Frame Surname Origins

Following is a compilation of the various ways one might come to carry the Frame surname.  The FRAME DNA PROJECT favours the Framea (spear) derivation and bases the Project's eligible surnames around that.

The Y-DNA of the majority of the participants in the Project thus far have been found to descend from the major Haplogroup I1 (I-M253) and in more recent times, the much younger branch, I-L803 and its various sub-branches:

'Haplogroup I1 is the most common type of haplogroup I in northern Europe. It is found mostly in Scandinavia and Finland, where it typically represent over 35% of the Y chromosomes. Associated with the Norse ethnicity, I1 is found in all places invaded by ancient Germanic tribes and the Vikings. After the core of ancient Germanic civilisation in Scandinavia, the highest frequencies of I1 are observed in other Germanic-speaking regions, such as Germany, Austria, the Low Countries, England and the Scottish Lowlands, which all have between 10% and 20% of I1 lineages.' [Eupedia].

The genetic evidence, along with traditional research into the likely Continental ancestral homeland of the British families surnamed Frame, Freme, Freame etc. and the Fremaux, Fremault (northern France and Flanders),  suggests that the framea used by Germanic warriors in the pre-Migration Period, is the most likely source from which the surnames Frame, Freame, Fremault etc., were derived.  As stated by Robert Ferguson in his book, when quoting Förstemann:

 ‘Tacitus tells us that the Germans were generally armed with a short spear, adapted either for close or distant fighting, and which was called in their language framea. From this word, apparently allied to the Modern German pfriem, Förstemann derives the following ancient names, which are mostly Frankish.’

FRAM. Spear.

SIMPLE FORMS

English:         FRAME, FREEM.        

French:         FRÉMY, FREMEAUX, FROMMÉ, FORME. 

Robert Ferguson describes his publication, THE TEUTONIC NAME-SYSTEM APPLIED TO THE FAMILY NAMES OF FRANCE, ENGLAND, & GERMANY, as:

•          ‘…an attempt to connect the family names of France, England, and Germany—so far as the ancient Teutonic element in each is concerned—as members of one common family, and to form them into a definite system in accordance with the nomenclature of the old Germans. It undertakes to shew that as the Saxons and other German tribes in the names of England and Germany, so are the old Franks represented in the present names of France. And it further undertakes to shew that in each case this correspondence does not consist merely in the casual resemblance here and there of individual names, but is to be traced in the coincidence of a complete and connected system common both to the old peoples and the new.

•         The basis of my theory is the Altdeutsches Namenbuch of Forstemann, in which the ancient names of Germany are collected, arranged, and in most cases explained. Of this work, which I fear is not so well known in England as it deserves, I cannot speak in terms more suitable than those in which Mr.Taylor refers to the companion volume on the names of places, as a work "which even in Germany, must be considered a marvellous monument of erudite labour."

Ernst Wilhelm Förstemann wrote of FRAM in PERSONENNAMEN in 1856:

   ‘Ich stelle die folgenden formen mit Sicherheit zum taciteischen framea; an die ahd. praeposition fram ist nicht zu denken. Auslautend begegnet das wort vielleicht in Sigifrem (8), das nicht verderbt ist, da es in zwei verschiedenen urkk. vorkommt. Der ganze stamm ist fast ausschliesslich fränkisch.’

English translation:

‘I place the following forms with certainty on the Tacitean framea; the OHD preposition fram is out of the question. Finally, the word 'finally' occurs in Sigifrem (8), which is not corrupt, as it is in two different documents. The whole tribe is almost exclusively Frankish.' 

See: Flanders- Ancestral Homeland

From Eupedia - Origins of the Franks

 ‘The Franks were a Germanic tribe that probably descended from Scandinavia to settle in the modern day Benelux and the German Rhineland, around the 2nd and 3rd century C.E. By the 6th century, the Franks had settled in what is now the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Lorraine (France), the eastern half of the Netherlands, and the German länder of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The Franks were divided in several tribes themselves, notably the Salian Franks in modern-day Belgium, Northern France and the Southern Netherlands, and the Ripuarian Franks in the Rhineland region.

The Rhine and Moselle valleys in Germany is still known as "Franconia", and German dialects in this region are varieties of Franconian, direct descendent of the Old Ripuarian Frankish. Old Salian Frankish evolved into Dutch and Flemish...

'...Frankish kingdoms were established with the Empire, around Le Mans (North-Western France), Cambrai (Northern France), Tournai (Wallonia, Belgium), Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany), and Deutz (now within Cologne, North Rhine, Germany).’   

