The Beginnings of the Ginn name

When I first started researching my 'Ginn' genealogy, one of the first things I did was to plot out a map of the occurrences of the name throughout England with data from the International Genealogical Index (IGI) which is widely considered to be a foundational resource in genealogy studies.

Maps showing where the Ginn name occurs most frequently

	Map 1: Most populated places with name 'Ginn' in 1841, map created in 2007.
	Map 2: A frequency map from 'The Genealogist' shows a slightly different distribution. The 'most' populated place with 'Ginn's' on this map is London and then Hertfordshire with Cambridgeshire having the next highest concentration. The counties of Essex and Suffolk also show high frequency. The counties of Bedfordshire and Northhamptonshire also show some occurrence of the name. Finally, Lancashire, Middlesex and Wiltshire have relatively few people named 'Ginn'. There is almost no occurrence anywhere else in England. Data is for 1841.
	Map 3: This map from Ancestry shows clearly that by 1891 there is a much more widespread distribution of the name: (data from 1891)

These maps, although created from different data, show more or less a similar pattern. The places with the highest number of occurrences are mostly in the southeast of the country. This, along with the rarity of the name, supports the theory that there is a strong likelyhood the name actually does originate in France.

Note that, in the fifty years between the 1841 and 1891 censuses, England had developed a railway system that allowed people to move around with much greater flexibility. Also, economic opportunities in cities meant that population distributions shifted from rural to urban areas. Urban population concentration increased from about 45% to about 72% in this timespan.

I knew that my Grandfather was born in Bedford. So, with the map showing 'Ginn' name occurrences most likely were situated in southeast England (and Yorkshire). As it happened, my family origin is northern Hertfordshire, to eastern Bedfordshire along with southern Cambridgeshire.

What I also noticed from that map was that the name seemed to locate in several places around England, with no discernible relationship between them. This has perplexed me ever since and I still really don't know why. In fact, more research has only served to deepen this mystery.

Here are some other maps showing different forms of the 'Ginn' name and where they occur most frequently. (Maps for 1891 from Ancestry.co.uk)

The origins of the Ginn name - A collection of information as found

If you're like me, you probably want to know about where your family name came from. What information we have is scant and scattered. The Ginn name is quite rare.

Historically, surnames evolved as a way to sort people into groups - by occupation, place of origin, clan affiliation, patronage, parentage, adoption, and even physical characteristics (like red hair). Many of the modern surnames in the dictionary can be traced back to Britain and Ireland. (1)

Surnames are also related to places: "A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name". (2)

In her study from 1963, Marie Luter Upton states: "Notice the name of the spelling as GYNN. In British Names of Families by Henry Barber, one finds that GYNN is of French origin and GINN is English. The name comes from the French word for engineer and denoted a post of great importance in the time of many wars in the Middle Ages". (3) What is most likely is that 'Gyn' evolved into ''Gynn' which evolved into 'Ginn'.

Indeed, this became problematic and, as Henry Barber points out:

"Many a name that seemed to defy all explanation was found to be that of some obscure village, so disguised as to be almost past recognition.
Indeed, as Mr. Lower truly says :
"Corruptions which many family names have undergone tend to baffle alike the genealogical and etymological inquirer." Much speculation has arisen as to the date when surnames were first used in this country. It is now pretty well admitted that they began to be adopted about AD 1000.
According to Lower, the practice commenced in Normandy, and gradually extended itself to this country ; but the use of surnames was occasionally hereditary among the Anglo-Saxons before the Conquest, and the general adoption of family designations. " (4)

A careful reading of this quote reveals the difficulties of tracing families using the name itself to try to do the tracing. In fact, it becomes nearly impossible. We are reliant on public records as well as church records to provide details of Births, Marriages and Deaths as well as locations. This, in fact, is the only way to develop a family tree, working backwards from known ancestors. However, even within the actual records, name variations can present obstacles. Writing quality and language can also present barriers to discovering links.

