# What is the earliest knowledge you have of your family name?



## Stehay (Oct 12, 2016)

Just for fun

I know my grandfathers were doctors in world war two


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## vintagesnaps (Oct 12, 2016)

Around the 1500s I think. We have a distant cousin in Germany who did a family chart for us that was done using records going back that far from the church in the town there. The name spelling changed somewhere along the way, although not as recently as someone coming here to the United States.


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## john.margetts (Oct 12, 2016)

17895ish. In that year, in the village my ancestors came from, there two lads with the same name. One went to Australia and the other (my ancestor) went to London. As we do not know which lad was which, we cannot trace our family any further back.


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## Piccell (Oct 12, 2016)

1480


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## dxqcanada (Oct 12, 2016)

Do you mean actual connection to the name ... or just earliest record of the surname possibly unrelated ?

... and for someone who does not seem a participant in the forum ... why do you ask ?


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## table1349 (Oct 12, 2016)

Since I retired that is something I have been working on.  Back to 1603 right now.  Waiting on some information that may take me back two more generations.  It is amazing how well the records were kept across the pond and how far back they go.


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## Piccell (Oct 12, 2016)

dxqcanada said:


> Do you mean actual connection to the name ... or just earliest record of the surname possibly unrelated ?
> 
> ... and for someone who does not seem a participant in the forum ... why do you ask ?


If by participant, you mean one who participates by offering ideas, opinions or starting topics of discussion, it would appear that the OP is participating right now...in this thread.
You don't seem very neighborly or welcoming. 
Your comment reminds me of the Sheriff that walks up to you after he pulls you over for no reason and says; "Yo not from around here, are ya? We don't take to strangers in our town, best be moving along so as no one gets hurt none. Yo have a nice day now, y'hear?"


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## Piccell (Oct 12, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> 17895ish. In that year, in the village my ancestors came from, there two lads with the same name. One went to Australia and the other (my ancestor) went to London. As we do not know which lad was which, we cannot trace our family any further back.


17985??? That's 15,969 years off in the future isn't it? :") I am definitely intrigued, please tell us more.


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## 480sparky (Oct 12, 2016)

My _surname_ was adopted by my paternal grandfather in 1947.  No one knows anything about the name before the man who raised my grandfather.

My paternal grandfathers' _birth_ name (which is also my middle name) has been traced back to Scotland to 1646.  I have the family tree traced back to the 6th & 7th centuries with, at the moment, 6,913 names. Three branches end with pedigree collapse.


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## Piccell (Oct 12, 2016)

480sparky said:


> My _surname_ was adopted by my paternal grandfather in 1947.  No one knows anything about the name before the man who raised my grandfather.
> 
> My paternal grandfathers' _birth_ name (which is also my middle name) has been traced back to Scotland to 1646.  I have the family tree traced back to the 6th & 7th centuries with, at the moment, 6,913 names. Three branches end with pedigree collapse.


Is that the 480's or the Sparky's?


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## 480sparky (Oct 12, 2016)

Piccell said:


> Is that the 480's or the Sparky's?



Beveridge, actually.


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## dxqcanada (Oct 12, 2016)

Piccell said:


> If by participant, you mean one who participates by offering ideas, opinions or starting topics of discussion, it would appear that the OP is participating right now...in this thread.
> You don't seem very neighborly or welcoming.
> Your comment reminds me of the Sheriff that walks up to you after he pulls you over for no reason and says; "Yo not from around here, are ya? We don't take to strangers in our town, best be moving along so as no one gets hurt none. Yo have a nice day now, y'hear?"



I noticed the OP has 3 posts ... they start with a question, but does not continue the conversation which I do not find very neighbourly ... and yeah, for some reason it annoyed me ... and in my history on this forum, I am not one to make comments like this.


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## Piccell (Oct 12, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Piccell said:
> 
> 
> > Is that the 480's or the Sparky's?
> ...


Very interesting Name, I have never heard it before. So, if you are a tall man, in the winter outside, you'd actually be a tall frosty...never mind, I won't finish it, I am sure you've heard it before.


