Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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Retained profile for the former
Carbis One-Name Study

This study is no longer registered with the Guild, but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.

A study website has been preserved by the Guild: carbis.one-name.net

About the study

The formation of the *CARBIS One Name Society* was founded with the following aims: 1. Maintaining an association of all CARBIS and other related person, who may have an interest in the history, origins and development of the various and individual branches of the various CARBIS families. 2. Combining with all of that is the promotion of the conservation of documents, photographs and all other related materials and monuments of CARBIS name significance. 3. To further the study of CARBIS surname history and its origins.

Variant names

1. CARBONS; CARBOMS; CARBOUS and CARBOUSE; found in the Subsidies of 1522; Military Survey of 1522; the tinners Rolls of 1523. 2. CARBES; CARBOUSE AND KARBUS; found in the Cornwall Muster of 1569. 3. CARBENS; CARBOES; CARBUS; CARBUSH; CARBYNE and CARBYNS; found in the Protestation Returns of 1641. 4. CARBENS; CARBES; CARBINES; CARBOUSE and CARBYNS; found in the Hearth Tax of 1662. These are but a few of the possible forty something variants of the base name of CARBIS

Name origin

1. CARBIS in the original Cornish may have been 'Car-pons' which is considered to have meant a 'Cart-bridge' [Handbook of Cornish Surnames by G. Pawley White].

2. CARBIS from it's far older Cornish name of 'Car-bons' may also generally be understood to mean 'Camp on a bridge' or a 'Paved causeway'. These forms may well have been borrowed from the Latin during the Roman occupation circa 55 BC-410 AD.

3. As a Breton place name, it may be applied to 'Places far from streams'; so that the Middle Breton equivalent c.1465 AD of this word is 'street'

4. Far older is the real possibility is its derivation coming out of present day Lebanon; when previously known as Phoenicia pre circa 60 BC.

Historical occurrences of the name

The story of the *CARBIS* names as far as the records to date are concerned starts around 1303 in Looe, Cornwall; then progress to the middle of the fourteenth century with 'Richard and Johan Carbis' family of St.Minver, Cornwall. It is then found in an early Will of a certain 'Benedict Carbis' of the parish of Phillack, Cornwall dated 22 July 1601 From a study of the various locations taken from the early Wills, it may be seen that the *CARBIS* people in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries appeared to have been settled in three main areas of Cornwall; in Helston, Phillack and Mevagissey. It was only the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did the family name spread into St.Just, St.Ives and later into the Redruth areas; with either tin and/or copper mining; and fishing being the primary occupation of those families that migrated around Cornwall

Name frequency

The surname CARBIS together with its many variants is to be found worldwide. Although at first considered to be just in Cornwall, research now shows it to be in many part of England, Wales, Scotland and possibly in southern Ireland. It is to be found in Canada, the USA. West Indies, South America, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa,and in Europe, with possible extensions into Russia. Consider who the Phoenicians were, traders, ship builders, explorers, and it is not to difficult to understand the establishment of a Surname - and why not CARBIS.

Distribution of the name

See also the text in 'Frequency of Name above - It is to be found in Canada, the USA. West Indies, South America, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa,and in Europe, with possible extensions into Russia. Consider who the Phoenicians were, traders, ship builders, explorers, and it is not to difficult to understand the establishment of a Surname - and why not CARBIS.

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Carbis in the Guild Indexes
(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)
  • Global Marriages  15
  • Modern Newspaper Index  1
  • Probate Index* 7
  • Study materials for the study Carbis* 1
  • References to the name Carbis in the Guild Journal  9

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