English surnames did not come into proper use until
the period 1250 - 1450 when
the increase in population prompted a method of distinguishing between people for
tax
collection purposes.The actual surnames that were adopted where usually based
upon a person's occupation, patronymic
or matronymic first names, where he or she
lived, or some particular bodily characteristic.
Within the immediate members of a particular family an attempt may have been made
to standardize the spelling
of their surname, however the more distant the relative the
more likely that there would have been significant
variations in the spellings, and of
course as parts of families moved from place to place widespread differences
in
dialect and endemic illiteracy would not have helped..
The simple fact is that there was no such
thing as one standard spelling of a surname
until the mid-eighteenth century when things began to get a little better.
'Fenning', 'Fennings'.
This interesting and unusual name is of medieval English
origin and is a topographic
surname for someone who lived in a low-lying marshy area. The derivation is from the
old English pre 7th Century "foenn", which is the East Saxon form of the word "fenn",
meaning
marsh or bog. In the modern idiom, the variants include Fenn, Venn, Vaun(e),
Vance, Vanns, Van, Fenning and Fanning.
Amongst examples of namebearers recorded in
Norfolk are, one, Alice Fann who married Thomas Preston on October 8th 1593
at St.
Gregory's church, Norwich and Robert Fann, the infant son of William and Ann who was
christened on
January 13th 1705 at St. Mary at Coslany church, Norwich. The first
recorded spelling of the family name is shown to
be that of John del Fan, which was
dated 1199, in the Memoranda Roll of Essex, during the reign of King Richard 11,
known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. As I have previously stated, surnames
became necessary when governments
introduced personal taxation. In England this
was known as the Poll Tax.
Modern variations of the original
'root' Saxon surname 'Foenn' include Fenn,
Fenning, Fening, Fennings, Fennynge, Fenyng, Fenynge, Fanning,
Fannings,
Fining, Finnings, Van, Vanne, Vening, Venning, Vennings, Pfening and Pfenning.
It would appear
therefore that the 'Fenning' 'Fennings' surname may have it's roots
in Saxon, or north east
German origins, and has been established in this country for
a considerable time.
Research has shown that
there are still families bearing the surnames 'Fenning' and
'Fennings' living in Germany, Holland
and in several Scandinavian countries.
In our case, the official records indicate that the our original family
surname in the
early eighteenth century was 'Fenning', so why the alteration to 'Fennings' was
made, is something of a puzzle.
If one follows the traditionally accepted view, then the addition of
the 'S' at the end of
a surname indicates 'son of''.
I have attempted to verify
this, and as far as I can make out, this was an addition
that was applied by the Welsh to certain surnames
to imply 'son of'', so whether the
Angles, Saxons or English ever applied this same rule will
remain a mystery to me.
To some extent I can understand how antiquity has caused the creation of so
many
different surname spellings from a 'root' name - this could be due to different regional
dialects,
widespread illiteracy, and mis-transcriptions by Government bodies, however
this does not explain why there
are today 'Fenning' and 'Fennings' families having
surnames that are spelt identically but who appear
to be unrelated
It is understandable for this to have happened with surnames such as 'Smith',
'Cooper', 'Fletcher', 'Arrowsmith', 'Butcher' , because these surnames were taken
from actual professions, and it is most unlikely that there was a single butcher, fletcher,
cooper,
etc in a town or city.
Having said this, the surnames 'Fenning and 'Fennings'
were not tied-in to an occupation,
so unless every person who lived in a boggy area was called 'Fenning/s', this
is not the
answer.
So it still leaves the question how families bearing the exact spelling of our surname
appear to be unrelated to us.
One explanation for this may have it's foundation in religion and politics,
or more
particularly, the effect that religious and political differences had within families.
An example started in Europe in 1517 when Martin Luther broke away from the
traditional Roman Catholic Church, and founded
the Protestant movement.
It would not be unreasonable to expect 'common root' families to separate under
these
circumstances, when some family members would have remained with the traditional
faith, and others would
have joined the new movement.
A different version of the Protestant movement had it's beginnings
in the UK, when
in 1535 Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and created the Church
of England.
The spiteful and aggressive way in which Henry demolished the Catholic Church in
England, and then banished
it's believers on pain of death, must have caused chaos
within families. Those who refused to abandon their
faith often found themselves
forced to leave the country in fear of their lives, alienating them from their established
family history, and stretching their family ties to breaking-point.
Once a traditional English family
was subjected to foreign influences it is quite likely that
successive generations simply lost contact, and in
some cases the previously-accepted
spelling of that surname was changed in some way, possibly beyond recognition.
When Mary (1553 - 1558) came to the throne she attempted to return England to
the Church of Rome.
This caused widespread persecution of the Protestants who
found themselves suffering in the same way that the Catholics
had done previously,
and as a consequence many of them sought refuge elsewhere.
Elizabeth
I (1558 - 1603) brought back the Protestant Church, and introduced
a degree of tolerance towards those Catholics
who had remained in the country,
however, the Catholics saw it differently, and in attempting to oust Elizabeth
caused
themselves to be distrusted, and their place within the country became
insecure once more.
This will
probably explain why I believe that religion, or more particularly religious
persecution has played a big part in
the dismantling and alienation of genetically
linked 'Fenning' and 'Fennings' roots in Europe
(including England).
The English Civil War (1641-1651) cannot have helped those families who remained intact
after the years of religious turmoil, as the issues now became political, instead of religious.
It
is an accepted fact that during the Civil War there were many instances of conflicting
politics between fathers
and sons, and between brothers who, having different political
beliefs, often fought against each other on the same battlefield.
The bitterness and shame
that followed must also have broken families apart, leading to a separation in the evolution
of their 'root' family.
When we take into consideration the issues raised in the above paragraphs,
maybe
is not that difficult to understand why today we often encounter someone bearing the
identical surname to us, but who does not on the face of it appear to be related to us.
The simple
truth is that if we were able to take a time capsule into the past we would
probably find that in reality
we are probably related through our bloodlines, but today
it would take some really 'in depth' detective
work, and possibley a DNA test to sort
out.
So if your suname is 'Fenning' or 'Fennings',
or if you believe that you have a genetic
link to a family bearing this suname then we will attempt to give you every
assistance in
tracking your progenitors in the United Kingdom, and we will do this free of charge.
Unfortunately,
we are unable to offer you DNA testing, however there are several
companies in the UK who will carry out this
type of work for you should it be found
necessary.
If you are interested in researching your family
history and would like some assistance
then please visit the next section of this website headed 'Free research
assistance'.
