Close
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Close One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Close One-Name Study

I like to change the picture (top right) from time to time. If you have a picture of your CLOSE ancestor or a related location, please get in touch.

Like many one-namers, I began with an interest in my own immediate family which aroused curiosity about the bigger picture. I am in the process of building a comprehensive database of CLOSE (and variants) births, marriages, deaths and census records for England & Wales, with a view to reconstructing family lines and analysing this information to identify patterns. If you are researching CLOSE, CLOSS, CLOWES, CLOWSER, CLUSE or CLUES I would be very pleased to hear from you. I will also endeavour to answer your queries connected with these surnames – but please be patient as this study still has a long way to go.

While I'm concentrating on England and Wales, I'd be delighted to work with you if you are collecting data from any other part of the world.

Variants

Variants of CLOSE which I have registered are: CLOSS, CLOWES, CLOWSER and CLUSE. Other surnames for which I have some data are CLOWS and CLUES. I would be happy to collaborate with anyone researching one or more of these names - please get in touch.

Origin of the surname

The surname CLOSE has two possible origins: it could be topographical, referring to an enclosed place such as a courtyard or farmyard, or a nickname for someone reserved or secretive.

CLOWES was originally pronounced as CLUES or CLUSE. Is your name CLOWES? How do you pronounce it?

Historical occurrences

Some of the earliest occurrences of the surname CLOSE are as follows:

• http://medievalsoldier.org lists John CLOSE senior & junior, serving under Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Robert CLOSE under Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, all in 1417.
• The earliest IGI baptism is of Arthurus CLOSE, 22 Jul 1569, Wensley, Yorkshire (mother Isabella CLOSE).
• The earliest IGI marriage is between Edward CLOSE and Agnes WESTMYLL, on 23 Oct 1603, at Oving, Sussex.

Do let me know if you have found earlier records.

Frequency of the name

Frequency of the surnames in England & Wales in the 19th Century and the start of the 20th.

-----------------1841-------1861--------1881---------1901

• CLOSE........1,530........1,553.........2,439............3,060
• CLOWES........790...........924.........1,644............2,296
• CLOWS............63............24.............56................22
• CLOSS.............87............93.............98..............133
• CLOWSER.........71............67.............87................99
• CLUES.............91............89.............96...............126
• CLUSE.............53............54.............39................54

It is estimated that the number of individuals in England in 2002 with these surnames was as follows:

• CLOSE............4,516
• CLOWES.........3,242
• CLOWS.................0
• CLOSS...............139
• CLOWSER............95
• CLUES................109
• CLUSE...................9

If you are one of these, then I would be delighted to hear from you.

Distribution of the name

Distribution of the surnames in England & Wales in 1861 was as follows:

• Counties with over 100 CLOSE occurrences were: Yorkshire - mainly in Swaledale -(415), Durham (205), Lancashire centred around Wigan and Liverpool (159), and Gloucestershire centred around Minchinhampton (142). A total of 113 occurred in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, mainly in and around Collyweston.
• CLOWES occurred most in Staffordshire (330), Cheshire (159) and Lancashire (126).
• The most CLOSS occurrences were in Caernarvonshire (20), believed to be descendants of a Swaledale CLOSE, Middlesex (15) and Monmouthshire (10), with single figures in just 5 other counties of England & Wales.
• CLOWSER was centred in and around London: Surrey (27), Middlesex (21) and Sussex (13), with just three individuals outside these counties.
• CLUSE was also mainly found in South-East England: Surrey (14) and Middlesex (11)

Do you know of any other 'hotspots' for these surnames?

Data

Follow the links to search for data covering

• CLOSE and variants births 1837-1930
• CLOSE and variants marriages 1837-1930
• CLOSE and variants deaths 1837–1930.
• CLOSE and variants census data

I have recently extended the BMDs from 1920 to 1930. I'm making steady progress in archiving census records - over 20,700 entries so far, but listings are still far from complete. At long last I now have completed the 1851 CLOSE listing for the whole of England and Wales.

Please let me know if you find any errors or if you can add further information. I'm grateful to those who have contacted me recently with additional information on CLOSE families.

If you don't find what you were looking for, please contact me (details below) and I may be able to help.

Links

I have recently set up a CLOSE & variants group in Genealogywise. Do join us - and make contact with other CLOSE researchers.

Here are a few more weblinks – I can’t comment on the quality of the information on these sites, but you just might find something of interest:

• CloseAncestry.com – lots of information on Yorks and Lancs CLOSE families, and a dedicated discussion forum.
• DNA project for males with CLOSE or variant surname.
• Nicola Close's website - her Somerset CLOSE ancestors

Please get in touch if you know of a CLOSE & variants website which ought to be listed here - and let me know if any of the above links become broken. Thanks!

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Margaret Southgate
10 Pencoed Av,
Pontypridd
CF37 4AN
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 21 February 2010.

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Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.