Names Found in 17th C Wills from the Shetland Islands, Scotland

by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada (Kathleen M. O'Brien)

Introduction

This article analyzes names found in wills from the Shetland Islands during the years 1612-1650, along with a single will from 1686. These 812 records reference 1040 men, 554 women, and 6 people for whom a gender could not be determined.

There are a handful of cases where a single person is listed multiple times in these records. These situations occur when a person is listed both in their own will and in their spouse's will. In addition, given the date range for these wills, it is entirely possible that a person is listed as a minor child in an early record and their own will appears later.

Because of these issues, and the inability to be certain when matching up names to identify multiple references to the same person, I have treated every name as a separate person for the purposes of frequency counts.

An Amazing Blend of Data

What is absolutely fascinating about this data set are the number of different types of naming patterns that all show up in this single set of records. Some of these trends can be explained by the location of the Shetland Islands. They lie off the northeast coast of Scotland and, so, have had heavy Norse influences.

The name elements in this record show Norse, Gaelic, and English elements, in a blend that is uniquely Scottish.

I have organized discussions of the different aspects of this data set into the following categories:

Construction Patterns
Patronymic Bynames
- a single example of a Matronymic Byname
Inherited Surnames
Marital Names Not Used
Plural Forms of Surnames
Z Used for the Yogh (Ȝ) Character
Name Elements
Sources

Construction Patterns

The names in this data set, with one exception, all either solely a given name or else take the form:

[Given Name] [Patronymic Byname or Surname]

The single exception to this rule is the example of Andrew of Melby found in the entry:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

788. Andro Georgeson in Middale, died 20th Feb. 1648, given up by Andrew of Melby in absence of Janet Gibson relict, in name of Marbrun and Agnes Georgesdochter his sisters. 12 134 1 788 1648 09 30

Patronymic Bynames

This data set has numerous examples of bynames formed from a father's given name. These bynames take the forms:
[Father's Given Name (sometimes in a possessive form)] + -son (meaning: "son of [Father's Given Name]")
and
[Father's Given Name (sometimes in a possessive form)] + -dochter (meaning: "daughter of [Father's Given Name]")

Some examples include:

"Daughter" Form "Son" Form

Antoninsdochter Antoninsson

Bothwellsdochter Bothwellson

Christophersdochter Christopherson

Edwardsdochter Edwardson

Erasmusdochter Erasmusson

Georgesdochter Georgeson

Gilbertsdochter Gilbertson

Gregoriusdochter Gregoriusson

Henriesdochter Henrieson

"Daughter" Form "Son" Form

Jacobsdochter Jacobson

Jamesdochter Jameson

Johnsdochter Johnson

Laurencedochter Laurenceson

Magnusdochter Magnusson

Mansdochter Manson

Marensdochter Marensone

Matchesdochter Matcheson

Mathewsdochter Mathewson

"Daughter" Form "Son" Form

Nicolsdochter Nicolson

Olasdochter Olason

Petersdochter Peterson

Robertsdochter Robertson

Schewartsdochter Schewartson

Symonsdochter Symonson

Thomasdochter Thomasson

Williamsdochter Williamson

The data also includes two records that explicitly show patronymic bynames formed from a father's given name. In the first entry below, Sinnevo Androsdochter is identified as the daughter of Andrew Strang. An interesting point on this entry is that her father had an inherited surname, but Sinnevo has a literal patronymic byname.
In the second entry below, Edward Nicolson is identifed as the father of six sons who bore the byname Edwardson. (The form Edwardsons shown in the entry is plural.)

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

612. Andrew Strang in Burreswick, died October 1633. Magdalen his relict, Sinnevo Androsdochter his daughter. 12 40 2 612 1634 08 29

781. Christine Philip, spouse of Arthur Clerk in Breck, Walls, died July 1648. Nicol, Peter, Thomas, James, Henry, and Robert Edwardsons, her bairns by Edward Nicolson her first spouse. 12 134 1 781 1648 09 23

In addition to the numerous examples of patronymic bynames in this data set, there is a single example of a matronymic byname:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

665. Edward Manson in South Neep, Nesting, died May 1647. Magnus his son, Euphan Margaretsdochter his relict. 12 89 2 665 1638 06 06

In this case, this entry says that Edward, who was the son of Mans in his will mentioned his son Magnus and his widow Euphan, who was the daughter of Margaret.

