The following is a break-down of names found in the parish register of Ormskirk (Ormishaw), Lancaster. The registers cover christenings, burials, and marriages from 1557 on; I have considered names only through 1600. Because of the sheer bulk of material in these registers (it covers almost 300 pages), I am adding material to this article part at a time, rather than waiting until I have everything transcribed in. As a result, the frequency counts are likely to change, as new numbers are added, but data will only be addded, not removed.
For the moment I am also keeping names found in christenings, marriages, and burials separate from each other. This reflects the true nature of the name distributions over time; a record of a child christened Julian in 1600 might be only a little unusual; a woman named Julian married in 1600 would be more unusual, as she was probably in her teens or twenties by this time, and a burial in 1600, if not indicative of the high rate of infant mortality, of someone named Julian would be even more unusual. Therefore if you are interested in a particular name, it might behoove you to look at the material found in all three sections, and not just any one. A note about the dates: In the 16th century, the new year still started on April 1. My dating for the years follows this convention; thus, a marriage recorded in February 1575 would be according to our calendars actually February 1576.
A number of scribal abbreviations were used in this document. For purposes of frequency counts, I have expanded each abbreviation to the most common expected spelling of this time period. However, when listing the individual names, I have retained the abbreviations, slightly changed in format to accommodate a web page: A tilde [~] or dash [-] following a letter represents a tilde or a dash above or through that letter; when the tilde follows two ll's, it intersects with both. Letters in parenthesis [(th)] were superscripted in the original text. The question mark [?] represents a small, ear-shaped, superscripted ligature which usually abbreviates r or er. Lastly, the colon [:] represents an abbreviated name, as in Tho: for Thomas.
Lancastershire is one of the more northern shires of England, close to the north end of Wales and near the border of Scotland. As a result, the names show a greater influence of Scots in the spellings than names in, say, London might at the same time.
Currently given names from 1557 to 1600 are available, and surnames from 1558-1580 are in the process of being added.
Feminine names, by frequency
Masculine names, by frequency
Gender/origin uncertain
Surnames, alphabetically
Currently given names from 1557 to 1600 are available, and surnames are in the process of being added.
Feminine names, by frequency
Masculine names, by frequency
Surnames, alphabetically
Source: The registers of the parish church of Ormskirk in the county of Lancaster, transcribed and edited by Josiah Arrowsmith. The indexes by Mrs. C. M. Royds and Mrs. H. Brierley. (Rochdale, Printed for the Lancashire Parish Register Society by J. Clegg, 1902-60.)