Frame
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Frame One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• DNA project
• Contact Details

About the Frame One-Name Study

The Frame One-Name Study is in its infancy and was only registered in January 2010. It is now amalgamated with the Frame DNA Project - a logical step since Frame data has been accumulating from traditional research tied to the DNA Project. Interested Frame (and variant surname) researchers are invited to submit relevant data such as births, deaths, marriages, links to indexes and family trees etc. for inclusion on the Frame One-Name Study: One-Name Records Page.

Variants

Thus far, we have genetic proof that FRAIM and FRAME are related; we are still awaiting participants to DNA test for the other registered surnames in order to prove or disprove kinship. There are many other possible variants or deviants such as DE FRAME, FRAEME, FRAHAM, FRAHM, FRAIME, FRAMM, FRAMME, FRAYM, FREEM, FREHAM, FREM, FREME and FREYME. FROM or FROME may be other possibilities. Genetic testing would determine whether or not these families were related in earlier times.

Origin of the surname

The origins of the surname FRAME have been misty, to say the least. The anglicized form is a word with many different meanings - likewise FRAM as a prefix in different languages. Linguists have tended to class FRAME as a nickname derived from FRAM meaning (variously): Bold, Vigorous; Warrior; Foreigner or Stranger.

DNA testing has revealed that men surnamed FRAME from seven countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States) thus far appear to have a Viking / Norman heritage. DNA-based medieval research indicates that the surname is possibly locative and synonymous with FRESNE (FRESME). More recent study suggests that family and surname origins might stem from Freschenes in the fief of Pavilly, France. Researcher Michael Stanhope states:

The surname Frame, at least the one associated with Sir Adam Frame alias Frenche or Franche (the earliest 'Frame' found in Scottish records), can be traced to the canton of Pavilly, situated near Rouen, were Osbern de Freschenes was tenant in the latter half of the tenth-century. This was the site of a famous monastery associated with Saint Frame(childe) alias Franc(hilde), a seventh-century Frankish princess. The first element of the name, whether given with an interchangeable ‘n’ or ‘m’, referred to the Germanic origin of the Saint; the second element probably meaning noble.

The monastery gave rise to the nearby settlement of Freschenes, which derived its name from the same root as that of the Saint, for, by substituting the word chênes for the personal element of the name, we have Franchenes, or simlar, from which, in the tongue of the time, as different from present French as is present English from Chaucer, would have been similar to Fre(yn)sheens; hence the derivative Fresheens, thus Freschenes, further contracted to Fresnes, this latter form being interpreted as pertaining to the ash tree. The termination chênes could have referred specifically to oaks, but is more likely to have been used in the general sense (arbor) to indicate 'a wooded settlement of the Franks.'

Etymologists such as Förstemann interpreted the derivative as a Frisian settlement, specifically the abode of someone named Frisco, yet such a view lacks the historical context in which the name developed. Franche and Framche would have had the same conotation, both meaning 'free' - as in Franci (free men) from whom Saint Framehilde descended. This is not to say that all those called Fresne or French, as examples, had origins in Pavilly, or that these names did not exist other than as a contraction of another, yet in the specific case of the ancestors of Sir Adam Frame, that they were otherwise known as Fresne (or Freynsh, Frenshe, Freinche, Frainche) was a result of ancient connections to a site associated with the Franks. I give this example - In 1348, John Freyne, the son and heir of 'John Freigne,' became seized of Moccas, Marden, etc., as on his father's recent decease. At the last period, a Robert Frensh was seized of other lands in Herefordshire, on whose decease, in 1370, the custody of his estate was committed in wardship, 'durante minoritate heredis.' Antiquaries wrongly thought that this record was one of the many that evinced the transition from Freyne to French, whereas, in fact, the contraction Freyne and its like had always been Freynshe and its like.

Information on Frame Family Origins at the Frame DNA and One-Name Study website may

be found at: Frame Origins

To view Michael Stanhope’s comprehensive research notes on Frame Family Origins, along with information on peripheral family associations, please see his website: FRAME FAMILY ORIGINS

Historical occurrences

The anglicized surname 'FRAME' is scarce in medieval records, an indication that family members were hidden under other surnames. Only a few with the 'm' spelling have been found thus far:

SIR REGINALD 'DE FRESME': the Crusader of Moccas, Herefordshire - a member of the Fresne / Freigne family.

