and is the author of The Oxford Guide to Family History (1993).