Cornish surnames: Many visitors to the
mystical land of Cornwall are fascinated by the
placenames and surnames. They have such magical, foreign
sounding names. This should come as no surprise for
visitors who know their British history, for Cornwall is
a Celtic land, just as are Brittany, Wales, the Isle of
Man, Ireland and Scotland. The etymology of Cornish
surnames is not an exact science, there may be errors on
these pages, the definitions come from books by Richard
Stephen Charnock, G. Pawley White, T. F. G. Dexter, J.
Bannister, Henry Jenner, Nicholas Williams, R. Morton
Nance and many more. Some names may have multiple
meanings, and I would love to hear from you if you have
others I have missed. Surnames such as Andrewartha,
Baragwanath, Vellanoweth, Tangye, Spargo, Jose,
Penberthy, Kitto & many hundreds more await within
these pages. So pick a letter of the alphabet and begin
your exploration, and learn just what is the meaning of
your Cornish surname. |