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Surrey & South London Will Abstracts 1470-1856 - Forename abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the indexes

The following abbreviations of Christian names may occasionally be encountered. They were used in the early indexes created for Volume 1 ("Spage") and Volume 7 ("Herringman"). We have tried to expand these wherever they appeared but may have missed some. Please note the ambiguity introduced by the abbreviation "Fr." Be aware that in searching for someone named Frances the person appearing in a will might actually be Francis, and vice versa. So we recommend that is searching for Frances or Francis you simply search on forename "FR" or "FRA" - which will find all Franceses, Francises and Franks.

If searching for a name below try the abbreviation first, and if not successful use the full forename. (Do not add a full stop after any abbreviation.)

Forename

Abbreviation

A

Alexander

Alex

Andrew

And

Anthony

Ant

Arthur

Ar

B

Bartholomew

Bar

Benjamin

Ben

C

Charles

Ch

Christopher

Chr

E

Edmund

Edm

Edward

Edw

Eleanor

El

Elizabeth

Eliz

F

Francis

Frances

Frauncis

Fr

G

George

Geo

H

Harry

Ha

Henry

He

Humphrey

Hum

Hugh

Hu

J

James

Ja

John

Jo

K

Katherine

Kath

L

Laurence

Laur

Leonard

Leon

M

Margaret

Marg

Matthew

Mat

Michael

Mich

N

Nathaniel

Nat

Nicholas

Ni

P

Peter

Pe

Philip

Ph

R

Ralph

Ra

Richard

Ri

Robert

Ro

S

Samuel

Sam

Simon

Si

Stephen

Steven

Ste

T

Thomas

Th

Timothy

Tim

W

Walter

Wa

William

Wi