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In the book "The Norman People", [ Anonymous; ie author name not stated ] (1874), we find reference to:

Ginn. N. and William Guenes, William Guenes or Guines of Normandy, 1180-98 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae);
Osborne, Henry, William de Gene, England, c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum). ... and ...
Gynn, or Gynney;
Richard de Gisnei, Normandy 1180-95 (MRS);
Roger de Gisneto, England 1109 (RCR).
This book also refers to a 'Walter (or William) Gent' wherein "the first name is unclear and may be either a Walter or a William, but the surname is "G'net", not "Gent". The location appears to be in Long Stow Hundred, near Gamelingeye (now Gamlingay), South Cambridgeshire". (5) (See note)

In 'The Dering Roll', we find 'William le Genne'

#34 Willem le Genne - Arms: Argent three lions rampant sable
aka: William le Jone, who also appears in The Heralds' Roll, HE696 (d. 1310) (6)
aka: Willem le Jon (7)

The Dering Roll is the oldest existing parchment roll which records armigers and their coats-of-arms. It dates from around 1270 to 1280 CE. (8)

The arms are predominantly those of knights of Kent and Sussex, and include fifteen sheriffs of Kent and four constables of Dover Castle. The Dering Roll supplies a list of the knights owing feudal service to the constable of Dover Castle, and may have been commissioned by Stephen of Penchester (shield 6) , who was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle from 1268 to 1299. (9)

"This interesting and unusual surname has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Gynn may have originated as a metonymic occupational name for a trapper, or as a nickname for a particularly clever and cunning person, from the Middle English "gin, ginne", an aphetic form of the Old French "engin", skill, ingenuity, with the later meaning of "snare, trap". Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Nicknames were given with reference to a variety of personal characteristics, such as physical attributes or peculiarities, and mental or moral characteristics, and consequently gave rise to many early medieval surnames. One Walter Gynn was recorded in the 1275 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire. The second possibility is that Gynn is either a variant form of the Welsh "Gwyn", a nickname surname from "gwen", white-headed, favourite, or an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "MagFhinn", son of Finn, a byname from "fionn", fair or white-haired. One William ap Guyn was noted in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Shropshire, and Gwyn, together with its Irish cognate Finn, are still popular male given names. A Coat of Arms granted to the Gynn family of Hertfordshire is an azure shield with a gold griffin segreant, on a chief indented ermine three pellets, the Crest being a bird close azure on a gold garb. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Gin, which was dated 1191, in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling". (10)

The surname, which is also found in the modern idiom as Gynn, first appears in records in the late 12th Century.

One Roger Gin appears in the Feet of Fines of Staffordshire in 1221.

And, as mentioned by Dr Taylor, the earliest reference in Hertfordshire is 'Richard Gynne' or Ginn in 1307 in the Poll Tax/Lay Subsidy for Hertfordshire. (GHB)

Also, there is a 'Richard Gynne' in Stoke, Suffolk sometime between 1308 and 1316. He had been imprisoned for commitment of a felony. (See note) Take a look at more early references in this list, mostly in Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. So, even by the 14th century, the 'Gynn' name was already quite widespread, especially in the East of England. Finally, as the name became more widespread, the Oxford Dictionary of Names shows a Thomas Gynne or Gynn in Huntingdonshire sometime later, in 1637. However, after about 1500, the 'Gynn' name has become mostly concentrated in Hertfordshire, London and Norfolk, as shown in this list. Elsewhere, the occurrence of the name has more or less disappeared.

Ginn Surname Meaning (Forbears)

“Skill” in Old French (Engin), Hence also “Ingenuity”. — South African Surnames (1965) by Eric Rosenthal

From the French, Gynn; from the Danish, Gihn; from the Dutch, Gijn; from the German, Gins; a personal name.
— British Family Names: Their Origin and Meaning (1903) by Henry Barber

(English, Irish) Descendant of Ginn or Genn, pet forms of Guinevere (fair lady) or of Eugene (wellborn); one with a fair complexion.
— Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

(Celtic) for MacGinn, q.v. (Anglo-French-Latin) metonymic for Ginner = En­gineer, i.e. worker of a ballistic gin or engine [ Middle English gin, for Middle English O.F. engin, a tool, contrivance; Latin ingenium, nature, talent, device ]
— Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

Mag Fhinn MacGing is the form almost invariably used in Mayo and Leitrim.