Inherited Surnames

Father and Child Examples:

In the entries below, an inherited surname is shared by a father and his child:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

202. Thomas Bon in Scalloway-banks, died March 1602, Adam Boin in Scalloway-bankis his son. 10 182 2 202 1613 08 20

247. Grizel Nisbet, daughter to Peter Nisbet in Kirkcabister, Yell, died May 1606. Daniel and David her brothers. 11 39 1 247 1615 07 31

271. Marion Chalmer, daughter to deceased Henry Chalmer in Howgoland, Whiteness. 11 39 2 271 1615 09 22

525. Margaret Coghill, daughter of Andrew Coghill in Olagarth, Papa Stour. 12 39 1 525 1630 08 13

672. Malcolm Sinclair, son to Henry Sinclair in Gathesbark, died 15th April 1645. George, William, Isabel, Martha, Mary, and Margaret his brothers and sisters. 12 90 1 672 1648 06 29

783. Agnes Wright, spouse to William Forsyth in Scalloway, died 31st May 1648. Arthur Forsyth only child. 12 134 1 783 1648 09 27

Sibling Examples:

In the entries below, an inherited surname is shared by two siblings:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

482. Marion Ferquair, relict of Henry Coupland of Skae, Unst, died December 1629. David Ferquhair her brother and Katherine her sister. 12 38 1 482 1630 07 17

488. Henry Coupland in Ska, Unst, died December 1629. Ann Coupland his sister. 12 38 1 488 1630 07 17

496. Daniel Forrester, died July 1629. Alexander Forrester his brother. 12 38 2 496 1630 07 22

784. Margaret Umphray, spouse to Henry Sinclair, brother to Laurence Sinclair of Burgh, died 4th March 1645. Hew, Patrick, Helen, and Jean her children. 12 134 1 784 1648 09 27

788. Andro Georgeson in Middale, died 20th Feb. 1648, given up by Andrew of Melby in absence of Janet Gibson relict, in name of Marbrun and Agnes Georgesdochter his sisters. 12 134 1 788 1648 09 30

Uncle/Aunt With Nephew/Niece Examples:

In the entries below, an inherited surname is shared between two siblings, where at least one of the siblings is a brother. Then, that surname is inherited by that brother's child.

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

414. Thomas Gray in Kirkhouse, Unst, died December 1622. Anne Nicollsdochter his relict, and Margaret Gray his brother's daughter. 11 135 1 414 1627 07 23

485. Christian Strang in Voesgarth, Unst, died February 1630. James Strang of Voesgarth, her father's brother. 12 38 1 485 1630 07 17

492. Agnes Hay in Wailzie, Unst, died May 1629. Andrew Hay her brother's son. 12 38 1 492 1630 07 17

787. Patrick Cheyne of Vaila, died 23rd December 1643, given up by James Cheyne of Raewick, uncle to Patrick, Agnes, Katherine, Christian, and Marjorie his children. 12 134 1 787 1648 09 27

Marital Names Not Used

The vast majority of these records show the name of both spouses. Some are the will of a man and his widow (relict) is named. In other cases, the will is for a woman and she is noted as being a wife or widow and her husband's name is given.
The pattern is overwhelmingly clear that women did not take their husband's surname upon marriage. In the case of literal patronymic bynames, such a pattern makes sense. If your surname is based on your father's given name, that would not change when you marry. If your father's given name was William, it would still be William after you married. This pattern of not assuming a "married name" seems also to hold when both spouses have what are obviously inherited surnames. So, while other regions (such as England) had shifted to a predominant use of married names by the early 17th C, Shetland had not.
Given the number of records, and the relatively small population, it is expected that a handful of spouses will have similar bynames or surnames based on sheer coincidence. That small handful of examples appears as expected in this data set. In all but the last three cases below, both spouses have patronymic bynames. So, in such cases, it is less surprising to have similar bynames when you realize that both spouses have a father named Magnus and Magnus is a fairly popular name in this region, etc.

