Christian names (General)
We have the christian name of Pritchard recorded in three generations of our family. Early family bibles record them as Pritchard.
On reviewing the birth of the earliest Pritchard I know of in the FOD births for Whitchurch, I find that he is recorded as Richard. Richard Edward Daniel b.1840.
Has anyone else seen variations like this. Do you think it could just relate to pronunciation at the time of baptism.
Has anyone else had similar variations between family lore and recorded names.
Lyn
Christian name - Pritchard
Name: Richard Edward Daniel
Year of Registration: 1840
Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
District: Monmouth (1837-1939)
County: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire
Volume: 26
Page: 72
I feel safe to say that Pritchard is an unusual Christian name, as a surname in the area with Welsh connections not unusual.
The derivation is I suspect from the Welsh "ap Richard" - "ap" denoting "from the family". So a Welsh family known as "ap Richard" move to the Borders and the locals fuse the "ap" and the evolution to Pritchard occurs....
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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
Christian name - Pritchard
In a similar manner a number of common Welsh surnames are derived from the mutation caused by the 'son of' prefix 'ap / ab'
BOWEN is derived from ab Owain / Owen, POWELL from ap Howell / Hywel, PROBERT from ap Robert, PUGH from ap Hugh, PROBYN from ap Robyn, PREECE or PRICE from ap Rhys / Rees and PARRY from Ap Harri / Harry. There are probably more...