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Baskerville (surname)

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Baskerville is an English surname of Anglo-Norman origin.[1] It is believed to have been used by Norman invaders from Bacqueville (Bacqueville-en-Caux, Sancte Mariae de Baschevilla 1133; Baschevillam, Baskervilla 1155, Baccheville 1176, Bascervilla 1179[2]) in Normandy, many of whom settled along the English-Welsh border.

At the time of the British Census of 1881,[3] its relative frequency was highest in Herefordshire (16.2 times the British average), followed by Cheshire, Devon, Radnorshire, Oxfordshire, Brecknockshire, Cornwall, Wigtownshire, Carmarthenshire and Staffordshire. It has also been corrupted to Basketfield in some families.

The name Baskerville may refer to:

Fiction

  • William of Baskerville, a fictional character in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
  • In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle suggests the family are of Irish descent. Sir Henry Baskerville has 'the rounded head of the Celt which carries inside it a Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment'.
  • A prominent group of characters in the Japanese manga Pandora Hearts uses the surname.

See also

References

  1. ^ Browne, W.A.F.; Reaney, P.H.; Wilson, R.M.; Scull, A. (1991). A Dictionary of English Surnames. Tavistock classics in the history of psychiatry. Routledge. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-415-05737-0. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. ^ Beaurepaire (Charles de), Laporte (dom Jean), Dictionnaire topographique du département de la Seine-Maritime, Paris, 1982-1984, p. 38. [1]
  3. ^ "Baskerville Surname Meaning and Distribution". forebears.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2014