Carol Baxter's knowledge of British and Irish surnames is unique because of her background.
Carol realised that her knowledge of surname sounds and letters would be helpful for genealogists and that she had the ability to communicate this knowledge in the form of books and talks. These are listed below.
NB. Many surnames began as given names, so it is worthwhile viewing the British and Irish Given Names topic page as well.
Free online "surname origins" lesson
This free lesson is an 11-minute snippet from the first lesson in Carol Baxter's Our Ancestral Surnames online course (see below).
The snippet explores the origins and development of British surnames — that is, the trends that produced the surnames carried by our ancestors.
As names are the gateway to our ancestral information, it's not just a fascinating topic but a useful one.
Duration: 11 minutes
Online course
In the Our Ancestral Surnames course, Carol explores how genealogists can research and write about surnames, focusing on British and Irish surnames. In particular, she focuses on the skills of the expository (or encyclopaedic) style of writing. She does so via the medium of surname-origin descriptions.
Surname sounds and letters
Book
Lessons
It is a truth universally acknowledgement that if we can't find our ancestor's surname our chances of tracing that ancestral line are pretty much zip, zero, zilch. But a known surname can also prove elusive because it is recorded in such a way that we struggle to find it.
In fact, most surname "distortions" follow decipherable patterns, so we can learn what to look for. The surnames that are the most difficult to locate are those that experience distortions in the first letter. This lesson focuses on these baffling beginnings.
NB. This lesson has been prepared but is not yet recorded for the WFFH website. If you would like it made available as an individual lesson, please contact Carol.
carol@writingfabulousfamilyhistories.com
All surnames can suffer distortions at the beginning, middle and end of the surname and the latter two problems can also make surnames difficult or impossible to locate. These distortions include the addition or omission of vowels or consonants or entire syllables in the middle of the surname. Some examples are well known (e.g. Gardiner/Gardner) while others might be unexpected (e.g. Gillooly/Glooly). They can include the addition or omission of word-final letters or syllables (e.g. Joseph/Josephs/Josephson) along with many other patterns of distortions, such as tapering, sound glides, silent letters, letter transpositions and so on. Additionally, surnames can suffer transcription errors that lead to vowels being misread as different vowels (e.g. Wills/Wells), vowels being misread as consonants (e.g. Leopard/Lespard), vowels and consonants being muddled (e.g. Lomax/Lurnax) and many other mistranscriptions. Again most of these distortions are both easy to understand and easy to predict.
NB. This lesson is not yet prepared but is planned for the future.
This lesson explains how online databases approach surname spellings, allowing us to maximise our use of their powerful search engines.
NB. This lesson is planned for the future.
"Mac" surname sounds and letters
Book
The Madness of "Mac" Surnames
If you have determined that "Mc" and "Mac" surnames are the most complicated surnames originating in the British Isles, you need to read this book. And if you haven’t already worked that out, you desperately need to read this book.
The Madness of "Mac" Surnames is not a surname dictionary. It is a foundational guide to help you find other spellings for your "Mac" surnames of interest.
Lesson
"Mc" surnames are double the trouble compared with most British and Irish surnames because they can suffer distortions at the beginning, middle and end of the "Mc" prefix as well as at the beginning, middle and end of the rest of the surname (the root word).
Sound glides are a particular problem, in which the "k" sound at the end of the "Mc" prefix distorts the first letter of the root word (e.g. McCue/McKew/McHugh, McLachlan/McGloughlan).
Transcription errors can also produce non-"Mac" surnames (e.g. Mackever/Markever), which can prove a trap for the ignorant.
This lesson discusses all of these sound and letter problems.
This lesson can be accessed by Writing Fabulous Family Histories Annual Members as part of the A Helpful Miscellany series. It will eventually be made available as an individual lesson. Contact Carol if you would like to access this as an individual lesson sooner rather than later.
carol@writingfabulousfamilyhistories.com
More online courses