Collins Dictionary Of Surnames: From Abbey to Mutton, Nabbs to Zouch

Artricksee ARKWRIGHT.

Arusmithsee ARROWSMITH.

Ash, Aish, Asch, Asche, Ashall, Asham, Ashby, Ashcroft, Ashdown, Ashe, Ashenden, Asher, Ashfield, Ashford, Ashley, Ashman, Ashton, Ashurst, Ashwell, Ashwood, Ashworth, Aysh, Daish, Dash, Dashwood, Daysh, Esh, Naish, Nash, Nayshe, Rasch, Tasch, Tesche, Tesh (Eng) Dweller near an ash tree or trees, or someone who originally came from one of the many English places named for its ash trees.

Ashplantsee ABSALOM.

Ashton, Ashurst, Ashwell, Ashwood, Ashworthsee ASH.

Aspenlonsee ABSOLOM.

Aspig, Aspolsee GILLESPIE.

Aspland, Asplen, Asplin, Asplingsee ABSOLOM.

Aston (Eng) Someone who came from one of the several places so-named because it was an ‘eastern settlement.’

Atacksee OAK.

Atberry, Atburysee BURY.

Atfieldsee FIELD.

Atha, Athawessee ABADAM.

Atherdensee DEAN.

Atherleesee LEE.

Atkin, Atkins, Atkinsonsee ADAM.

A private in the British Army became generically known as a Tommy or Tommy Atkins in the early years of the 19th century, when Thomas Atkins was used as a specimen name on Army forms in the same way that Richard Roe and John Doe were used on legal documents. No one has ever managed to trace a particular Thomas Atkins whose name was borrowed. Kipling has a poem called ‘Tommy’ in which occur the well-known lines:

Oh, it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ ‘Tommy, go away’;

But it’s ‘Thank you, Mr Atkins,’ when the band begins to play.

Atlee, Atleysee LEE.

Atmoresee MOORE.

Atoc, Attacksee OAK.

Atterburysee BURY.

Atticksee OAK.

Attle, Attleesee LEE.

Attoc, Attocksee OAK.

Attwoodsee WOOD.

Aubertsee ALBERT.

Aubonsee ALBAN.

Auld, Auldsonsee OLD.

Aundersonsee 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.

Avannsee FENN.

Axsmithsee SMITH.

Aykroydsee ACKROYD.

Ayshsee ASH.

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Bacchus, Bacher, Backhouse, Backouse, Backussee BAKER.

Badam, Badda, Baddam, Baddams, Badhamsee ABADAM.

Baikersee 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.

Baitsonsee 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, Balysmythsee 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.