Typically surnames can be derived from 4 sources:
1 Local Surnames
eg Kendal (town in Westmorland),Southam (village in Warwickshire), Hartshorn (village in Derbyshire)
2 Surnames of relationships
eg Thompson (son of Thomas), Dunning (son of Dunn in old English)
3Surnames of occupation
eg Fletcher, Cook, Glover, Carpenter
4 Nicknames
eg Dunn ("swarthy one" evolving into Dunning - see above)
An excellent book on the subject is "A Dictionary of English Surnames" by Reaney and Wilson
For more information on some of the surnames on my tree click on the name
Kendell, Montgomery, Gee, Shortgrave, Dunning, Hazlewood
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