MacGinn is usually in Tyrone and Maginn in Antrim and Down.
— A Guide to Irish Names (1964) by Edward MacLysaght (SIF 78)

Perhaps the same as Genn, with the G softened.
— Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower (12)

Another website: 'House of Names' contains information about the 'Ginn' name originating from Wales and being "is derived from the Welsh word "gwyn"". There is no evidence that there is a link but I include this here because it can't be ruled out. (13) Census maps do not show any 'Ginn' in Wales before 1871, so it appears they migrated TO Wales and not FROM Wales. (14) There was a considerable migration of Flemings to Wales imposed during the reign of Henry I in the early 12th century. (See:The Flemish Settlement in Wales)

As shown above, the Ginn name is most common in Hertfordshire, the origin of our family line. It so happens that the localities where the name is also found are in close proximity: in Potton, Biggleswade and Sandy (Bedfordshire). In fact, some of the main areas where the name is common are only 12 - 15 miles apart. There can be little doubt that this is the most likely area for the root of our family although, by the 1600’s the name is spread out throughout England and Ireland and indeed the United States where the name begins to appear in the early 1700’s in Maryland. One Robert even appears in a passenger list to Antigua. Recently, Dr Taylor has posted a page about George Ginn of Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines who died in 1812. This George is descended from Thomas Ginn of Aston (d 1526/7) who is brother of Henry Ginn of Anstey d. 1539 (Generation 15 in Ginn Genealogy Table), our ancestor. See his descendancy here.

The current genealogy records our own Ginn origins in Hertfordshire, subsequently migrating to Cambridgeshire and later to Bedfordshire. The earliest Ginn in our line, is one William Ginn, born about 1450 in Aston, Hertfordshire and occupied as a 'yeoman farmer'. Learn more about William from the very thorough 'one-name-study' by Dr Michael Taylor at the Ginn Hertfordshire blog.

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I do not know the true origin of the name but I will surmise that it IS from the French.

I am taking this view for a few reasons:

• The rarity of the 'Ginn' name supports the name coming from outside England
• The location of the highest frequency of occurrences tends to be in southeast England, in close proximity to France, as opposed to being more widespread
• Given names associated with it are often: 'William', 'Henry', 'Robert', 'John' but this may be coincidence since these are common Norman names but Norman nonetheless
• There are the migrations of French and Flemish settlers into England. Migrants during this period often used the town or village where they came from as part of their name.
• Several authors (Barber, Lower) point to connections between Norman names and their English counterparts.

The name was fairly well established, even when our William shows up in 1450, in several locations around England. By the time of his birth, there would have already been 12, or so, generations after the 'Conquest' and therefore plenty of opportunity to spread the name, or a variant of the name, around.

With respect to noble names - and Norman names in particular, and this is key:

"Of the great array of time-honoured names very few are now borne by direct representatives. They exist rather among the old gentry than in the peerage. In the majority of cases the later descendants of illustrious families have sunk into poverty and obscurity unconscious of their origin, and this was more likely to be the case with the younger branches, since the name or title of the family went with the elder line that inherited the estates". (4)

As a consequence of the practice of 'inheritance by primogeniture' and the aforementioned corruption of names that are derived from places puts up further barriers to tracing genealogy. It would not be surprising to find offshoots from once noble families living as regular people, possibly with substantially altered surnames.

Still, in the timespan between the 15th and 19th centuries, the 'Ginn' name remains quite concentrated in the southeast of England. Probably people did not move around that much, at least until the railways began to dominate British transportation.

I recently discovered 'The Battle Abbey Roll' and it includes an entry in the second volume referring to 'Gines' as participants in the Battle of Hastings. The writer, the Duchess of Cleveland, makes clear that any reference to a name is to a family and not an individual. Some men bearing the name 'Guines' accompanied William the Conqueror's troops when he invaded England in 1066. (More on this in 'Guînes findings') The reference includes variants of the name such as 'Gins', 'de Guinnes', 'de Gins', 'de Guines', 'de Gisneto', 'Gisne', 'Gyney', 'Gynes', 'Geines' and 'Guisnes'. Notably, one "Arnold Count of Guisnes (who had succeeded the childless Countess Beatrice) held twelve knight's fees in Kent, Essex, and Bedfordshire, which formed part of the Honour of Boulogne, and "had the reputation of a Baron of this Realm."" (20) and that is right in the neighbourhood of our ancestors, so one does wonder.

Perhaps, it is no coincidence that the 'Gynn' name is most common in Hertfordshire, where:

"After receiving continental reinforcements, William crossed the Thames at Wallingford, and there he forced the surrender of Archbishop Stigand (one of Edgar's main supporters), in early December. William reached Berkhamsted a few days later where Ætheling relinquished the English crown personally and the exhausted Saxon noblemen of England surrendered definitively". (21)

Most of the men returned to France. It is possible, that some soldiers settled in different areas, as the army may have broken up. People didn't use surnames in the 11th century but surnames became adopted as time went on. Some may have become 'Gynn' or some other variant. Again - we don't know. And how William convinced his fellow 'comtes' and 'barons' together with somewhere between 5,000 and 14,000 of their best soldiers with their armaments, regalia and paraphenalia to climb into wooden boats in Normandy to execute this invasion shows his military genius.

