Welsh Journals

third dimension, the discussion of what and why as well as how, makes this a book one could recommend to inspire students who have some experi- ence of local history (through attending an extra-mural class, perhaps?) and are embarking on serious independent research. However, it also has much of value to say to the more experienced student and even to the professional. MADELEINE GRAY Cardiff THE SURNAMES OF WALES FOR FAMILY HISTORIANS AND OTHERS. By John and Sheila Rowlands. Federation of Family History Society (Publications) Ltd., Birmingham, 1996. Pp. 217. £ 9.95. This is a welcome addition to the growing body of writing on surnames. While not covering all surnames found in Wales, it is by far the most useful guide for family historians, sorting out the incidence of the most common surnames, 'the overwhelming patronymic deluge' (p. 19), as well as dealing with many examples of odd or unusual surnames which illustrate certain points, for example, many surnames often thought of as English but which came into Wales at an early date, thus forming part of the Welsh surnaming stock. The book is unusually good on English names long established in Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, and on those brought several centuries ago into Flintshire or Denbighshire by miners from such areas as Derby- shire. The opening two chapters define the various kinds of Welsh surname; the third chapter describes the adoption of fixed surnames by the Welsh in the early modern period, some examples being given of the lingering of the older patronymic system into the nineteenth century. It is with chapter four that we come to the really important and pioneering part of this book: a complete survey of all the surnames of Wales from the years 1813 to 1837, based mainly on the marriage registers at the earliest period at which they are reasonably comprehensive. This vast undertaking has been computer- ized by the authors, enabling them to draw all kinds of conclusions. In this way they have carried out in a far more detailed way for Wales that which H. B. Guppy did more superficially for the whole of England and Wales in his survey of surnames in 1890. In order to give their survey historical depth, they have compared the stock of surnames of marriage-partners in 1813-37 to names in earlier documents, such as the extensive fifteenth- century genealogies of the Welsh compiled by Mr P. C. Bartrum.