Cornish surnames

Others have strong roots in the region and many in the UK with names such as Eddy, Stark or Rowe are likely to have Cornish origins.

Due to the linguistic similarity of Cornish, Welsh and Breton, some surnames can derive from any of the three regions.

The most common surnames in Cornwall are derived from patronymics, the father's first name being taken either without alteration, for example 'John', or with the addition of genitive '-s' or, typically Cornish, '-o', e.g. 'Bennetto' or '-y' as in 'Pawley'.

[1] The phrase Tre, Pol and Pen is used to describe people from, or places in, Cornwall, the United Kingdom.

Other examples of place-names used as surnames: As in many other parts of Europe, names were used to describe the occupation of the head of the family; "Angove" (Cornish: an Gov "the Smith"), for example, being the equivalent to the Irish Gowan, Scottish Gow, Breton "Le Goff", "Legoff", "Legoffic", English "Smith", German "Schmidt", Polish "Kowalski", and Italian "Ferrero".

Other examples of names derived from trades include "Dyer" (Cornish: tior "thatcher") and "Helyer" (Cornish: helghyer "hunter"), both of which can be found in English too, i.e. "Thatcher" and "Hunter" respectively, while Dyer itself is also English for someone who dyes clothing.

Another feature of these patronymics was the diminutive suffix "-kin" being added the father's first name e.g. "Tonkin", which may derive from either Anthony or Thomas.

The change must have occurred at a point when the original "k" at the beginning of the English word was still pronounced and thus suggests an early period in which it was anglicised.