Many surnames in Britain derrive from areas nearby (General)

by Roger Griffiths , Sunday, February 08, 2009, 07:34 (5861 days ago) @ rookancestrybest

Very true. There has been a great deal of internal migration within the UK for centuries. English surnames tend to be occupational or geograhical locally. Welsh patronymic. FoD typically English or Welsh. FoD was originally Welsh territory. My surname is Welsh but back to 1720's, very little Welsh influence.

Actually, what started me off was a letter from a Swindon firm of solicitors to my father in 1959. His mother, born Uffington 1878 (Berkshire then)was beneficiary to a will of a lady from Cricklade, Wilts. She did not make a full will and so descendants of her brother and sister became beneficiaries. Hundreds of people were involved and it took the solicitors 10 years to sort out. That planted the bug in me, but I concentrated on my fathers family from that day to this.

Roger Griffiths