With an increasing fascination in Britain with family history, the origins and meaning of family names is a subject that will interest many.

From April 2010 Professor Richard Coates at the University of the West of England will be leading a four year research project funded by the AHRC, which aims to create the largest ever publicly available database of family names in the UK. The database will draw together information from a wide range of existing sources, as well as new research into records dating as far back as the eleventh century, and will provide information on the social, linguistic and geographical origins of up to 150,000 family names, from common and well-established surnames to more obscure or recently introduced ones.

“I have always been fascinated by names for people, places and institutions.  Surnames are part of our identity, so most people are interested in knowing about their names.” says Professor Coates. “Our project will use the most up to date techniques and evidence available to create a more detailed and accurate resource than those currently available. For example new statistical methods for linking family names to locations will enable us to provide more accurate and detailed origins for names.”

Running Time: 4 Minutes. File size 3.91 mb

 A transcript of this podcast is also available (pdf 30kb)