There is little doubt that our surname Trevethan is of Celtic
 |
Trevethan Street
Minnamurra and Toowoomba
Australia |
origin, derived from tre-(b)vuthya meaning homestead in a
meadow. The “b” is mutated to “v”. Many villages in both Wales
and Cornwall have the prefix ‘Tre’ - which in Welsh
means hamlet
or homestead. There is in fact a village of Trevethin in
Monmouthshire, Wales and three places in Cornwall known as
Trevethan. In the parish of St. Eval can be found Trevethan
which was spelt Trevethen in 1474, 1510 and 1549. Trevethen in
Budock parish (Falmouth District), was spelt Trefudon in 1306,
Trefuthon in 1325, Trefuthen in 1327, Tremuthon in 1342 and
finally Trevethen in 1476. The other Trevethan is in Gwennap
parish which was spelt Trefudon in 1302, Trefuthon in 1326,
Trefuthyon in 1516 and Trefuthen in 1558. As you can see over
the years they spelt as they felt.Interestingly the spelling
with an “f” is very rare but a family by the name of Trefethen
is today living in the United States of America. You have
probably heard the old rhyme, known to Walter Scott:
By Tre-, Pol-, Pen-,
Ye may know most Cornish men. This rhyme brings to mind such
names as Tremayne, Polglase, Penrose. In early times, when
populations were small and relatively immobile, most people had
only a single name, but as they became more mobile and their
numbers increased, second names (surnames or family names) were
adopted so that individuals could be distinguished from others
of the same forename. With the growth of documentation in the
later Middle Ages, such names became essential, and a person
whose distinguishing name described his trade, his place of
residence, his father’s name, or some personal characteristic,
passed that name on to his children, and the surname became
hereditary. The process was a gradual one, beginning in the
eleventh century. A man named John hailing from the village of
Trevethin might become known as John de Trevethin, Trevethin
eventually becoming hereditary as a surname, the ‘de’ being
discarded with the passage of time. Many Cornish names relate to
the persons place of residence with well known prefixes of CAR
or KER (fort or camp), TRE (homestead), POL (pool), PEN (head or
end), ROS (Heath or promontory), LAN (enclosure, sometimes
monastic) and BOS (dwelling).
Naturally, the spelling of such surnames varied according to
the clerk who inscribed them on documents, and over succeeding
generations a name might be altered out of all recognition
through a series of misspellings by those who were
semi-literate. You will notice as you read this book that I
spell our family name as Trevathan while referring to the family
in New Zealand but as Trevethan while in Cornwall. The correct
spelling of our name is Trevethan but it appears that the
spelling changed upon the arrival of our forbears in New
Zealand. The spelling used in Australia and the United States of
America is Trevethan. While on spelling you will notice that in
a number of places the spelling alters from time to time, as
when a person was illiterate the spelling of their name was not
consistent on their birth certificate and death certificate.
The Trevethan family name can be found in 19 parishes in
Cornwall from Camborne in the west to Padstow and Tintagel in
the north-east, and Calstock and St. Germans in the south-east.
From 1600 to 1800 there were 160 Trevethan marriages (one every
15 months) in 39 parishes. There are a number of other
variations of names similar to ours in Cornwall and even in New
Zealand but we are not related. Here are a few with their
meanings:- Trebarthen - Probably from tre-perthy: homestead
with bushes. Place name Trebartha, North Hill. Tregarthen -
From tre-cardhen: Homestead with thicket or brake. Place name
Tregarthen, Ludgvan. Found in west Cornwall. Trevartha - From
trev-Affa: Aff’s homestead. Place name Trevartha, Menheniot (Trevaffa
1345).
Trevarthen, Trevarton, Treverton - From trev-Arthien (the old
Welsh personal name which occurs in the ancient book of Llandaff):
Arthien’s homestead. The name is derived from Arth-gen = son of
a bear (strong, brace, &c.) so say Gover but there is no
confirmation of this in either of Nance’s Cornish dictionaries.
Place names Trevarthian St. Hilary (Marazion District) with
medieval spellings of Trevarthyan in 1250, 1327 and 1359 and in
1269 Trevardian. In Newlyn East of Pydar parish can be found,
Trevathen St. Kew (Trevarthean 1237).
The Trevarthens today
are found in 13 parishes, with the most important concentration
of about 40 in Camborne. From 1600 to 1800 their marriages
occurred in 23 parishes, 111 with a Trevarthen bridegroom or
bride. Eighteen of these took place in Crowan church, 15 in
Newlyn in Pydar church and 13 in Camborne church. Rico
Trewarthyan was taxed in the Paroch Sci Mich’ de Monte (St.
Michael’s Mount parish) in 1327. In the same year Johne
Trevarthyan of St. Hilary parish was taxed 3s. - a well to do
villein. Trevarton is certainly a dialectical corruption of
Trevarthen. Before the Education Act of 1870, the Trevarthens
were known as Trevartons to the illiterate. The name Treverton
has no place named after it and as the distribution of the
surname is entirely different from that of Trevarthen it seems
to have been an entirely different origin from Trevethan or
Trevarthen. It would appear to have an entirely different origin
from the other spellings. Though the numbers of Trevertons is
small, half of them are in the parishes of St. Kew, St. Mabyn
and St. Minver (a parish beside the one our forbearers came
from). A sprinkle of them moved to Redruth and Illogan which are
both mining areas, and to St. Austell a china clay area, in the
the 19th century. The best guess is that the final “ton” is an
anglo-saxon ending to the Celtic name Trevers. The Anglo-Saxon
suffix “Ton” is the nearest parallel to the Cornish Celtic “Tre”
and means a homestead. In New Zealand we currently have people
by the name of Trevethan who will almost certainly be related
and from the Auckland area people by the name of Trevarthan who
will not.
Top of Page
|
.gif)
