The Name on the Door

Can house names tell us anything about our family histories?

When researching one of my ancestors, Charlie Terrell, on an online newspaper site, I was thrilled to find a brief reference to him from the 1930s when he was a witness to a car accident outside his house in Pontefract. To my delight, the report named his house: “A’Court”.  This was thrilling because I knew that this was actually the surname of Charles’s grandparents who were of French origin. This started me wondering about the names that other people in the past gave to their houses. I started to research this further and what I have discovered is intriguing. I will be publishing an article on this very topic in March. So look out for it in Discover Your Ancestors online periodical .

If you have any interesting stories about the house names in your family history, do post them in the comments!

A house named ‘Norwood’, Hessle, near Hull. Via Wikimedia Commons.

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