Often a family surname is taken as a first name. This is usually from the maternal side of the family tree. In this case, most likely, the name comes from the geographic location from which this family originated. The name "Abington Jones" appears in the Southampton County, Virginia marriages. On the 19th of February 1770, Abington was married to Mary Simmon "widow".
The parish Abington is given in "A Topographical Dictionary of England" by Samuel Lewis, p. 5. It was located in the county of Northampton. There was also a "Abington in the Clay", "Abington (GREAT)", and "Abington (LITTLE). These were all parishes in the county of Cambridge. [Lewis p. 6.] This would certainly give the genealogist a possible lead to the origins of this name. Unusual first names as maternal family surnames...interesting.
Caroline Cunningham, Vol. I, p. 1.
Showing posts with label first names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first names. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
UFN : Abbridgston Jones
The first unusual first name [from here abbreviated "UFN"] is Abbridgston. Suspect it was spoken like Ab-bridgs-ton. Most likely it came from another surname or maybe from a geographic location. The name appears in the 1790 Census of Wake County, NC. He was listed as "head of household" with 1 male over 16, 2 males under 16, 2 females, and 1 slave. This would place him born around 1770 given his oldest was over 16 , and next two sons were under 16. [Based upon marriage age was started 18-21 years for males.] Anyone have this name in their family tree?
Source: Caroline Cunningham was a genealogist very interested in the JONES surname. Her focus was on JONES families from Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. Her goal was "...to record in print some of the records found in the various archives of the United States in such a way that the tracing of Jones families is made easier." She published her work from Raleigh, North Carolina, August 1964. Presently, this work can be found in East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J.Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. It is titled: Caroline Cunningham Collection, Collection No 56. This first name appears on page 1, Vol.II. Would like to have thanked her in person, but her work stands alone in the Jones Surname Family Tree.
Source: Caroline Cunningham was a genealogist very interested in the JONES surname. Her focus was on JONES families from Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. Her goal was "...to record in print some of the records found in the various archives of the United States in such a way that the tracing of Jones families is made easier." She published her work from Raleigh, North Carolina, August 1964. Presently, this work can be found in East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J.Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. It is titled: Caroline Cunningham Collection, Collection No 56. This first name appears on page 1, Vol.II. Would like to have thanked her in person, but her work stands alone in the Jones Surname Family Tree.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Unusual First Names
Over the years genealogy has brought before my eyes some very unusual first names. Different surnames, different geographical areas, different periods of time, and often different religious beliefs have all played some role. The next series of posts will deal with this subject for the surname JONES.
However, to begin this topic it might be helpful to present the most common first names being used among the JONES surname branches. The first table shows some work from years past published in my family newsletter. Of course for my own JONES family, Virginia was the geographic area. The time period was 1623 - 1666 since this was when my folks began to cross the great pond. In addition other common surnames like Smith, Williams, Johnson, and Brown were studied to discover if there were any differences in the first names that were being recorded. The four most common first names were William, Richard, Thomas, and John for the surname JONES. Other first names that were being used at least 100 times during this period are also shown. Interestingly, William was the most common first name among our JONES family tree branches.
The second table shows other first names for JONES compared to the different surnames evaluated. Only the surname Williams (a Welsh surname) shared any of these first names with JONES. None of these names were used with Smith, Johnson, and Brown. This would suggest that JONES and JOHNSON were not of the same tree branches. It is an interesting list of first names used among the JONES families during the period researched.
The next series of posts will present the very unusual first names. Let's go!
However, to begin this topic it might be helpful to present the most common first names being used among the JONES surname branches. The first table shows some work from years past published in my family newsletter. Of course for my own JONES family, Virginia was the geographic area. The time period was 1623 - 1666 since this was when my folks began to cross the great pond. In addition other common surnames like Smith, Williams, Johnson, and Brown were studied to discover if there were any differences in the first names that were being recorded. The four most common first names were William, Richard, Thomas, and John for the surname JONES. Other first names that were being used at least 100 times during this period are also shown. Interestingly, William was the most common first name among our JONES family tree branches.
The second table shows other first names for JONES compared to the different surnames evaluated. Only the surname Williams (a Welsh surname) shared any of these first names with JONES. None of these names were used with Smith, Johnson, and Brown. This would suggest that JONES and JOHNSON were not of the same tree branches. It is an interesting list of first names used among the JONES families during the period researched.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
First Names First
A previous post of August 30th, 2011 presented these tables to the reader. I thought it might be of interest to give them again in light of the surname JONES. The first volume of Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623 - 1666, by Nugent, was the source for the data presented. Using the index of this volume, I abstracted the first names that were recorded for the surnames JONES, SMITH, WILLIAMS, JOHNSON, and BROWN. They were then organized by the most frequent first name used by each surname. [Those that occurred 10 or more times.]
There were 1486 first names that occurred 10 or more times among all of the surnames. The most common name was of course JOHN (n = 344/ 23% = 344/1486) Interestingly, it was not first among those with the surname JONES ( n = 48/ 11% = 48/437) It was first among those with the surname SMITH ( n = 67/ 28% = 67/236), the surname WILLIAMS (n = 94/ 28% = 94/336), the surname JOHNSON (n = 87/ 29% = 87/299), and the surname BROWN (n = 48/ 27% = 48/178) Of those having the first name JOHN (n = 344), it was most common among the surname WILLIAMS ( n = 94/ 27% = 94/344 ). This was followed by the surnames JOHNSON (n = 87/ 25% = 87/344), then the surname SMITH (n = 67/ 19% = 67/344), the the surname BROWN and JONES having equal numbers at 48. ( n = 48/344/14% = 48/344).
