Occurrences of the name for baptisms and births have been studied in the IGI (2004 edition). This series of graphs shows how these resources indicate the spread of the name from the 16th century onwards. Although the IGI is by no means a complete survey of parish records is by current standards the largest collection of national records covering all these periods.

Although most counties are only partially covered, the spread of missing parishes is fairly random. Parish coverage, however is very variable and allowance must be taken for the errors this will create.

Using this evidence, there appears to be two or three centres for the name in late tudor, early jocobean times. These conform other reserach findings that the name appears to originate from Yorkshire (West Riding) and Rutland and have developed different spellings. The occurrences in Wiltshire shown on the first map have been eliminated as they come from one family - a family that later moves from the area. Click the graph for a larger view.