As part of a study of personalization and effective communication, Douglas Galbi created the following datasets that include given names in England before 1800. The cited sources should be consulted for documentation, for updates, and to verify data integrity. For additional information and sources on given names, see the Given Names Frequency Project.
Note that the "raw" names include numerous errors in my typing the names into the database from the printed source. GINAP maps these mis-transcriptions into the standardized names. If you are interested in the actual spelling of names, you should consult the sources and not rely on the "raw" names. Compiling a completely accurate transcription of raw names would be a useful public service. But doing so was not necessary for my project.
The datasets, with the exception of the Fine Rolls, are provided below as text files in which each comma delimited line is a record for an individual. Typical fields include rn (a record sequence number), gname-r (raw given name), gname (GINAP standardized given name), sex (GINAP standardized sex), lname (last or family name), and a location or file fields. The specific fields in the records for each file are given below. They are also included as a header line in the text files.
All the names lists other than the Fine Rolls, the Guild, and the Stratford-Solihull lists were standardized with GINAP 1.0. The Stratford Guild and Stratford-Solihull lists were standardized with GINAP 1.1.
Henry III Fine Rolls, 1216-1242. Contains 9737 given names. Compiled from Henry III Fine Rolls Project. See Needle documentation for information on analyzing and exporting.
Carlisle, Cumberland, 1377 (461 records, 18 KB) . Compiled from Fenwick (1998). Fields: rn, town, gname-r, gname, sex.
Herefordshire, 1379 (2642 records, 66 KB). Compiled from Fenwick (1998). Fields: rn, gname-r, gname, sex.
Salford Hundred, Lancashire, 1381 (830 records, 31 KB). Compiled from Fenwick (1998). Fields: rn, town, gname-r, gname, sex.
Rutland Lay Subsidy 1296/7 (1840 records, 86 KB). Compiled from the transcription of Postles, D.A., Rutland Lay Subsidy 1296/7. Fields: rn, place, fullname, gname, sex.
Guild of the Holy Cross, Our Lady, and St. John the Baptist, Stratford-On-Avon (females, entered 1406-1430, 1490-1534) (1387 records, 36 KB). Compiled from guild register transcript in Bloom (1907). Fields: year of entry, rn, type (e=living person entered, s=soul entered), gname-r, gname.
Stratford-On-Avon and Solihull, County Warwick, females, (Stratford, births 1558-1652; Solihull, births 1539-1668) (5266 records, 103 KB). Compiled from parish register of births transcribed in Savage (1904) and Savage (1905). Fields: place, rn, year of birth, gname-r, gname.
Protestation of 1642 in Manchester (1305 records, 45 KB). Compiled from The Palatine Note-Book (1881). Fields: rn, gname-r, lname, gname, sex.
East Anglican Office Holders, 1272-1460 (1595 records, 62 KB). Compiled from transcription in Alsford, Stephen, The Men Behind the Masque: Office-holding in East Anglian boroughs, 1272-1460, Appendix I, "The Officers of Borough Government." Fields: appendix (of source), year (year person first held office), fullname, gname, sex.
Northumberland and Durham, 1530-1830 (79517 records, 2924 KB). Compiled from George Bell’s parish marriage register transcriptions for Northumberland and Durham. Fields: rn, placeid (see file names in source directories), year (of marriage), gname-r, gname, sex.
Source citations:
Bloom, J. Harvey, ed. (1907), The Register of the Gild of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Mary and St. John the Baptist (London: Phillimore & Co.).
Fenwick, Carolyn C., The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381, Records of Social and Economic History, New Series 27 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
"The Protestation of 1641-2 in Manchester," The Palatine Note-Book (Manchester: J.E. Cornish, 1881-85) May 1881, pp. 80-4; June 1881, pp. 102-8; July 1881, pp. 122-4; Aug. 1881, pp. 138-40; Oct. 1881, p .167-72; Dec. 1881, 210-5.
Savage, Richard (1904), The register of Solihull, Co. Warwick (Exeter: Parish Register Society).
Savage, Richard (1905), The registers of Stratford-on Avon, in the county of Warwick (London: Parish Register Society).