Genealogy Chat

Hello all

i've often wondered if surnames like Williams & Williamson, Harris & Harrison Swan & Swanson ; Morris & Morrison & Robert & Robertson etc are, could be one & the same surname . Is there a general rule or does one just stick rigidly to Robert or Harris & forget the SON.

Better to know for sure than to wonder.....

thanks, looking forward to you replies !

They date back to the days when people used first names only and Williamson was, quite literally, William's son. Eventually they turned into surnames.

Although they would originally have been the same family, they are definitely not the same in later years. If you ignore the "son" bit, I think you will be making future problems for yourself.

In Wales they would have been Ap William, in Scotland Mac/McWilliam and in Ireland O'William, although I have never actually heard the last one.

The names would originally have been without the suffix............but you're talking here about mediaeval times.

A lad would have been known as' son of' which eventually became part of the surname when the surname system was introduced

Lots about it if you google

similarly, I think Mac stands for son of as does ap in Welsh

i have son in my sername i would not sand right if i drop it
so think ill keep it :-)

i understand about the historical Mc /Mac being the son of, lets use Mc/Mac Donald this was regarded as the son of Donald & i'm guessing so is Donaldson, just making a leap here, does this mean the surname was/is in fact Donald.

Hopefully i did not cause any upset to anyone, its just that i have a good number of Mc/MacDonalds McWilliams Morris/Morrisons etc,...so was just wondering about the more contemporary evolution of that type of surname.......

Anyway regards all Winterose .

Once upon a time, no one had surnames. They were given forenames.

After a while it became necessary to identify individuals. In Britain, they were either referred to as the 'son of' or if adults, by their occupations.

I don't know when the use of surnames became the norm - probably sometime in the Medieval period or before. Possibly because the tax man cometh!!

That's very interesting, you are so right +++DetEcTive+++ the TAX MAN ofcourse !!

Winterose x