Welsh Journals

COGNOMENS IN WALES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY VOLUME XXII No.4 of this Journal (Winter 1982) contained an article entitled 'Personal Names in Wales in the Fifteenth Century' showing the distribution of the names in various regions of Wales as deduced from the Indexes to Welsh Genealogies, A.D. 1400 -1500, National Library of Wales, 1983 (= WG 2). The indexes to this edition, concerning persons estimated or known to be born between 1415 and 1515 and slightly modified by later additions and corrections, have been used to investigate the distribution of cognomens in the same way. Because of the large number of persons indexed, Wales was divided into six regions, and each has its own index. Unfortunately the original indexes, in which Wales was divided into ten regions, are no longer available as they were for the former article. They were destroyed on the assumption that they would not be needed any more. The six regions are: C Gwynedd Uwch Conwy R Gwynedd Is Conwy P Powys D Deheubarth (Ceredigion, Dyfed and Ystrad Tywi) B Brycheiniog and Rhwng Gwy a Hafren G Gwent and Morgannwg Before the days when surnames became normal in Wales, cognomens were useful for identifying people, in addition to patronymics or independently. Cognomens were by no means invariable in their use. Not that a person was given more than one at different times, but because a cognomen was often not used regularly either in documents or pedigrees. In the indexes used, a cognomen has always been included if it appears in at least one pedigree. It must be remembered that the genealogies are concerned mainly with uchelwyr or landowning gentry, and of course not all the persons of that class appear in the genealogies. Thus the data available are bound to be approximate.