Rayment
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Rayment One-Name Study
• Variants
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• DNA project
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Rayment One-Name Study

The first known attempt to carry out any systematic general research into the Rayment surname was made in the 1960s by the late John Leonard Rayment F.S.G. of Ongar in Essex.

In the early 1980s a small group of unrelated people comprising David Rayment of Bristol, Roy Rayment of Romford, Sylvia Bailey of Billericay and Michele Snook of Heathfield, each of whom had independently been researching their Rayment ancestors, decided to co-operate and and later to form a Rayment Society.

The Society broadened its research to include the more common variants of the Rayment surname such as Raiment, Raymant, Raymond and Raymont, as a result of which the Society's records now encompass more than twenty similar names.

Since the beginning, a nucleus of volunteers contributed much of their time, effort and money to the Society in order to avoid the introduction of membership subscription fees etc. However, by the end of 1997 the constant increase in membership numbers and the increase in expenditure on research work and printing costs, it became evident that the volunteers, could no longer afford to fund the Society entirely from their own resources and so the decision was taken at the next General Meeting to introduce both a joining fee for new members and a small membership subscription, in order to help defray the cost of running the Society.

Variants

There are three main variants of the surname Rayment, namely Raiment, Raymond and Raymont. Other known variants include such surnames as Raimond, Raymand, Raymant, Raymonde. For puposes of elimination, records have also been kept of a number of non-variant names such as Raymer, Rayman, Raymen, Raymon and Remnant.

Distribution of the name

From the 17th century onward, Rayment is predominently a Home Counties and South West of England surname, whereas Raymond is a name more frequently associated with the West of Wales. The name Raymont seems to have originated in the area around Tiverton in Devon and is almost certainly a corruption of Rayment.

Data

A large quantity of data has been collected and new information is contantly being added. Probably of the greatest significance are the complete records held of all RAYMENT and variant entries in the GRO indexes at The Family Records Centre, consisting of births, marriages, deaths, adoptions, military records (including baptisms from 1761) and overseas (including Consular) records.

Other important records of RAYMENTS held include complete sets of Probate Calendar Book extracts, an index to PCC Wills and Administrations, photocopies and transcriptions of all known English and Welsh Wills and Administrations, IGI extracts, numerous census returns, parish register extracts, monumental inscriptions, burial records, newspaper cuttings, correspondence, electoral registers, world-wide telephone directory listings, Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, United States Social Security Death Index, many photographs, and a large number of birth, marriage and death certificates.

DNA project

A world-wide DNA project was started on 22 May 2007 by the Rayment Society. Please click here for details.

Links

The Rayment Society operates a number of websites, the primary one being www.rayment.org and the Society can be phoned from anywhere in the World (free of charge) by Skype.

Members may access the Society's on line records by clicking here

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Roy C Rayment
86 Highfield Road,
Romford,
Essex
RM5 3RU
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 29 March 2008.

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