The Roman Historian Tacitus (c.56 AD – c.117 AD describes the equipment of the Germanic warrior in Germania 6, THE GERMANY AND THE AGRICOLA OF TACITUS:

  6. ‘Even iron is not plentiful [38] among them; as may be inferred from the nature of their weapons. Swords or broad lances are seldom used; but they generally carry a spear, (called in their language _framea_, [39]) which has an iron blade, short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that, as occasion requires, they employ it either in close or distant fighting. [40] This spear and a shield are all the armor of the cavalry. The foot have, besides, missile weapons, several to each man, which they hurl to an immense distance. [41] They are either naked, [42] or lightly covered with a small mantle; and have no pride in equipage: their shields only are ornamented with the choicest colors. [43] Few are provided with a coat of mail; [44] and scarcely here and there one with a casque or helmet. [45] Their horses are neither remarkable for beauty nor swiftness, nor are they taught the various evolutions practised with us. The cavalry either bear down straight forwards, or wheel once to the right, in so compact a body that none is left behind the rest. Their principal strength, on the whole, consists in their infantry: hence in an engagement these are intermixed with the cavalry; [46] so Well accordant with the nature of equestrian combats is the agility of those foot soldiers, whom they select from the whole body of their youth, and place in the front of the line. Their number, too, is determined; a hundred from each canton: [47] and they are distinguished at home by a name expressive of this circumstance; so that what at first was only an appellation of number, becomes thenceforth a title of honor. Their line of battle is disposed in wedges. [48] To give ground, provided they rally again, is considered rather as a prudent strategem, than cowardice. They carry off their slain even while the battle remains undecided. The greatest disgrace that can befall them is to have abandoned their shields. [49] A person branded with this ignominy is not permitted to join in their religious rites, or enter their assemblies; so that many, after escaping from battle, have put an end to their infamy by the halter.’

'M' & 'N' INTERCHANGEABILITY

The substitution of 'm' for 'n' and vice versa does present complications with the surnames Freme (spear) and Frene (ash) in relation to surname etymology, and especially if attempting to disentangle medieval lineages; however, these surnames do find some 'common ground' of sorts since the Ash has, from very ancient times, been associated with the spear:

 FRENE: Ash  

'The ash, on the other hand, has been from time immemorial used for spears in many parts of the Aryan domain. The word cesc meant, in Anglo-Saxon, indifferently "ash-tree," or " spear "; and the same is, or has been, true of the French fresne and the Greek μελІα. The root of cesc appears in the Sanskrit as, "to throw" or *' lance," whence dsa, "a bow," and asand, "an arrow." See Pictet, Origines Indo-Européennes, I. 222.' 

 [John Fisk, MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS: OLD TALES AND SUPERSTITIONS etc. p.56]

FRESNE: 

‘ASH: A.S. asc, Da. and Sw. ask, O.N. askr, O.H.G. asc, G. and Du. esche. From the toughness of the wood it was much used for spear-shafts, and A.S. asc came to mean a spear, and asc-plega, the game of spears, a battle. Fresne in the same manner was used in France for a spear, whence the expression ‘brandir le fresne.’ [Richard Chandler, Alexander prior, ON THE POPULAR NAMES OF BRITISH PLANTS, AN EXPLANATION OF THE ORIGIN AND MEANING, 2008, p.11]

The Frene, Freyne, Frain DNA Project was established at Family Tree DNA for those with the 'n' surnames. In the past, 'spelling flexibility' or marriage or land tenure might have led to some families being known by both the ‘m’ (spear) or ‘n’ (ash) surnames. 

An example of both is the family Fremault, recorded in the 14th century as being lords of Fresnes. [Henri d’Hoossche, Histoire de Loos Vol. I, 1969, p.186].  