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

38. Guneild Magnusdochter, spouse of John Magnusson in Westerhouse. 10 179 2 38 1613 07 05

105. Guthrow Olasdochter, spouse to deceased Andrew Olawsons in Hugonsetter. 10 180 2 105 1613 07 19

137. Agnes Olasdochter, spouse to deceased Ola Manson in Neschdoun. 10 181 1 137 1613 07 24

411. Anna Williamsdochter, spouse of Mans Williamson in Langhouse, Unst. 11 135 1 411 1627 07 19

465. Andro Androison in Cliff, Unst, died March 1629. Ingagarth Androisdochter, his relict, and Sinnevo and Agnes his children. 12 37 2 465 1629 08 11

483. Marion Johnsdochter, spouse of Nicol Johnissone in Watquhy, Unst. 12 38 1 483 1630 07 17

739. Christian Nicolsdochter, spouse of Thomas Nicolson in Deall. 12 133 1 739 1648 08 25

270. Barthol Strang of Voesgarth, died August 1612 ; given up by Thomas Cheyne of Vaila on behalf of Christian Strang, his spouse. 11 39 2 270 1615 09 20

786. Margaret Sinclair, spouse to Laurence Sinclair of Burgh, died 28th April 1646. Hew her only son. 12 134 1 786 1648 09 27

802. William Hay, minister at Walls, died 20th October 1647. Barbara Hay his relict. 12 134 2 802 1649 08 28

Whether the last three entries above indicate unrelated individuals who married or some level of cousins who married, it is impossible to tell. Regardless, the appearance of similar bynames between spouses is in keeping with the scope of this dataset and the number of these instances is, as expected, small.

Plural Forms of Surnames

In a handful of cases, surnames are listed in a plural form. These cases usually occur when two siblings are listed in the same record. Example of this type of entry include:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

514. Mathew and Bothwell Erasmussons in Wairavo Northmaven. 12 38 2 514 1630 08 07

523. Katherine Sinclair, spouse to Bartelmo Hawick of Nischeam, Delting, died March 1622. Janet, Elspeth, and Agnes Hawicks her children. 12 39 1 523 1630 08 07

623. Edward and Nicoll Cloustans in Sandwick, Dunrossness. 12 89 1 623 1634 09 27

In these entries, it seems that a surname has been formed into a plural form, a practice that is not present in English today. In the cases above, Erasmussons likely represents a singular form of Erasmusson, similarly Hawicks for Hawick and Cloustans for Cloustan. In the cases of plural forms, I have listed them in the surname list in their singular form.

Z Used for the Yogh (Ȝ) Character

Yogh (capital Ȝ, lowercase ȝ) is a character that was used in Middle Scots and Middle English. It was pronounced approximately like the y at the beginning of the words you or yes in modern English.
A standard convention in 19th century when transcribing manuscripts into typeface (and into the 20th century as well) was to represent the yogh character (ȝ) using a z. Entries in this record set which exhibit this convention include:

Entry Text Vol. Page Col. Entry Year Month Day

277. Ola Zell in Easter Skeld, Sandsting. 11 39 2 277 1615 09 27

475. Marion Graham, spouse of Andrew Tailzeor in Stromness, Whiteness, died March 1628. Magnus and William her children. 12 38 1 475 1629 09 12

535. Andrew Tailzeor in Strornness, Whalsay, died October 1629. William his son. 12 39 1 535 1630 08 30

In these cases, the surnames Zell and Tailzeor that appear in these entries respectively, would appear as Ȝell and Tailȝeor in the original manuscript.

Name Elements

Men's Given Names

Sorted By Frequency
Sorted Alphabetically

Full Names - Sorted Alphabetically

Women's Given Names

Sorted By Frequency
Sorted Alphabetically

Full Names - Sorted Alphabetically

Surnames

Full Names - Sorted Alphabetically

In addition to the entries sorted into the lists above, there were a handful of entries that used a given name used by both men and women. These entries did not contain other information that would allow me to identify the person mentioned as either a man or a woman.

Sources

"The Commissariot Register of Shetland". The Scottish Antiquary, Or, Northern Notes & Queries, Volume 10. (Scotland: T. and A. Constable, 1896). (http://books.google.com/books?id=TJAeAQAAMAAJ, accessed 28 March 2013). pp. 178-183.

"The Commissariot Register of Shetland". The Scottish Antiquary, Or, Northern Notes & Queries, Volumes 11-12. (Scotland: T. and A. Constable, 1897). (http://books.google.com/books?id=OfAGAAAAYAAJ, accessed 28 March 2013). p. 39, pp. 90-91, pp. 133-135.

"The Commissariot Register of Shetland". The Scottish Antiquary, Or, Northern Notes & Queries, Volume 12. (Scotland: T. and A. Constable, 1898). (http://books.google.com/books?id=UZAeAQAAMAAJ, accessed 28 March 2013). p. 37-40, pp. 89-90, pp. 132-134

Other Resources

Black, George. The Surnames of Scotland. (The New York Public Library, 1993).

Medieval Scotland | Medieval Names Archive | Names Found in 17th C Wills from the Shetland Islands, Scotland

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