The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of Family Names In Britain
Edited by Harry Parkin Oxford University Press, 1,040 pages, £80
Although it’s labelled Concise, this hefty dictionary still contains more than 1,000 pages and over 43,000 names. Based on the considerable work that went into the four-volume Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016), this more manageable version is also more affordable, although far from inexpensive.
For this shorter volume some of the Irish names in the original have been excised (a separate dictionary for Ireland is forthcoming), as well as some of the rarest names that are now close to extinction.
What is left are names that had at least 30 bearers in the UK in 2011. This means that the dictionary accurately reflects Britain’s multicultural nature, with family names from China, India and across Europe, as well as more traditional British surnames.
An interesting introduction provides background to these immigrant surnames, as well as those closer to home, for example names from Wales,
Cornwall or the Channel Islands. It also includes a history of surnames, how they were formed and how some have changed.
Each entry includes the number of people who had that surname in 1881 and where they were located at that time (or the country of origin, for surnames that have arrived more recently). Unfortunately the number of bearers in 2011 is not provided.
There is also an imbalance of information regarding Chinese family names. The introduction argues that making these very
detailed entries shorter would “risk inaccuracy”, but I still feel that they would have benefited from tighter editing.
That said, this is an interesting book to dip in and out of. It has also given me some family history inspiration. Maybe my elusive Thomas Wortley who married in Norfolk in 1704 originally came from the West Riding of Yorkshire, where his name originates. Perhaps I’ve been searching those Methwold parish registers in vain, and need to redirect my efforts further north!
Sarah Williams is the editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine. Read more on surnames next month, on sale 24 August