Exploring Oxfordshire Surnames

People, Places And Lives Sue Honoré, Richard Merry and Jessica Feinstein Matador, 328 pages, £24.99

I recently discovered that my Wiggins ancestors were from Witney, and that early generations were involved in the blanket-weaving industry. DNA testing has also led me on a surprise trail from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and links with the surnames Harris and Bunting from Banbury. I therefore welcomed the opportunity to learn more about Oxfordshire and its surnames in this new publication.

The book was inspired by two projects led by the Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS): the Oxfordshire Surnames Project and the Oxfordshire DNA Project. Both have been helped by the sterling work of the OFHS which has transcribed and indexed the parish registers, allowing for a detailed analysis of records for 408 Oxfordshire surnames from baptisms, burials and other records from 1538–1899. The book includes case studies exploring family migration patterns and the frequencies of core surnames in selected parishes over time.

This not a book to find out more about a particular surname or specific ancestors. Instead its thematic chapters cover aspects of surname research and social history such as variant spellings, medieval bynames and surnames, plus 19th-century village life. There are also chapters on Roman Catholics, Quakers and Methodists.

This is a valuable book for anyone who wants to place the lives of their Oxfordshire ancestors in context – and if you buy it from the OFHS bookshop ( tinyurl.com/ofhs-exp), all of the proceeds will be reinvested to fund Oxfordshire projects.

Debbie Kennett is the author of DNA and Social Networking (The History Press)

OXFORDSHIRE The book includes this photograph of Frederick White (right), a carpenter who was born in 1849 in Great Tew. He worked at Heythrop House, then became an innkeeper in Chadlington. His son, also a carpenter, is next to him holding the horse