It may otherwise be from William Guenes or Guines of Normandy, which might have become 'Gynn' or some other variant. There is much more to be learned about the Norman migration and projects like 'Norman families of Normandy (France) and England' at geni.com are shedding light on this important area.

It is important to note that during the 5th and 6th centuries, as Anglo-Saxon invaders plundered England, many people from the Cornwall and Devon areas migrated over to Brittany. Descendants of these people returned to England under William's banners and fought at Hastings and other battles. Unfortunately, we don't know their names as "Both William and Orderic state that the Bretons were a major component of the battle array, but neither names any of the Bretons present." (Wikipedia)

"A French Invasion: The army which invaded England was in any case not exclusively Norman and neither were the new aristocrats who replaced many of the Anglo-Danish thegns and ealdormen after 1066. It included men from many parts of France including Bretons, as well as Flemings, Italians and Sicilians. It also comprised some great baronial families of medieval England, those who really did come over with the Conqueror, but who traced their ancestry to Flanders or Aquitaine, Anjou or Brittany, rather than to Normandy". (22)

We also know that surnames were often taken from the man's profession, so it may also be a metonymic form of "ingenieur", meaning engineer. They may have appeared a little later once castles and fortress enclosures had become much stronger and heavier weapons were needed. Or perhaps they were needed to build these castles, or repair them.

We do know these men existed from early times. There were 'engineers' back as far as Roman times who built aquaducts and colosseums and the like. But these 'engineers' were different. Like this one, a "Bertrand, known in England as Bertram ... became a key influential military engineer for King Henry III". (23)

"In 1277 we find Master Bertram building siege engines that will bring the walls of Dolforwyn Castle tumbling down in the siege there during the opening of the First Welsh War. In 1278 we meet him again, as he begins to build the castles at Flint and Rhuddlan, only to have the work taken over by the pupil of his one time Gascon colleague, Jean Mésot ... Master James of St George.

Bertram was a far better builder of siege engines than he was a castle builder, he’s constantly referred to as an Inegeniatori not a Lathomi or a Cemantari. Accordingly during the Second Welsh War we find him again at Castell y Bere ... building siege engines for the successful siege there". (23)

These "ingenieur" may have been known to each other, or not, we can't know this. But we do know there were more than just Master Bertram: "A team of five masons and five carpenters, under the command of Master Bertram the Engineer, were left at Castell y Bere to conduct unspecified work after the English army had left". (24)

There were no Ginns in Wales before about 1860, at least as can be shown using census data. Land within a hundred in Wales, for example, was divided into what are known as "Weles'. As a new generation became of age, the 'Weles' were subdivided amongst sons and these smaller plots were known as 'gavells'. It may have been the case that surnames became splintered so as to identify inherited plots of land from one another. Such that one descendant may have decided to call his field (gavell) by one name to distinguish it from another descendant's with a slightly different name derivation.

This does not rule out that our name is Irish where the claim is the Ginn name is "reduced form of McGinn - or Welsh, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mag Finn ‘son of Fionn’". (25) There are Ginns in Ireland (mostly Ulster) but they do not appear to be connected to us.

As David Gynn has pointed out, in a conversation with Michael Taylor: "You are of course correct in that the name has been spelt many ways over the years. Very old records from St Thomas Church in Launceston show 1695 to 1700 the spelling of the surname of one family as Guinne, Guin, Ginn, Guen and Gune. Later on they become Jynne and finally Gynn!!" (26)

In fact, it seems very probable that the Ginn name may have developed completely independently in more than one location, judging from the LACK of connectedness between lines even going back quite far. It is more likely that the Irish descendants are 'from' English ancestry rather than the other way around.

DNA evidence is also sparse but one 'James Genn (Ginn) born c. 1645, d. 1709 Northumberland' is shown as belonging to haplogroup R-L48 which is a sub group of R-M269. (27)

Haplogroup R-L48 originates 'about 4,700 years ago in Eurasia'. (28) A single sample can't be considered definitive but is included here for general information. This group may originate from anywhere in Great Britain but has also originated from: Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden and perhaps other locations. Germany contained the most samples in this group. (29) In any case, DNA data is not going to tell us much because the DNA groups that are of interest have been swirling around the North Sea for millenia.

