CORNWALL members around the world

CORNWALL Family History

This interesting surname of English origin is either a locational name from Cornwall in Oxfordshire so called from the Old English pre 7th Century "corn" a metathesized form of "cron", "cran" meaning "crane" plus "well(a)" spring, stream, or it is a regional name from the county of Cornwall, so called from the Old English pre 7th Century tribal name Cornwealas. This is from Kernow, the native name that the Cornish used to denote themselves, of uncertain etymology, perhaps connected with a Celtic element meaning "horn", "headland", compounded with the Old English pre 7th Century "wealas" meaning "strangers", "foreigners".