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to bottom of pageThe Burgar/Burgess families in Shetland
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Patronymic method of naming children
The Viking method of naming children was to use the patronymic method.
Thus if William Magnuson had a son called John then John would be known as John Williamson.
If John Williamson had a son called Robert then Robert would be known as Robert Johnson.
If Robert Johnson had a son called Henry then Henry would be known as Henry Robertson.
If Robert Johnson had a daughter called Margaret she would be known as Margaret Robertsdochter (i.e. name ends in daughter – not son).
This system makes tracing families very difficult. It died out in some districts only in the early 1900s.
In areas such as Dunrossness, where the Burgar family lived, fixed surnames were used from the 16th century. Surnames ending in son are relatively rare there. It has been suggested that this is because many persons in Dunrossness were settlers from Scotland.
The records in Shetland have a great advantage to the genealogist in that married women retained their maiden name in the written records.
See retention of maiden names by women