Monthly Archives: October 2015

Surname Variants and Deviants

 

A surname variant is a long term change in the spelling of a name, usually over several generations[1]. E.g. Brymer and Brimer are variants of the same name.

A surname deviant is a transitory change in spelling which may be caused by a clerical error either at the time the record was originally made or at the time of transcription. It usually occurs randomly and inconsistently.[2] E.g. Brimer has been transcribed as Binner or Bruner and Brograve has been transcribed as Brymer on various online census records.

Deviants can obviously cause a lot of problems and result in ‘missing’ records. FamilySearch[3] provide a couple of useful tools which can help:

  • Commonly Misread Letters Table – this shows how indexers and transcribers sometimes misread handwriting. For the Brimer and Brymer surnames the common mistakes, in order of probability are as follows. Bold mistakes are especially common:
Intended Common Mistake
B R P S
r e s i ei a
i e c l
y g q j z p ej ij if
m w rr ni in iv ev ai ui iu
e i c
r e s I ei a

 

  • Phonetics Substitution Table – this shows how a name was sometimes misspelled when the record was created because the official misunderstood what the informant said for example as a result of an unfamiliar accent. It was compounded by high levels of illiteracy when people did not know how to spell their own names.
Original Letters which might be substituted for the original
B p v bb pp
r rr wr rh
i a e o u y ei uy aye
y i e ij
m mm lm mb mn n
e a ee I o u y ie ea
r rr wr rh

 

It is staggering that there are 24,710,400 possible combinations for Brimer and the same again for Brymer – plenty of scope for those missing records to be found! The number of combinations and the combinations themselves can be worked out using a selective substitution table developed by Andrew Millard.[4]

[1] Kennett, Debbie. (2012) The Surnames Handbook: A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 49-59.

[2] Ibid

[3] FamilySearch. Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada. https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Spelling_Substitution_Tables_for_the_United_States_and_Canada : accessed 23 October 2015.

[4] Durham University. Palgraves Selective Substitution Method for Generating Surname Variant. http://www.dur.ac.uk/a.r.millard/genealogy/SelectiveSubstitution.xls : accessed 23 October 2015.


Brimer-Brymer database last updated at 2016-07-02 00:29:43 with 4028 census records and 2856 individuals

What is the meaning of the Brimer or Brymer name?

The surnames Brimer and Brymer are usually considered to be variants of surnames Brebner, Bremner or Brimmer. Various meanings have been suggested for these names:

  1. Derived from the name of an ancestor, ‘the son of Brihmar.’ In Domesday Brihtmar, Suffolk; Britmar, Somerset; Brihmarus and Brumarus, Suffolk.[1]
  2. The old form was Brabener, ‘the brabander’ i.e. a native of Brabant. In the Caithness pronunciation of the name the medial b is sometimes heard. Artificers and traders from the Low Countries of the continent settled in Aberdeen and elsewhere on the East Coast at an early date. “The braboner, webster craft or weaver trade, holds eighth place amongst the nine trades” of Dundee (Warden, Burgh laws of Dundee p. 503). The name was common in East Ross, Mar and Strathdon in the sixteenth century.[2]
  3. From the Anglo-Saxon Bremman, Breme or Brim to extend, to amplify to the utmost limits; to be violent, furious, to rage; a violent, bold, furious man; “Foughten breme,” that is, “He fought furiously.” Bremmer, a native of Bremen, Germany.[3]
  4. A passionate man, from brim, to be violent.[4]

It will be interesting to see what the research project at the Bristol Centre for Linguistics in the University of the West of England  write about the Brimer and Brymer surnames  in the The Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland which is not due to be published until 2017. It will contain details about the etymology of all surnames with 20 or more bearers in the UK in the 1881 census, their linguistic origin, geographical origin, number of bearers and geographical distribution in 1881, and the current number of bearers according to the most recent (2011) UK census.[5]

 

[1] Bardsley. Charles Wareing Endell. (1901) A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames. London: H. Frowde. p. 142. https://archive.org/details/adictionaryengl00goog : accessed 19 October 2015.

[2] Black, George Fraser. (1946) The Surnames of Scotland. New York: New York public library. http://forebears.co.uk/surnames/brymer#meaning : accessed 19 October 2015.

[3] Arthur, William. (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York : Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. p. 57. https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00arthuoft : accessed 19 October 2015.

[4] Sims, Clifford Stanley. (1862)  The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames; with a Vocabulary of Christian Names. Albany, New York : J Munsell. p. 21. https://archive.org/details/originandsignif00simsgoog : accessed 19 October 2015.

[5] UWE. Family Names of the United Kingdom (FaNUK) http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/cahe/research/bristolcentreforlinguistics/fanuk.aspx : accessed 19 October 2015.


Brimer-Brymer database last updated at 2016-07-02 00:29:43 with 4028 census records and 2856 individuals