How To Trace Your Surname

How do I trace my surname?

Surname history is a great funnel. They tend to break down into various categories of origin. You've got the occupation style, say Smith or Cooper. You've got ones which are linked to a very specific place, so Beckham comes from West Beckham, a manor in Norfolk. You've also got those which identify some sort of physical characteristic. Brown, for example, could be brown hair. Or you've got a patronymic name, which includes a father or son's name. So "Mc" is a Scottish version, "O'" being the Irish. Magnuson relates very much to the Danes and the Norse who settled it across. So you can actually look at the type of surname group, and then work out a bit about where that would have come from. And many are very places specific.