Even if we knew would prove to be not very useful. "The populations around the shores of the North Sea are surprisingly homogeneous genetically, and have been so since the Neolithic era. Exchanges of goods, culture, and wives across the North Sea have been going on for millennia, and the oldest Anglo-Saxon poems, like Beowulf, tell of Danish kings in a glorious past." (30)

With all of that said, there is still not enough evidence to conclusively determine where the 'Ginn' name originates. However, the name does appear to come from ancient roots in Celtic regions in Brittany and Wales or possibly from Viking roots in Normandy. The information here is included to demonstrate the variety of possibilities for which further research may reveal a definitive analysis.

There is no evidence to prove this conjecture but there is also no evidence to disprove it. We may never know for sure.

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Why do we have surnames? by Rowena Willard-Wright, English Heritage, 8 July 2016

Most people were and continued to be of English descent, with only a small number of Norman nobles and their retainers living in England. Instead a French derived name might have been taken for status, or because you were working for a Norman noble who listed your occupation in French, such as John the charpentier or Carpenter, which in English would have been Wright. However, if you have a surname which comes from a French place name you are much more likely to be descended from a Norman forebear. (http://blog.english-heritage.org.uk/norman-saxon-surname/)

The 1305 Oakham Survey offers more clues about the early genesis of surnames:

In 1305 the practice of double naming (fore- or Christian and sur- or second names) was embryonic. As the number of male forenames was limited a second, as it were adjectival, addition was needed to identify a particular John, William or Peter. In the document these fall into four main groups. In the first the identification is by family connexion, in the second by place of origin or dwelling, in the third by trade and in the fourth by some nickname. (See note)

Notes: Other Ginn Family History (VERY general)
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=ginn (Somewhat credible, VERY general)
https://www.names.org/n/ginn/about (NOT very credible)
https://www.igenea.com/en/surname-projects/g/guingwinguyngwyn-6487 (Study of name and name associations)

Sources:

