Cornish surnames are surnames used by Cornish people and often derived from the Cornish language such as Jago, Trelawney or Enys. Others have strong roots in the region and many in the UK with names such as Eddy, Stark or Rowe are likely to have Cornish origins. Such surnames for the common people emerged in the Middle Ages , although the nobility probably had surnames much earlier on. Not until the later Middle Ages did it become necessary for a common man to have a surname. Most surnames were fully established throughout Cornwall by the end of the 15th century. Cornish surnames can be found throughout the world as part of the Cornish diaspora .
19-526: Treffry is a Cornish surname . The first record of the name Treffry is found in Cornwall, where they lived at Treffry near Lanhydrock . A Roger Treffry was born about 1260 and his descendant John Treffry was living in 1658. In 1457 French marauders besieged the family's home at Place House in Fowey , to be repulsed by Elizabeth Treffry who gathered men together and allegedly poured melted lead, stripped from
38-528: A coat of arms to this family was: The crest was: Other versions include: Cornish surnames Due to the linguistic similarity of Cornish, Welsh and Breton , some surnames can derive from any of the three regions. The most common surnames in Cornwall are derived from patronymics , the father's first name being taken either without alteration, for example 'John', or with the addition of genitive '-s' or, typically Cornish, '-o', e.g. 'Bennetto' or '-y' as in 'Pawley'. The phrase Tre, Pol and Pen
57-425: A holder that carries the thread of the weft yarn while weaving with a loom . Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed , between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft. The simplest shuttles, known as "stick shuttles", are made from a flat, narrow piece of wood with notches on the ends to hold the weft yarn. More complicated shuttles incorporate bobbins or pirns . In
76-484: A point when the original "k" at the beginning of the English word was still pronounced and thus suggests an early period in which it was anglicised. There are also many names typically found in Cornwall that may have a completely non-Cornish language origin, excluding those names taken from English, yet a strong association with the area. These names reflect the historical connections between Cornwall and Brittany and also
95-447: Is also English for someone who dyes clothing. Other examples: Some surnames were derived from animals which may indicate that the bearer of some of these surnames may have made a living from hunting, examples include Bligh "wolf" ( Cornish : blydh ) and Coon "hounds" ( Cornish : keun ). Gwinnel: possibly from Cornish : gwennel "swallow"; it also refers to a weaver's shuttle At least one known Cornish surname derives from
114-730: Is in the National Dictionary in 1547. It is likely that the Adam Corneys recorded in 1300 is identical to Adam Le Cornwalais recorded in 1275. Other related names to Cornish that designate a Cornish origin include "Cornwall", "Cornwell", "Cornick", "Curnow", "Cornu", "Kernew", "Kernow" etc. (although Cornick may have other origins as well). In previous centuries these names may have alternated along with "Cornwallis" and "Le Cornwalais". Especially in West Cornwall, many names typically associated with Welsh are also found. In
133-456: Is known to have been one of the first mine owners to provide sick pay to his miners and medical attention to not only the miner but also his family. Their present family seat is still at Place. David Treffry of Place was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1991. Many variations of the name Treffry are found in the archives: Trefry, Treffrey, Treffray, Trefrey, Trefry, Trefray, Trefary, Trevry, Trevney, Trevray, Trevers. The most ancient known grant of
152-496: Is to be found throughout Great Britain and Ireland. This name seems to originate from a time when ordinary people were still not using surnames in the modern way. A native Cornishman who had left Cornwall for another part of Britain or Ireland was given the name "Cornish", i.e. the Cornishman . In "A Dictionary of British Surnames", P.H. Reaney (1976), the following entries and dates are to be found: The first recorded instance
171-663: Is used to describe people from, or places in, Cornwall , the United Kingdom. Carew has By Tre, Pol and Pen / You shall know the Cornishmen ; however, Camden records the rhyme as By Tre, Ros, Pol, Lan, Caer and Pen / You may know the most Cornishmen . Many Cornish surnames and place names still retain these words as prefixes, such as the names Trelawny or Trevithick and the towns of Polperro , Polkerris and of course Penzance . "Carbines" derives from karn byghan "little tor ". Caution should be exercised with
