ABSTRACT
One important category of surnames is that which comprises surnames derived from what are usually called personal names, or 'first', 'Christian', or 'baptismal' names. The number of Old English personal names in use before the Norman Conquest was very great. Many Old English personal names were 'dithematic', that is, they were formed by fusing together two words, in use in speech, to form a compound with two elements. The Viking invasion brought in many Scandinavian personal names, which became established mainly in the areas of Scandinavian settlement, such as East Yorkshire, the East Midlands, East Anglia, the coastal parts of north west England, the Hebrides, the northern isles, or the Isle of Man. Surnames or by-names from personal names without suffixes or prefixes were never confined to any one social class, though certain restricted types of surname within this general category were.
