Topics

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

About the Yarnold One-Name Study

The YARNOLD One-Name Study is an outgrowth of my own family history research which has been very much assisted and at times encouraged by a multi-national group of 'rellies' some distant, some not so distant and many 'virtual cousins'. The aims of the study are to support the 'seven pillars' promoted by the guild as well as providing a focus and co-ordination point for international records exchange, a resource for data and information relating to the 'old country' and actively working towards the use and application of Information Technology techniques to Genealogy in the Information Age.

Variants

The common belief is that the ancestral home of the YARNOLD name and its derivations is in Worcestershire, England around Kidderminster and its environs. Settlements in the Anglo-Saxon colonies followed where in Pennsylvania and Ohio the derivative names YARNELL and YARNALL predominate, but in Ontario, Canada and New South Wales, Australia the YARNOLD name is found with distribution frequencies approaching those in England.

Rick Yarnell, who until recently maintained a sorely missed 'YYY' website, quoted a Chicago source as saying 'Several branches of the Yarnall family have spelled the name Yarnell for several generations, but not until 1887, when the Writer moved to Chicago did he find it desirable to adopt the latter spelling. In Chicago, (the most cosmopolitan city in the world) 90% of the inhabitants are foreigners, or the children of foreigners; coming from every part of the world civilized, half-civilized, and uncivilized, it was impossible to make these people understand the name as it should be pronounced or write it as we pronounced it. This annoyance has been lessened by spelling the name Y-A-R-N-E-L-L, with the accent on the last syllable, which is now used by the Writer and his family.'

Recently it has been suggested that the name may have Germanic origins which pre-date the Worcestershire connection - good food for research.

Origin of the surname

One of the many surname origin sites, they all seem remarkably similar, who knows - maybe this one contains a grain of truth

Historical occurrences

There has been a cricketer - Hugo Yarnold, two artists - George B and Joseph W Yarnold, John Yarnold the 1460 benefactor of St James church in Oddingley, Sgt. Charles Frederick Yarnold (WWII - Burma Star).

Maybe this section could be expanded to a purpose built gallery on the Yarnold web site - feedback welcome.

Frequency of the name

Click here for some statistics derived from data extracted from indexes of UK Census returns showing changes in name frequency over time.

These statistics were extract from the United Kingdom Census Returns which are copyright of The Office of National Statistics

Distribution of the name

A geographic analysis of the ONS census data is high on the list of 'things to do'.

An intuitive, strictly non-scientific conclusion gained from handling the data is that there is less of a Worcestershire bias than expected, even in the early 19th Century there were numerically significant enclaves in and around London and the East Midlands - this trend escalated towards the 20th Century with extended family groups emerging in Liverpool and Coventry.

Data

Complete, detailed index data regarding every UK BMD event between 1837 and 2005 for the Yarnold, Yarnell and Yarnall names will appear in searchable format on the www.yarnold.info web site. This will be supplemented by a 'tree' comprising a record for every known UK occurrence of an individual bearing one of the registered names -- the intention is that over time these names will be connected into family groups and eventually form a definitive reference source.

DNA project

I have no plans, at present, to embark on a DNA study - please let me know if you're already running one - and we can publicise it!

Links

Where the study data is presented

The Yarnall Site by Karen Mulllian

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr John Dobson
E-mail:
Telephone: 07903 019089

This page last updated 1 February 2012.

This page has been viewed 988 times.

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