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## john.margetts (Oct 13, 2016)

Piccell said:


> john.margetts said:
> 
> 
> > 17895ish. In that year, in the village my ancestors came from, there two lads with the same name. One went to Australia and the other (my ancestor) went to London. As we do not know which lad was which, we cannot trace our family any further back.
> ...


Too many damn keys on this keyboard!


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## petrochemist (Oct 13, 2016)

Piccell said:


> dxqcanada said:
> 
> 
> > Do you mean actual connection to the name ... or just earliest record of the surname possibly unrelated ?
> ...



The OP has been a member for over a year & has posted 2 threads unrelated to photography & AFAIK nothing related. So the comment is not unjustified...


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## Vtec44 (Oct 13, 2016)

Probably around 500 BC, no joke.  My ancestors were disciples of Confucius.  The most well known was Zeng Shen ( 曾參 ).  That's my last name in Chinese (曾).


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## petrochemist (Oct 13, 2016)

I've traced my surname back to a marriage (& subsequent birth) in 1741 in Holland, in the town where my grandfather was born. I expect 'Hent' would have been born about 1700-1725.
That's 7 generations back from me. In the records I've been able to find on-line there's are no examples of my family name in the UK prior to 1815 and very few I can't trace the link too.
Variations in the spelling of the name have pretty much ruled out taking it back further, I've seen at least 5 variations in letters delivered at home!

My mothers side the I have ancestors with her surname back to 1730, (7 generations again) and unconfirmed links going back to Hamelin Plantagenet (Half brother of King Henry II ~1150) and before that supposedly back to Odin. I'm sure there has been some creative recording of ancestry of the noble families just how far before Geoffrey le Bon this is I couldn't say!
If the link of Elizabeth Glanville to the family she's reputably descended from can be traced the rest is fairly confident as far as the Plantagenets.
Mum's confirmed pedigree goes back to 9 generations from me but I don't have DOB for the earliest 2 generations having a grandson born 1727 almost certainly takes him back to the late 1600's)


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## SquarePeg (Oct 13, 2016)

Interesting thread.  On my mom's side, I have an aunt who is the family historian.  She's been working on our family tree which goes back to Portugal and Ireland.  I've been largely avoiding discussing it with her as she tends to go on for hours when she finds an interested ear.  I'll have to bite the bullet when I see her this weekend and ask her how far back she's gotten.  As for my maiden surname, my dad was adopted by his stepfather but I do have his biological father's birth certificate which shows his father (my biological great great grandfather) who would have been born around the turn of the century.  I've never tried to trace it back further than that but I've heard stories that he came over from Italy before WW1.


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## pendennis (Oct 13, 2016)

My own research has taken me to 18th century Virginia and Maine (then part of Massachusetts) on my father's side.  I have a cousin who has done genealogical research on my mother's family, all the way back to 15th century England and France.  However, there are some dead ends.

I've belonged to Ancestry.com for several years, and they're a great source of data.  However, as with any research, there are errors encountered in public records, and there's often no substitute for personally visiting historical record sites.


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## table1349 (Oct 13, 2016)

pendennis said:


> *there's often no substitute for personally visiting historical record sites.*


I keep telling my wife that but she keeps saying I can't go to Edinburgh Scotland for a couple of weeks.


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## limr (Oct 13, 2016)

I have never had any real interest in genealogy, so I can't tell you how far back my own personal relations to my surname go. I do know that my surname from my father has been around since the 9th century and is thought to have originated with the Visigoths, who then made their way to central Portugal. This is where my father is from,which certainly explains why my mother used to call my father a Visigoth when she was angry at him. 

I also have a surname from my mother, and it dates back to the 11th century, associated with the northern region of Portugal and the Galician area of Spain. And yes, my mother is from northern Portugal. This area was largely Celtic before the Romans arrived. They weren't exactly the most peaceful people, so my mother should really not have been throwing stones at my Visigoth father.

