Request origins on following surnames: Alton Pavlak VanDuyser Thank you, Bill Waterhouse Mystic, CT USA < wm.r.waterhouse@mailstation.com >

ALTON (English) Habitation names from several sources in England. Hants, Dorset, and Wiltshire have places of that name that are at the sources of the rivers Wey, Piddle, and Avon respectively. In this case the name comes from the Old English "aewiell" (spring, source) + "tun" (enclosure, settlement). Alton in Derbyshire and Alton Grange in Leicestershire seem to have had as their first element Old English "(e)ald" (old"). Other examples derive from various Old English personal names such as in Staffordshire, the settlement "AElfa" (the first element = "elf"), one in Wiltshire from "AElla" and one in Worcestershire, recorded as "Eanulfintun" in 1023 seems to have come from "Eanwulf" (from an unknown element + "wulf" (wolf)). PAVLAK -Couldn't find as given but did find: \ PAVLIK (Czech.) Variation of " Little Paul". ---Source: A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges. VANDUYSER - ? Barbara Bill Waterhouse wrote: > Request origins on following surnames: > > Alton > > Pavlak > > VanDuyser > > Thank you, > Bill Waterhouse > Mystic, CT USA > < wm.r.waterhouse@mailstation.com > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

> Pavlak Pavlak - Czech name derived from the name Paul/Paulus > VanDuyser The ethomologists don't seem to be quite descided on what the Duis" part means. "Duis-" is quite common in place names in Western Germany and the Netherlands (Düssen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, etc.) Possibitlity No 1. : the duis stemmes from the old indoeuropeans word "dus" meaning decay or poison. Possibilty No. 2 : Duis is a shorted form of MaTHEUS. Regards, Ingolf Vogel