British Isles DNA by County

Surnames/General

Resources

Content by
Linda Jonas ©2006

Surnames

Recognizing the various forms of your surname is essential to English research.  For example, the surname Thompson could be recorded in England as Thomasset, Tamblyn, Tomlinson, and many other variations that all mean "son of Thomas."  To find surname variations see

Bardsley, Charles Wareing, A Dictionary of English and Welsh surnames

Finding Aids

Smith's Inventory of Genealogical Sources is probably the single most valuable finding aid to British Isles sources held in the Family History Library collection. Smith's Inventory of Genealogical Sources was compiled by Frank Smith and a team of researchers who indexed items in periodicals, books, and microfilms which are not specifically listed in the Family History Library Catalog.  There are inventories for England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. All serious researchers must use both the Family History Library Catalog and Smith's Inventories.

England: FHL Fiche #6110526

Wales: FHL Fiche #6110529

General Reference

Evans, H. Meurig and W.O. Thomas, Welsh-English, English-Welsh Dictionary/

Davies, Dewi. Welsh Place-Names and Their Meanings.

The Oxford English Dictionary