Willing
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Willing One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Data
• DNA project
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Willing One-Name Study

My name is June Willing, and I have been researching my family history since 1975. I began the Willing/Willings One-Name Study in 1996, in an attempt to find the baptism of my ancestor Nathaniel Willing, around 1782 in the Plymouth area. I had been collecting all the references to the name I could find in Devon, and I decided to extend this to any references anywhere. I then registered the name with the Guild of One-Name Studies, of which I was already a member. I am always interested to hear from anyone with an interest in either Willing or Willings. Please see my contact details below.

Variants

I have also registered Willings with the Guild, although I believe this is actually a name in its own right, rather than a variant. However, the two are often confused.

Origin of the surname

Willing is a surname derived from a place-name. It probably originated in South Devon, specifically in the area between Dartmoor and the sea, known as the South Hams. Willing Farm, near Totnes, is the probable origin of the name (see photo above, click photo to enlarge). The name is also found in Germany and the Netherlands, but as far as I know, is not connected to the English Willing families. Some descendants of Dutch and German Willing families migrated to the UK, though.

Willings has a different origin, so far undetermined. Never very common, most of the earliest occurrences are in Castle Camps, SE Cambridgeshire.

Data

• All the BMD entries from the General Register Offices for England & Wales (1837 to date) and Scotland (1855 to date).
• All the entries from the probate registers for England & Wales (1858-1998) and Scotland (1876-1936).
• Census entries from all available years, including all the 1881 and 1901 index entries, and all the 1851 entries for Devon. The 1851 Devon and 1881 entries have all been verified, and verification of the 1901 entries is ongoing.
• Parish register entries from Devon and many other areas.
• Entries from directories, newspapers, phone books and many other sources.

DNA project

In September 2008 I set up a DNA Project for the surnames Willing and Willings at Family Tree DNA. One of the aims of the study is to create a list of DNA results, so that if you do not know where your family originates you can take a DNA test and see if you get a match with anyone in the project. We have DNA results from representatives of the three main Willing families in Devon, and also from a Dutch Willing family, but I would like to include representatives from more families in the project. For more information, see the link below.

Links

Willing DNA Project: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Willing

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Ms June A Willing
15 Strathcona Gardens,
Glasgow
G13 1DN
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 7 December 2009.

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