see MOORE.
Atoc, Attack see OAK.
Atterbury see BURY.
Attick see OAK.
Attle, Attlee see LEE.
Attoc, Attock see OAK.
Attwood see WOOD.
Aubert see ALBERT.
Aubon see ALBAN.
Auld, Auldson see OLD.
Aunderson see ANDREW.
Austin, Augustine, Austen (Eng) Descendant of a man named Austin, the day to day form of Latin Augustinus or Augustus ‘increasing.’ The name was much used in the Middle Ages because of the fame of St Augustine of Hippo, and in England especially, because of St Augustine of Canterbury.
Avann see FENN.
Axsmith see SMITH.
Aykroyd see ACKROYD.
Aysh see ASH.
Bacchus, Bacher, Backhouse, Backouse, Backus see BAKER.
Badam, Badda, Baddam, Baddams, Badham see ABADAM.
Baiker see BAKER.
Bailey, Bailie, Baillie, Baily (Eng, Scot, Irish) Occupational name of an official, a bailiff, or an indication that the original name-bearer lived near a bail, the outer wall of a fortification. Bailey ‘berry wood’ in Lancashire was also the source of the surname for many families.
Bailhache, Ballachey, Ballechett, Ballhatchet, Baylehache (Eng) An English name, but formed from the Old French words baille hache ‘give axe.’ The occupational name of an executioner.
Baitson see BARTHOLOMEW.
Baker, Bacher, Baiker, Baxter (Eng) Occupational name of a communal baker. He might also be described as a ‘worker at the bake-house,’ giving rise to surnames such as Bacchus, Backhouse, Backouse, Backus, Bakehouse. The Old French boulengier ‘baker’ led to Bullinger, Pillinger, Pullinger. See DUCK.
Baldrey, Baldrick, Baldridge, Baudrey, Baudrick, Boldright, Boldwright, Boldry, Bowdery (Eng) Descendant of Bealdric, a Germanic personal name composed of elements meaning ‘bold’ and ‘power.’
Baldwin (Eng) Descendant of a man named Baldwin ‘brave friend.’ The assumption that the first element of this name meant ‘bald’ led to its occasional use In Ireland for a personal name which means ‘bald, tonsured.’ See MILLIGAN.
William Hone relates in his Every-Day Book that ‘on the twentieth of May, 1736, the body of Samuel Baldwin, Esq., was, in compliance with an injunction in his will, immersed, sans ceremonie, in the sea at Lymington, Hants. His motive for this extraordinary mode of interment was to prevent his wife from “dancing over his grave,” which this modern Xanthippe had frequently threatened to do, in case she survived him.’
Balismith, Balysmyth see SMITH.
Ball, Bald, Balls (Eng) Nickname for a bald man, or indicating an ancestor who lived near a boundary mound.
John Field, in English Field Names, cites many instances of The Ball as a field name. Such names often give clues to surname origins, preserving as they do earlier senses of words. Field names such as Eighteenpennyworth, Fivepenny, Halfpence, Twenty shilling field, Twopenneworth, indicating the value of the land, may also explain some puzzling ‘money’ surnames – see PENNY.
Ballachey, Ballechett, Ballhatchet see BAILHACHE.
Ballaster, Ballester, Ballister, Balster, Bolister (Eng) Occupational name for a crossbow-maker or a soldier armed with one. There is a connection with the word ballistics.
Ballock see BULLOCK.
Balsillie (Scot) Descendant of someone who originally came from the Scottish village of this name, near Leslie In Fife. It is probably from Gaelic baile-seilich ‘willow-tree farm.’
Balster see BALLASTER.
Bandra, Bandrew, Bandrey, Bandro see ANDREW.
Banks, Banker, Bankes (Eng) Descendant of someone who lived near a river bank or on sloping ground. In an Irish context Banks can be the Anglicized form of the Gaelic Bruachán ‘corpulent,’ also found as O’Brogan.
Bannister, Banister, Bannester (Eng) Occupational name of a basket weaver.
Barber, Barbour (Eng) Occupational name of a barber, who spent as much time trimming beards as cutting hair. He was also the local doctor and dentist, hence the description:
His pole with pewter basons hung,
Black, rotten teeth in order strung,
Rang’d cups that in the window stood,
Lined with red rags to look like blood,
Did well his threefold trade explain,
Who shaved, drew teeth, and breathed a vein.
Barby see BARROW.
Bardon see BARNES.
Barebone (Eng) The Little Parliament in Cromwell’s time was headed by Praise-God Barebone, His name is variously recorded as Barbon, Barborne, which suggests that his ancestors came from Barbourne, in Worcestershire, a place named for its ‘beaver stream.’
Barebone’s given name Praise-God was a typical Puritan slogan name of the 17th century. Two of Praise-God’s brothers had the names Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world-to save Barebone and If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone. The latter was known to most of his contemporaries as Damned Barebone, partly because of his immoral behaviour. A special study of such given names was made by Charles Bardsley and published as Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature.
Barfoot see PUDDY.
Barham (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the places so-named because it was a ‘hill homestead.’ The Kentish place of this name was instead ‘Biora’s homestead.’
Barker