So...I'm Portuguese and have two surnames that have been Portuguese for centuries. Both those surnames are extremely common in their respective areas, and I have exactly zero interest in trying to sort out which ones are distantly related to me and which weren't. It would affect my life in no way whatsoever.


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## table1349 (Oct 13, 2016)

The general family tree these days.


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## weepete (Oct 13, 2016)

Round about 902


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## table1349 (Oct 13, 2016)

weepete said:


> Round about 902


Was that the time this morning or the year?


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## Piccell (Oct 13, 2016)

petrochemist said:


> Piccell said:
> 
> 
> > dxqcanada said:
> ...


I never said it was unjustified, I said it is unfriendly, and it is. That's all.


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## Piccell (Oct 13, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> Piccell said:
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> > john.margetts said:
> ...


Darn, a standard common mistake, I had hoped for so much more. I was going to ask if we were still Earthbound or if we had moved to other planets and stars. Oh well.


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## dxqcanada (Oct 13, 2016)

Piccell said:


> I never said it was unjustified, I said it is unfriendly, and it is. That's all.



No prob ... just the way forums are.


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## table1349 (Oct 13, 2016)

dxqcanada said:


> Piccell said:
> 
> 
> > I never said it was unjustified, I said it is unfriendly, and it is. That's all.
> ...


Wow,  who would have ever thought that a forum would be like the real world?


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## snowbear (Oct 13, 2016)

Don't know, for sure, but the first polar bears appeared about 120,000 years ago.


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## Piccell (Oct 13, 2016)

gryphonslair99 said:


> dxqcanada said:
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> > Piccell said:
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They aren't.


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## table1349 (Oct 14, 2016)

Piccell said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
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> > dxqcanada said:
> ...


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## ClickAddict (Oct 14, 2016)

I think the question about the purpose of the post probably stems from someone using this forum a short while back to collect all the answers and post on some blog as an article.  (AKA he was using the forum for research, without presenting it as so.)  Can't recall all the details, but it was a little underhanded.  Considering the OP has only 3 posts or so and are all unrelated to photography (I haven't read them, going by what others stated) it raises the question if he is doing the same.


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## Piccell (Oct 14, 2016)

So? If you don't want to share information with the world, don't. But don't blame people for sharing (retweeting) what you share.
I don't see a problem.


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## 480sparky (Oct 14, 2016)

Piccell said:


> So? If you don't want to share information with the world, don't. ............



Even if you don't, the Russians or Chinese will find it anyway and it will be posted on WikiLeaks.


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## table1349 (Oct 14, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Piccell said:
> 
> 
> > So? If you don't want to share information with the world, don't. ............
> ...


Or recorded on a bus for all posterity.


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## snowbear (Oct 14, 2016)

But I own the copyright on my original posts . . .


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## table1349 (Oct 14, 2016)

These terms may be changed at any time without notice.


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## Piccell (Oct 14, 2016)




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## limr (Oct 14, 2016)

Piccell said:


> View attachment 128718



If this is in reaction to snowbear's post, then I find it quite ironic.


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## Piccell (Oct 14, 2016)

What was snowbear's post? What did I miss?


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## Fred von den Berg (Oct 15, 2016)

My family name, as it is personally connected to me, can be traced back to the nineteenth century and to the area in the north west of England near one of the two or three towns that bears the name: this town normally being regarded as the origin of the name.

However, the name, as it was then written, can be found in the Domesday Book and there was also a bearer of the name on the Mayflower, though no connection to my family has been established there.


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## table1349 (Oct 15, 2016)

I just checked my email, and I do have two more generations to research on the Scottish side of the family.  The Irish side is well documented already.  The German side has actually been the easiest to trace as the surname is a very unique one.  I was even able to quickly find the spelling change back in the early 170o's that made it easier for english speakers.  

All in all this has been a fun project and a fun collaboration with other family members that have added bits and pieces here and there.


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## The_Traveler (Oct 16, 2016)

My last name appeared in the early 20's when the immigration officer could not spell my grandparents' original name and so gave them a new one fairly arbitrarily. 

