This book combines linguistic and historical approaches with the latest techniques of DNA analysis and shows the insights these offer for every kind of genealogical research. It focuses on British names, tracing their origins to different parts of the British Isles and Europe and revealing how names often remain concentrated in the districts where they first became established centuries ago. In the process the book casts fresh light on the ancient peopling of the British Isles. The authors consider why some names die out while others spread across the globe. They use recent advances in DNA...

How names were acquired, and how they have changed, is a subject of perennial fascination. They are part of our personal histories, defining who we are and where we live. Names are everywhere, identifying people, places, animals, ships, materials, plants, public houses and fields. To understand them we need to look beyond etymologies, examining names instead in their historic and chronological contexts. The investigations in Names and History all involve fascinating detective stories into the connections between names and related subjects - archaeology and the landscape; genealogy, genetics...