Re: Need help with surname, Halewood----more info--Kay & all

From: Lepchen@xxxxxxxxx

It is fair to assume that some surnames were taken from the name of
towns, years ago? Or areas where people lived? I believe I heard
that somewhere but never verified it. My maiden name, Halewood, sure
has set a lot of thinking cells in motion. ;-). It's not a common
name here in the states. I believe there were only a handful and a
few in Canada.

SEARCHING: Halewood, 1850 to 1940's, UK
Peckham, 1800 to 1930's, Conn., US
Bishop, 1930 to 1960's, Conn. US>

What we surname experts call "locative" names - either topographic
(based on landscape features) or toponymic (based on actual place
names) are a major source of a great many surnames in England -
though perhaps less so in Scotland, Wales and Ireland where the
patronymic system (names from a father or, more rarely, a mother) is
more influential. Locative surnames and occupatioal names (based on
jobs) are the most common groups in England.

Halewood (a place in Cheshire) and Peckham (Surrey and Kent) appear
to be locative surnames. However, you should understand that surnames
were mostly formed many centuries ago in the Middle Ages and a name
sometimes didn't become a hereditary surname until a holder had left
that place and moved elsewhere.

Bishop comes from a different group of surnames based on nicknames.
It does NOT, BTW, mean you descend from a real bishop! It was a
nickname given either to someone who had played the role in a medieval
pageant or to a person who looked distinguished or who was thought to
go around preaching at folks like a bishop.

--
Roy Stockdill
Guild of One-Name Studies: www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:
www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."
OSCAR WILDE



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