What's in a name? The RTFHS website includes lists of surnames that frequently occur in the Gypsy and Traveller community. Gypsy surnames which occur in Surrey include Cooper, Matthews, Ayres, Smith, Green, Taylor, Williams, Brazil, Shepherd, Beaney, Chapman and Scott among others.
Typical Romany surname: common ones include Cooper, Smith, Lee, Boswell, Lovell, Doe, Wood, Young and Heron. But take a look at our Famous Families books for many more examples.
Gypsy leaders. The Boswells were for centuries one of England's largest and most important Gypsy families. The Boswell clan were a large extended family of Travellers, and in old Nottinghamshire dialect the word bos'll was used as a term for Travellers and Roma in general.
They are one of several groups identified as "Travellers", related groups being the Scottish Travellers and English Travellers. They are often incorrectly referred to as "Gypsies", but Irish Travellers are not genetically related to the Romani, who are of Indo-Aryan origin.
Surnames mentioned in the Index in addition to Buckland and Buckley: Ayres, Barendon/Barenton, Barton, Beldham, Bibby, Biddle, Boswell, Bunce, Bunyan, Burton, Butcher, Byle, Chambers, Chilcott, Colacut, Cooper, Doe, Draper, Egerton, Fender, Fenner, Fletcher, Gray, Green, Hazard, Hearn, Herne, Heron, Hicks, Houthiet, ...
Romani communities are dispersed across all Australian states, with significant populations located in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Around 14,000 Roma live in Western Australia, mostly immigrants from Macedonia and their children. Nearly all lead sedentary lives.
Nine disorders are caused by “novel private” Roma mutations, including forms of glaucoma, polycystic kidney disease, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, and a few neuropathies.
Besides the Faas and Blyths, common Border Gypsy surnames include Baillie, Tait, Douglas, Gordon, McDonald, Ruthven, Young and Fleckie. In Scottish Gaelic they are known as the "Ceàrdannan" ("the Craftsmen"), or less controversially, "luchd siubhail" (people of travel) for travellers in general.
In comparison with other studied groups from Ukraine (mainly Ukrainians but also other minorities) Djaczenko found that Gypsies have the lowest cephalic index, the widest nose, darkest pigmentation, and the most dense beard.
“Roma” is the word (ethnonym) that the Roma use to describe themselves: it is the term for the members of that specific people and it is Romani for “man”. “Gypsy” is a derogatory, disparaging term – for many an insult — used by the majority population to define the Roma people.
Roma, singular Rom, also called Romany or Gypsies (considered pejorative), an ethnic group of traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India but live in modern times worldwide, principally in Europe.
Rom: Gypsies of East European origin who arrived after 1880. Mostly urban, they are scattered across the entire country. One of the larger groups in the US, possibly in the 55-60,000 range. Romnichels: English Gypsies who arrived beginning in 1850.
Romani, the common language of the Roma, the Sinti, the Kale and other European popula- tion groups summarised by the pejorative denomination gypsies, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family and is the only New-Indo-Aryan language spo- ken exclusively outside of the Indian subcontinent.
The Roma do not follow a single faith, but are Catholic Manouche, Mercheros, and Sinti; Muslim Ashkali and Romanlar; Pentecostal Kalderash and Lovari; Protestant Travellers; Anglican Gypsies; and Baptist Roma.
The Romani people, also referred to as Roma, Sinti or Kale, depending on the sub-group, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group which primarily lives in Europe.
Romani in Australia
There is very little data on Australian Romani; we don't know how many people identify as Romani or practise their culture. It is not known when the first Roma arrived in Australia; some claim that it was as early as the. late 18th century.
Gypsy Roma Travellers are not currently recognised as indigenous, but could be. These communities have distinct cultural practices and experience colonisation. These communities have higher mortality, morbidity and infant mortality.
In the UK, it is common in data collections to differentiate between: Gypsies (including English Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies or Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and other Romany people) Irish Travellers (who have specific Irish roots) Roma, understood to be more recent migrants from Central and Eastern Europe.
Simpson is an English/Scottish patronymic surname from the medieval masculine given name 'Simme', a medieval variant of 'Simon'. The earliest public record of the name was in 1353 in Staffordshire, West Midlands region of England.
What is the meaning of the name Gypsy? The name Gypsy is primarily a gender-neutral name of English origin that means (Mistakenly) From Egypt. PLEASE NOTE: “Gypsy” is a derogatory, racist term for the Roma or Romani people - people with Romanian origins and originally of Indian decent.
Watts Family History
This name is of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout these countries.