190-593: The Cornish language, ultimately a language linked to Welsh and Breton, the prefix 'map' may have been used, as in Welsh, to indicate the relationship of father to son, this later becoming "ap" (as in NW Breton area, Leon dialect, Breton WP ) and then finally the "p" alone being prefixed to the name, e.g. (m)ap Richard becoming "Pri(t)chard". Another feature of these patronymics was the diminutive suffix "-kin" being added
209-486: The Norman occupation of Cornwall. The Normans themselves employed Bretons in the administration of Cornwall and thus "imported" Breton names in Cornwall are not unusual. Not all people who consider themselves Cornish have a necessarily Cornish surname nor do all Cornish surname bearers necessarily identify themselves as Cornish. Shuttle (weaving) A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store
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#1732790607471228-489: The United States, shuttles are often made of wood from the flowering dogwood , because it is hard, resists splintering, and can be polished to a very smooth finish. In the United Kingdom shuttles were usually made of boxwood, cornel, or persimmon. Shuttles were originally passed back and forth by hand. However, John Kay invented a loom in 1733 that incorporated a flying shuttle . This shuttle could be thrown through
247-587: The derivation of "Car-" surnames as there seems also to be fusion with names containing the word ker "hill-fort", as in "Carvosso" ker fosow "walled hill-fort", a placename found in Ludgvan . There is also karrek "rocky". "Rosdew" is ros du "black moor" and "Ros(e)warne" from ros (g)wern "alder heath" or perhaps "heath by an alder-marsh". "Landry" means lan dre "enclosure of farmhouse or church-house". Other examples of place-names used as surnames: As in many other parts of Europe, names were used to describe
266-404: The father's first name e.g. "Tonkin", which may derive from either Anthony or Thomas. Surnames found at high frequencies in both Wales and Cornwall include: Owing to the gradual language shift in Cornwall from the native Cornish language to English, approximately until the mid-18th century, some Cornish language surnames underwent change through folk etymology . The Cornish meaning of the name
285-406: The name of a festival, namely "Pascoe" from "Easter". Another category of surnames is derived from personal characteristics or nicknames/ hypocoristics . e.g. "Coad" (Cor.coth=old), "Couch" (Cor.cough=red) and "Tallack" (Cor.talek=wide-browed). Other examples: The surname "Cornish" with variants "Cornysshe", "Cornyshe", "Cornysh", "Cornishe", "Cornisshe", and "Cornis"- standardised as "Cornish"-
304-630: The occupation of the head of the family; "Angove" ( Cornish : an Gov "the Smith"), for example, being the equivalent to the Irish Gowan, Scottish Gow, Breton "Le Goff", "Legoff", "Legoffic", English "Smith", German "Schmidt", Polish "Kowalski", and Italian "Ferrero". Other examples of names derived from trades include "Dyer" ( Cornish : tior "thatcher") and "Helyer" ( Cornish : helghyer "hunter"), both of which can be found in English too, i.e. "Thatcher" and "Hunter" respectively, while Dyer itself
323-433: The roof, upon the invaders. Later, her husband Thomas Treffry is said to have built a tower to protect the building from further French attacks. A possible branch of the family lived at Rooke in the parish of St Kew . Joseph Thomas Austen's mother was born Susanna Ann Treffry and married Joseph Austen, hence Joseph Thomas Austen changed his name to Treffry when his father died. He became High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1838 and
342-412: The warp, which allowed much wider cloth to be woven much more quickly and made the development of machine looms much simpler. Though air-jet and water-jet looms are common in large operations, many companies still use flying shuttle looms. This is due in large part to their being easier to maintain than the more modern looms. In modern flying shuttle looms, the shuttle itself is made of rounded steel, with
361-461: Was no longer understood and so it was changed into a similar-sounding English word, not necessarily anything to do with the original meaning in Cornish. The same process has been noted in Cornish placenames too. One example of this process regarding surnames is the surname "Kneebone" which actually derives from the Cornish "Carn Ebwen" or the "tomb", "carn" of "Ebwen". The change must have occurred at
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