This discussion on the Onomastic naming pattern is great, but... It leads to great confusion in family research for me. On my tree, I have 19 Peter Thorntons, and only 2 have middle names. Similar records for William and James. When searching, I need to find wives, as even birth years don't work when brothers would have sons in the same year! Now I'm trying to find the origin of THORNTON. Many say it's English, but so far I have mine back to 1720s in West Lothian then Lanarkshire. Last week I found one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in America was Matthew Thornton who was born in Ireland in 1714 and emigrated with his parents in 1717. So my search continues. If anyone has any clues or comments, please let me know. Thank you, Jeannette, daughter of a Thornton from Ferniegair On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 3:38 AM, Jose Jones via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Coincidentally, I had just been trying to identify some ancestors using > the traditional Scottish parental naming system when this email arrived. > > I found a very good article explaining the difference between the > traditional parental Scottish and the ancestral Scottish naming patterns ( > http://www.johnbrobb.com/Content/TheScottishOnomasticPattern.pdf). > > However, based on the article, you might be interested to know that in the > 18th and 19th centuries over 72% of sons were called John, James, William, > Alexander or Robert and nearly 69% of daughters were called Margaret, Mary, > Jennet, Elizabeth, Jean or Ann - so, no wonder there is such confusion! ... > especially if combined with Smith or Brown! > > Jose > > > Sent from my iPad > > > On 14 Apr 2016, at 19:46, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > > > > http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 > > > > Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly > Scottish (?): > > > > (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young > > > > Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names > are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood > that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the > female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My > ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central > Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English > and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. > > > > Maisie > > > > ------------------------------- > > > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on > the following link to the list information page online: > > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on > the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >
A good book on the source of Scottish surnames is *The Surnames of Scotland *by George F Black. He has this to say: THORNTON. From the lands ofThornton in the Mearns. The first of the nameto appear is Laurence de Thoneton, witness in a deedby Henry, abbot of Arbroath, c. 1204-11 (RAA., i, p 117). John of Thornton, burgess of Montrose, and Johan de Thorntone0f the county of Kicardyn en Miernes, rendered homage in 1296 (Bain,ii, p 198, 209). In 1299 Walter de Thorneton, a Scots prisoner of war, who was exchanged for an esquire of Sir William de Cathcart, is probably Walter de Thornetone, executor of Marie, countess of Stratherne in the same year. There is more, so there is quite a lot of information out there. Best Regards, Iain McKenzie Glasgow On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 3:57 PM, Jeannette Walton via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > This discussion on the Onomastic naming pattern is great, but... It leads > to great confusion in family research for me. On my tree, I have 19 Peter > Thorntons, and only 2 have middle names. Similar records for William and > James. When searching, I need to find wives, as even birth years don't > work when brothers would have sons in the same year! > > Now I'm trying to find the origin of THORNTON. Many say it's English, but > so far I have mine back to 1720s in West Lothian then Lanarkshire. Last > week I found one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in > America was Matthew Thornton who was born in Ireland in 1714 and emigrated > with his parents in 1717. > > So my search continues. If anyone has any clues or comments, please let > me know. > > Thank you, > Jeannette, daughter of a Thornton from Ferniegair > > On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 3:38 AM, Jose Jones via <lanark@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > Coincidentally, I had just been trying to identify some ancestors using > > the traditional Scottish parental naming system when this email arrived. > > > > I found a very good article explaining the difference between the > > traditional parental Scottish and the ancestral Scottish naming patterns > ( > > http://www.johnbrobb.com/Content/TheScottishOnomasticPattern.pdf). > > > > However, based on the article, you might be interested to know that in > the > > 18th and 19th centuries over 72% of sons were called John, James, > William, > > Alexander or Robert and nearly 69% of daughters were called Margaret, > Mary, > > Jennet, Elizabeth, Jean or Ann - so, no wonder there is such confusion! > ... > > especially if combined with Smith or Brown! > > > > Jose > > > > > > Sent from my iPad > > > > > On 14 Apr 2016, at 19:46, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > > > http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 > > > > > > Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me > truly > > Scottish (?): > > > > > > (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young > > > > > > Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four > names > > are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood > > that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the > > female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My > > ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central > > Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English > > and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. > > > > > > Maisie > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > > > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > > > > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click > on > > the following link to the list information page online: > > > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > > > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on > > the following link to the list information page online: > > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier > message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on > the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Hello: Thornton would probably pertain to a place name in many cases I would think ?. I have no idea which are your Thornton. You will find families of Thornton m. into families like: Alexander Leslie-Melville, Earl of Leven m. Jane Thornton. Richard Rich [1 Baron Rich Lord Chancellor England] had Audrey 'Ethelreda' Rich m. Robert Drury and had Anne Drury m. John Thornton. [High marriage]. William Wright of Plowland in Holderness Yorks m. Ann Thornton b:c.1530? of Thornton Yorks, who connect near those involved in the Powder Plot. [High marriage]. http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=thornton : Irish. http://irishdeedsindex.net/search/index.php : Still being much transcribed for some time yet. Try a surname only search to start off with. https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Thornton?iframe=ycolorized : To have any immediate idea of which Thornton family one might belong to (or NOT!), a DNA test must be done. (or NOT!): Just as important, you can drop off wods of known lines that are not yours. The Domesday Book of 1086 lists 24 places called Thornton. [Johan de Thorntone]: Sounds more towards a 'town' name, and [James Thorntoune Glasgow 1685] the same, which seems a very late date for this spelling, so you could also expect a surname spelling change any time soon. But, for my own meager English research, it seems that mainly the upper gentry took on the names of places, to the greater extent ?. But 1720 I feel is well too late for a surname origin, depending of course how famous in antiquity the family may be. Origins mostly go back hundreds of years before this ?. What are the top 20 SURNAMES or so in Scotland ?. Bart .... -----Original Message----- Now I'm trying to find the origin of THORNTON. Many say it's English, but so far I have mine back to 1720s in West Lothian then Lanarkshire. ---------------------------------
Thornton is reasonably straightfoward - from Old English meaning 'thorn' and the suffix '-ton' which again is Old English and means a farm. So it's a place name from a place which is thorny. I know what G F Black says, but it's entirely possible for the surname to have originated independently in one of several places of the same name as well as in the Mearns. I can think of a Thornton in Fife and another in Angus, and a Thorntoun in Ayrshire. There is a concentration of the surname around West Lothian and Lanarkshire. My 4th-great-grandfather was Duncan Thornton, who farmed at Hirst in the parish of Shotts in the late 18th century. It must have been a pretty hard life because it's poor farmland, heavy, wet and boggy in spite of being high up and pretty exposed to the worst of the weather. He had 11 recorded children by two marriages. Two daughters died young, another daughter died unmarried at a ripe old age, and one son was my 3rd-great-grandfather. I have no idea what became of the other two sone and five daughters. They may also have died young, or moved away, or emigrated. As for Duncan, I have no idea where he came from. Anne