...to wonder why some colours are really common surnames (white/black/brown/green) and others not?

[Justbackfromnewwine]

Okay maybe I know a Pink but no reds/yellows/blues/oranges/purples.

Why is that I wonder?

I'm clearly wrong about rose - Rosen etc. is clearly what it is. I thought Rose more likely than Pink as a surname derived from a colour as Rose is much the older word for the colour.

marklah - no, 'orange' comes up in medieval England, so prior to Tudor, but usually in French spoken in England. I don't know if portingale is later or earlier, but there's a word for the fruit pre-Tudor.

Oh, and, with surnames - a thing I like is that surnames ending with the sound -ster are Anglo-Saxon feminine nouns. So a Brewer is a man who brews; a Brewster is a woman who brews. A Baker is a man who bakes; a Baxter is a woman who brews. So these names are possible records of women as heads of households a very long time ago.

LRD - I had just been having the same thought process and came back to the thread to post that about women!

It may be that some colour names are slightly different versions. Like Rowan or Roan instead of red.

I have an inkling based on my family history that we could have been trying to conceal our clan name. If we look back as well my original clan and my husbands clan would have been at war with each other.

I went to school with a couple of Snowballs, Penelope.

A family member was a Carr who became a Vann on marriage.

Hi MadMary - she is a friend of my good friend, but I've definitely met the Hailstone in the flesh. I wonder if there are other weather names? Snow and Frost, of course. Just Googled and Blizzard is one too.
Hope this isn't too far off the original colour-name thread.

This thread is really interesting

I love this stuff.

I often ponder this stuff. It makes you realise how livingin big cities is such a relatively recent phenomenum when the origin of most names is considered

WhyIsntGeorgeCalledPeterOrPaul :

I know a Mrs Duck and a Mrs Chick, they both live in the UK.

I think Russell means red haired.

In France in addition to Leblanc and Lenoir previously mentioned you also get Lebrun (brown) Legris (grey) and Lebleu.

I know someone with the surname Purple

I've known some people with the surname Lemon, but would that have originated from the colour or the fruit I wonder?

There's a Greek surname, Lemonis.

Lots are as already said to do with hair colour, so black, brown, red (Reed).

Some surnames are linked to trades eg Taylor and Smith, and because apprentices took the master's surname these names proliferated.

Rose and Orange could well be linked to a trade eg selling oranges.

Some are place names as well as colours eg as already said Green or Greenfield.

Some names were changed for political reasons, you never hear of the surname Hitler, the Queen wasn't born 'Windsor'. Antisemitism caused many Jewish people to make their names less Jewish so Blumenthal might become Bloom.

Fascinating thread.

I've come across a Mrs Glasgow and a Mr Scotland. Mrs Glasgow was talking one day about meeting Mr Edinburgh.

Are there other people who have places ie England, Wales, London or Manchester type names?

Britton - as in Leon.

I imagine they didn't have much variation in dyes colours among the common folk.

The main colours would have been 'natural' ones - green, brown, black and white. I guess could also refer to skin tone or the area they lived.

"Some surnames are linked to trades eg Taylor and Smith,"

Also Blacksmith, Whitesmith, Greensmith.

Perhaps after a time people took the first part of the name only?

@PenelopeFlintstone

I have Frost in my family tree. And one of them was definitely called Jack .

Don't know whether that was a nickname of his actual name. I think actual, because the record came up that way.

Please excuse my ignorance obviously I've heard of Blacksmith but never Whitesmith or Greensmith.
What do they do?

Mophead it's not a dog that's called Jack Frost is it? I've came across one of them.

I've heard the names Ireland and Wales as surnames. But I don't think I've ever heard of Mr England or a Miss Scotland.