When I was younger I had a distinct Massachusetts accent and pronounced my name as if it were spelled Lawton. My lab partner, whose name was Lutostanski, liked the sound of it and changed his name to Lawton. I never knew that until we met at a professional meeting 15 years later (he was a Navy Captain at the time), I recognized him but not his name and he explained.


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## zombiesniper (Oct 16, 2016)

Reliable info back to the 1500's but some more sparse info back to early 1100's.


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## snowbear (Oct 17, 2016)

limr said:


> Piccell said:
> 
> 
> > View attachment 128718
> ...





Piccell said:


> What was snowbear's post? What did I miss?



It's all good; I'm used to being overlooked!  

As to the OP, I read, somewhere, that "Wrenn" is derived from an Old English word (before the 7th century) meaning "a small quick-moving person (I am neither) but it is definitely related to the "Wren" spelling.  The name is English or Irish, depending on whom you ask.  We don't know where our's came from; we've only been able to trace back to North Carolina and the 1860s.


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## deeky (Oct 17, 2016)

My mom's family had a castle in Germany back in the early 1600's.  They were essentially tax collectors.  That is, until some crazy monk (Luther) started running around spreading ideas like that the bible should be in a language the people actually speak.  They took to following him, the local ruler didn't, and they lost their castle.

True story.


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## Kenneth Walker (Oct 22, 2016)

With proper documents supporting? 1798 Great great grandfather born. Great grandfather in 1832, Grandfather 1883, and father 1924.


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## 480sparky (Oct 22, 2016)

I have the original land transfer from my g-g-grandfather's land near Windham, New Hampshire, to one of his daughters for a dowry.   Dated 1802.


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## Kenneth Walker (Oct 22, 2016)

It's interesting what can be turned up....discovered that great grandfather came to London in 1852 and joined the Metropolitan Police...I never knew he was married 3 times each wife dying from TB (a scourge in Victorian cities). A whole slew of relatives I never knew I had have been uncovered too.


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## petrochemist (Oct 22, 2016)

Kenneth Walker said:


> It's interesting what can be turned up....discovered that great grandfather came to London in 1852 and joined the Metropolitan Police...I never knew he was married 3 times each wife dying from TB (a scourge in Victorian cities). A whole slew of relatives I never knew I had have been uncovered too.


It is indeed, but you have to be careful with the records. 
All too often there are several people with the same name who get linked together by mistake. This can be an issue with two people alive at the same time or with the many cases of a child being named after the parent. I have one ancestor born in Kent with the exactly same name & DOB of someone born in Cheshire. Their marriages have been confused repeatedly. 

My tree also has several cases where there's a John, son of John, son of John. In one of the the name John crops up again & again going back through the generations. 
I've come across many on-line sources that have a person being his own uncle, or dying in infancy yet having children... 
I suspect it's often down to a significant date for one being added to the wrong generation though I know I've fallen into a different trap where a person had multiple titles.  Finding something like sir Roger's brother, has a brother who's Marquis of someplace, and adding the Marquis in together with their extended family. Then later finding sir Roger was the Marquis. The mess this caused eventually made me give up on my Ancestry tree.


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## Kenneth Walker (Oct 22, 2016)

Petrochemist.....yes, I've been led up several garden paths, fortunately to realise my mistake reasonably early on. My real surname is rare enough to have minimised the chances of that however...and it's difficult to argue with consistent census records and certificates of birth, death and marriage.


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## petrochemist (Oct 22, 2016)

Kenneth Walker said:


> Petrochemist.....yes, I've been led up several garden paths, fortunately to realise my mistake reasonably early on. My real surname is rare enough to have minimised the chances of that however...and it's difficult to argue with consistent census records and certificates of birth, death and marriage.



The blessings of an unusual surname!

My surname is also rare - AFAIK the only examples in the country are the descendants (and their spouses) of my Grandfather who moved here in 1934. Fairly easy to track with first hand knowledge 

My wife's maiden name on the other hand is in the top 50 in both the country & the world!


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## Orrin (Oct 22, 2016)

Mine goes back to the 1600's in Northhampton MA

Edwards Family History


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