The first name William was the most common among the surname JONES! (n = 78/18% = 78/437 ) This was followed by Richard (n = 51/12% = 51/437), then Thomas (n = 50/11% = 50/437) and then JOHN (n = 48/11% = 48/437). The remaining first names are given in descending order for the surname JONES. You can see that only the first name James (SMITH), Robert (WILLIAMS/BROWN), and Mary (JOHNSON) fell out of the top four first names. How the first names listed are distributed among the surnames can be examined.
The following table gives the remaining first names as used among the surnames.
This list would suggest that there were first names used among those with the surname JONES
that were not used among the others! For example, none of the names listed were used with the surname SMITH, JOHNSON, and BROWN. Several were shared with the surname WILLIAMS showing "Morgan" being the most frequent. The two "Welsh" surnames [JONES/WILLIAMS] with three "English" surnames [SMITH/JOHNSON/BROWN] can be compared. Hum...a distinction can be made...first names first!
Figures are taken from my research on the JONES surname first published in my newsletter The Jones Genealogist, Vol. XI, no. 1, May/June, 1999, pp. 6-7. Copyright included.
There were 1486 first names that occurred 10 or more times among all of the surnames. The most common name was of course JOHN (n = 344/ 23% = 344/1486) Interestingly, it was not first among those with the surname JONES ( n = 48/ 11% = 48/437) It was first among those with the surname SMITH ( n = 67/ 28% = 67/236), the surname WILLIAMS (n = 94/ 28% = 94/336), the surname JOHNSON (n = 87/ 29% = 87/299), and the surname BROWN (n = 48/ 27% = 48/178) Of those having the first name JOHN (n = 344), it was most common among the surname WILLIAMS ( n = 94/ 27% = 94/344 ). This was followed by the surnames JOHNSON (n = 87/ 25% = 87/344), then the surname SMITH (n = 67/ 19% = 67/344), the the surname BROWN and JONES having equal numbers at 48. ( n = 48/344/14% = 48/344).
The first name William was the most common among the surname JONES! (n = 78/18% = 78/437 ) This was followed by Richard (n = 51/12% = 51/437), then Thomas (n = 50/11% = 50/437) and then JOHN (n = 48/11% = 48/437). The remaining first names are given in descending order for the surname JONES. You can see that only the first name James (SMITH), Robert (WILLIAMS/BROWN), and Mary (JOHNSON) fell out of the top four first names. How the first names listed are distributed among the surnames can be examined.
The following table gives the remaining first names as used among the surnames.
This list would suggest that there were first names used among those with the surname JONES
that were not used among the others! For example, none of the names listed were used with the surname SMITH, JOHNSON, and BROWN. Several were shared with the surname WILLIAMS showing "Morgan" being the most frequent. The two "Welsh" surnames [JONES/WILLIAMS] with three "English" surnames [SMITH/JOHNSON/BROWN] can be compared. Hum...a distinction can be made...first names first!
Figures are taken from my research on the JONES surname first published in my newsletter The Jones Genealogist, Vol. XI, no. 1, May/June, 1999, pp. 6-7. Copyright included.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Smith, Brown, Williams, Johnson, and Jones
The following article analyzes the use of first names. It presents the surnames SMITH, BROWN, WILLIAMS, JOHNSON, and JONES that were indexed in the first volume of Cavaliers and Pioneers, 1623-1666.
The first names were identified and grouped by surname. The first name "John" was the most common name used for Smith (67 times), Williams (94 times), Johnson (87 times), and Brown (48 times). It was not the first name used for Jones! (48 times).
William (78 times), Richard (51 times), Thomas (50 times), and then John (48 times) was found to be used as first names for the surname Jones. How about that. Who would have thought that William Jones was more common than John Jones!
John as first name was the most common name used among all the surnames analyzed, totally 344 times. The second most common first name was Thomas (223 times), then William (201 times) and Richard (114 times).
The tables to the right summarize these findings with the first name listed in the right hand column, and the surname across the top.
Interestingly, the many first names used with the surname Jones does not appear used the surname Johnson. This implies that those folks with the surname Johnson did not follow the same pattern of the Joneses! This would suggest to me that the surname Johnson did not share the same origins as the surname Jones.
The surname Williams shared the most first names. This implies that the surname Williams and Jones most likely have common roots. [Good Welsh names.]
Explore the first name usage for yourself, and see what impressions you gain.
The study was published 1999 in The Jones Genealogist, Vol.XI, No.1, May/June issue.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
On a First name bases 1273 - 1600
During most of our lives we are called by our first names. For the Welsh, this has not always been the case, but for the JONES surname it became a factor in the English legal records around 1273. [After Edward I got control.]
The following post describes the first names that were recorded for the surname JONES from 1273 until 1600. They are recorded in chronological sequence from the date that they were first recorded in the English legal system.
Please note that the Philip Jones family is not included because this group was not discovered until after this article was published in 1996. So actually, Philip would be the first male name appearing.
The most common first name is of course John, but it is tied with William and Thomas comes in a close second.
Female names begin to appear in larger numbers after 1563. I suspect this has to do with the fact that the first generation of JONES surnames are ending, and the wives (or widows) are entering the court system.
The data are taken from The Jones Genealogist, Vol.VIII, No.3, Sept/Oct 1996.
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