GEOFFREY FRAME of Bosmere hundred is recorded in the 1196 Pipe Rolls of Norfolk and Suffolk. He may have been Geoffrey Fraxino/Fraxineto living at this time.

WILLIAM DE REOM (family later known as Freeme/Freame) of Nether Lypiatt, Gloucestershire appeared as a juror at an Inq. P.M. in 1304.

ROBERT DE FRAME died in Paris in 1318. Buried in the church of the Jacobins.

THOMAS FRAME of Middleton, Hawstead, Suffolk held in 1359 - 1 messuage and 30 acres, and another messuage and 15 acres.

CHAPLAIN SIR ADAM FRAME: aka Chaplain sir Adam Franche, sixth laird of Thorndykes, Scotland - a witness in the case of Walter Haliburton recorded in the Midlothian Protocol Book of James Young (1485-1489). He is the first 'FRAME' found in Scotland. His appears to be the same family descended from Osbern de Freschenes, ancestor of the family of Ferte-Fresnel (Fresne) whose descendants held in Herefordshire, England. It would appear that from this same family stemmed a branch who became known as ffrench (French) in Ireland, and those who settled in Thorndykes and Frenchland (Frenselonde) in Scotland. Other sons remained in England.

Early members of this 'Fresne' family were undertenants of Adam de Port of Mapledurwell in 1166 indicating close family ties. William, the son of Adam de Port of Basing took the St. John surname. Of significant importance to ongoing research is the close DNA match between FRAME and ST JOHN. The St John DNA has been validated with that of a documented St John descendant of Adam de Port of Basing.

JAMES FRAME: Dead by 1495. Held land in Musselburgh, Scotland. Midlothian Protocol Book of James Young (1493-1497)

Frequency of the name

The website http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/ currently holds data for approximately 300 million people in 26 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania, representing a total population of one billion people in those countries. They report the frequency of the FRAME surname in those countries on the basis of 'Frequency per Million' (FPM):

New Zealand 88.18

Australia 69.64

United Kingdom 69.03

United States 40.02

Canada 27.97

Ireland - 5.49

Netherlands 1.5

Belgium 0.57

Spain 0.52

France 0.49

Distribution of the name

Some examples of the early distribution of possibly related surnames may be found here.

The surname FRAME spread to large numbers far and wide. For example, in 1840 there were 151 Frame families living in the United States; by 2000, there were 3,656.

In the United Kingdom, the FRAME 'hotspot' is overwhelmingly Lanarkshire, Scotland. At the 1881 Census in Great Britain, there were 1184 Frames enumerated in Lanarkshire. The next largest clusters were 92 in Midlothian and 80 in Lancashire. There were also 140 'Frains' in Lancashire.

Some additional 'Frame Facts' may be found here.

Data

As well as significant resources on hand in the form of books, CDs etc., a very large number of Scottish FRAME Birth, Death and Marriage certificates have been purchased from Scotland's People to aid the reconstruction of various Frame family trees for the Frame DNA Project. We are happy to share any information held in our database or these resources with Frame researchers to help with their Frame genealogies. We also hold several Scottish Wills; however the earliest ones are illegible to the untrained eye and would require considerable funds to have them all transcribed; this has not been possible to date. We will gradually be adding transcribed Frame data and lists of index entries for posting on our the Frame One-Name Study Data Collection Page. We encourage all Frame and registered variant surname researchers from around the world to get behind the Frame One-Name Study and submit any extracted information or family trees (Gedcom files included), histories, biographies etc. - anything at all that will help build the library of Frame and variant surname data for future generations.

DNA project

As previously mentioned, January 2010 saw the Frame One-Name Study established and then amalgamated with the Frame DNA Project. We invite your participation and collaboration! The Frame DNA and One-Name Study website is found here.

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Julie Falk
E-mail:

This page last updated 23 February 2010.

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