1: https://www.ancestry.ca/name-origin?surname=gynn
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymic_surname
3: The Ginns and their kin by Marie Luter Upton, 1963
4: Barber, Henry; British family names; their origin and meaning, with lists of Scandinavian, Frisian, Anglo-Saxon and Norman names, 1894
5: https://archive.org/details/normanpeopleand00unkngoog, pg 261 and norman_people_ginn_notes.txt
6: https://web.archive.org/web/20160313085637/http://briantimms.fr/Rolls/dering/dering1.html
7: http://www.aspilogia.com/HE-Heralds_Roll/N-649-697.html #696
8: https://www.bsswebsite.me.uk/History/Dering/dering-roll.html
9: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_roll_77720_f001r
10: https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gynn (Note 1: The same description appears for family names: 'Ginn' and 'Gynne', although the description at this same website: "A Coat of Arms was granted to a Ginn family in Hertfordshire, which depicts a gold griffin segreant, on an ermine indented chief, with three pellets" cannot be correct because it does not state the background colour. Note 2: I have attempted to find the reference to 'Henry Gin, 1191, in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk"' with no success as yet.)
11: An alphabetical dictionary of coats of arms belonging to families in Great Britain and Ireland, ed. by A.W. Morant By John Woody Papworth @ https://books.google.ca/books?id=dTABAAAAQAAJ. The 'V' in the above reference is for: Glover's Ordinary, Cotton MS. Tiberius D, 10; Harl. MSS. 1392 and 1459;
In 'Encyclopædia Heraldica' described as: GYNN [Hertfordshire] az. a griffin, segreant or, on a chief indented erm. three pellets, pg 3F (https://archive.org/details/encyclopdiaher21berr/page/800/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater);
A complete body of heraldry. v.1.: described as: Az. a griffin rampant or, on a chief indented erm. three roundlets GYNN; Griffins, pg 13; page scan #405
(https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015032326384&view=1up&seq=405&q1=gynn)
A complete body of heraldry. v.2.: described as: GYNN [Hertfordshire] Az. a griffin segreant or, on a chief indented erm. three pellets; Griffins, pg 13; page scan #168
Original was archived by: Robert Glover (officer of arms) (1544 – 1588)
12: https://forebears.io/surnames/ginn
13: see: https://www.houseofnames.com/ginn-family-crest (Not certain how accurate this depiction is, but it is interesting.)
14: see, for example: https://your-family-history.com/surname/g/ginn?year=1861
15: Huddersfield Exposed (https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/The_History_of_Honley_(1914)_-_Chapter_XIV)
16: A new dictionary of the canting crew in its several tribes of gypsies, beggers [sic], thieves, cheats &c., with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches &c. : useful for all sorts of people (especially foreigners) to secure their money and preserve their lives ; besides very diverting and entertaining being wholly new, 1699;
17: Advice to the English YOUTH: Relating to the Present JUNCTURE of AFFAIRS, 1688;
the last two (16 & 17) found @
[ https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?ALLSELECTED=1&xc=1&g=eebogroup&type=simple&rgn=full+text&q1=Ginn&cite1=&cite1restrict=author&cite2=&cite2restrict=author&singlegenre=All&Submit=Search&c=eebo&c=eebo2 ] and
[ https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2?c=eebo;c=eebo2;g=eebogroup;rgn=full+text;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=short;type=simple;view=reslist;xc=1;q1=Ginn ] - lots more here.
18: Gentry, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1843-1905; Family names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch considered in relation to their etymology, with brief remarks on the history and languages of the peoples to whom we are indebted for their origin; pg 27-28
19: Charnock, Richard Stephen; Ludus patronymicus; or, The etymology of curious surnames, 1868; This work is "Dedicated to Mark Antony Lower, Author of Patronymica Britannica". (https://archive.org/stream/luduspatronymicu00charrich/luduspatronymicu00charrich_djvu.txt)
20: (this transcription @ http://1066.co.nz/Mosaic%20DVD/library/Battle%20Roll/Gines.html, Author: Michael Linton)
The actual entry is on: The Battle Abbey Roll, with some account of the Norman lineages, vol 2, pp 110-111.
21. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/William_I_of_England
22. https://anglomagyarmedia.com/2021/08/10/the-end-of-saxon-england-revisiting-the-norman-conquest-chapter-i-the-confessor-the-conqueror-the-house-of-wessex-1035-1135/
23: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4370017549679065&id=952885338058987
24: https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Castell_y_Bere; Read more about Master Bertram in 'Master_Bertram_notes.txt'
25: https://www.ancestry.ca/name-origin?surname=ginn
26: https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/surnames.gynn/2.1.1.1.2 27: FamilyTreeDNA - Ginn, Guin, Gwin, Guyn, Gwyn, McGuin O'Ginn O'Guin OGwynn Project at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/GuinnGwinn?iframe=ycolorized (line 115)
28: https://haplogroup.org/
29: see image in this folder: DNA_R-L48_subgroup_of_R-M269.jpg
30: see: https://www.kulturkaufhaus.de/en/detail/ISBN-9788771457209/Ullidtz-Per/1016-The-Danish-Conquest-of-England

Some questions and some answers:

Q: Have you ever tried to establish a connection to 'Richard Gyn'?

A: Michael Taylor says: Firstly - yes there are separate (so far as I know ) Ginn families in Suffolk and on the Eastern Cambridgeshire border (all one family Michael Ginn and I surmised) , in Soham in Cambridgeshire, a family in Northants and some Ginn (mostly Genn) in Cornwall. There was also a Genn family in Yorkshire. A family also established itself in Eynesbury in Hunts. The Hertfordshire family had branches in Hunts and Cambridgeshire and in Suffolk, but there is no link between them and those other families I just mentioned. That said, I have made some amazing discoveries in recent years who link in Ginns I did not think were "ours" so I do not know it all.
Secondly, after Richard Gyn in 1307, there are scattered Ginn references in various parishes around Aston and Stevenage in the 1400s but I am never going to be able to form a Family Tree - the entries are scattered and parish registers did not commence until 1538. It is amazing we know what we do.

Q: It is notable that the Black Death ravaged England a scant 100 years before William, so were 'Ginn's' able to prosper by taking advantage of low land prices and the general state of turmoil that must have existed at the time, and for quite some time after. Things were a lot different then, not like today when land prices seem to be going through the roof!

A: Michael Taylor says: Thirdly, I agree that the Ginns established themselves as comparatively prosperous farmers from the population loss and confusion caused by the Black Death in the 1300s. There are court cases in the 1500s that show that the Gentry resented the uppity yeomen families, including the Ginns, and were trying to claw back their landholdings.

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