Message: "LOOKING FOR MEANINGS IN MY FAMILY NAMES"

LOOKING FOR MEANINGS IN MY FAMILY NAMES

by NANCY SOWARDS RADTKE (guest)

7/25/2005, 6:42 PM

MY FAMILY NAMES ARE VAN OVER, SOWARDS, JUSTICE, RAY, PLYMALE, PETERS AND BLACKBURN.
DOES ANYONE KNOW THE MEANINGS OF THESE NAMES AND WHERE THEY ARE FROM?
NESR@ATT.NET
WOULD APPRECIATE ANY HELP.
THANKS
NANCY

Replies

- kynaston +1

7/28/2005, 2:36 PM

Van Over - don't know for sure, possibly from the same source as the English surname Over which means "dweller on the bank of a river" from the Old English 'ofer'. Van means "of".

Sowards - possibly means "sow herd". Can't find it at the moment, I will look it up properly tomorrow.

Justice - Means "justice" sometimes applied as an occupational surname to a judge. From the Old French, Middle English 'justice'.

Ray -Click here - http://surnames.behindthename.com/php/search.php?terms=Ray&type=n&operator=or

Plymale - no clue off hand.

Peters - "son of Peter"

Blackburn - "from Blackburn, England".

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770555

- Jim Young (guest)

8/1/2005, 3:40 PM

The Plymales of the US claim that their ancestor(s) migrated from Brittany, in France. However I think the name may be French rather than Breton. There is a French surname, Plumail,which might be the original. The letter U in French is thin and might become an I or a Y when pronounced by English speakers. The surname derives from the word plume, and Jean Tosti speculates that it might be a nickname for someone who wore a feather in his hat.
Plumail is found most frequently in the Mayenne region of France, which is next door to Brittany.

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