A useful example of ‘m’ and ‘n’ substitution and the way it may have led to family names having either the ‘m’ or ‘n’ variant simply by chance are the various ways in which the small farming village of Framecourt in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was recorded in antiquity:

• Auframecourt

• Offremecourt

• Offrancourt

• Wulfraincourt

• Wulfraimcourt

• Wulfrancourt

• Wulframecourt

• Wulfrencourt

• Vulfraimcourt 

When the prefixes and suffixes are deleted from these early recordings of Framecourt by the Auchy monks, the remaining: FRAME, FREME, FRAN, FRAIN, FRAIM, and FREN are all surnames still seen today. Prof. E.A. Freeman pointed out the confusion surrounding surnames in his book THE NORMAN PEOPLE, in which he was attempting to identify family names of Norman origin.  He wrote: 

‘We have to look at the very oldest records to discover the types of these existing records. The forms of these local names are frequently so singular, from their truncation, their ingenious substitutions of one letter for another, their phonetic spelling &c., that it is almost impossible to imagine whether they are local names, or patronymics, or Celtic names, or Hebrew, or Norman. They are to the last degree perplexing.’   [E.A. Freeman, THE NORMAN PEOPLE, 1874, p.35]

PERSONAL & PLACE NAMES

FRAM was a first/given name as well as a surname:  Fræna / Fráni = Fram.  FRAMLAND wapentake in Leicestershire is said to derive its name from the Scandinavian personal name Fræna and lundr, meaning 'Fræna's grove' – with variants of the name including Frandone, Franelun, Franelund, Franland, Franlund and Framelund.  Again, the substitution of 'n' for 'm' is evident.   It is said that the Scandinavian first name Fráni is Old Norse for ‘flashing eyed’, but it can also mean ‘bright, gleaming and shiny’ or ‘small dot’.   Of the surname  FREAN, Ernest Weekley states: 

‘Trees have in all countries a strong influence on topographical names, and hence on surnames. Frean, though usually from the Scandinavian name Fræna, is sometimes for Fr. frêne, ash,  Lat. fraxinus…’  [ROMANCE OF NAMES, Rep. by Kessinger Publishing, 2003, p.141]

FRIMOLDI / FRUMOLD / FREMAULT ( 'spear' names) were used as a first name before being adopted as a surname (FREMAUX / FREMAULT) in Flanders.

Many surnames evolved from personal names and place names.  In France, there are several places with a ‘Fram’ prefix, including :  Framecourt, Framicourt, Fremicourt, Framerville, Frambouhans, Framont and Frampas.  [Duclos, DICTIONNAIRE GÉNÉRAL DES VILLES, BOURGS, VILLAGES, HAMEAUX ET FERMES DE LA FRANCE, 1851, p.193]

In England, the following towns and villages are listed in the OXFORD DICTIONARY OF BRITISH PLACE NAMES [A.D. Mills, 2003, pp.196-197]:    Framfield (E. Sussex); Framilode (Gloucester); Framingham Earl and Framingham Pigot (Norfolk);  Framlingham (Suffolk);  Framsden (Suffolk);  Long Framlington (Northumberland);  Framwellgate Moor (Durham);  and Frampton (Lincolnshire). 

Whilst various origins have been assigned to some of these villages, Mills associates a man with the personal name ‘Fram’ with the following places: 

• • • FRAMSDEN Suffolk: Framesdena 1086 (DB) ‘Valley of a man called Fram’. OE pers. name + denu 

    • FRAMINGHAM EARL and FRAMINGHAM PIGOT – Norfolk: Framingaham 1086 (DB) Framelingham Comitis, Framelingham Picot 1254. ‘Homestead of the family or followers of a man called Fram.’ OE pers. name + inga + hām. Manorial affixes from early possession by the Earl of Norfolk (Latin comitis ‘of the earl’) and by the Picot family. 

    • FRAMLINGHAM – Suffolk: Fram(e)lingaham 1086 (DB) ‘Homestead or followers of a man called *‘Framela’ . OE pers. name + inga + hām. 

*Elements with an asterisk are postulated or hypothetical forms, i.e. they are words not recorded in independent use or only found in use at a later date.

Francis Blomefield [AN ESSAY TOWARDS A TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK, Vol.5. 1806, pp.431-432] explained the ancient connection between Framingham Earl and Framingham Pigot in Norfolk, and Framlingham in Suffolk:

‘There are two small villages of this name in Henstede hundred, in the liberty of the Duke of Norfolk; they were both but one at the time of the Conquest, and, was early called Framlingham-Parva, or Little Framlingham, to distinguish it from Framlingham-Magna, or Great-Framlingham in Suffolk, which also belonged to the same family; but when the part which belonged to ULKETEL was granted off by the Bigots to be held for them, that took the name of Framlingham-Picot or Pigot; and the other of Framlingham-Earl, both from their lords, by which name they are known. Mr Le Neve says that the name of Framlingham signifies ‘the seat or abode of the son of Frame, who was a Saxon of great note in these parts…’

It sems possible that Le Neve was referring to Osulf fil (son of) Frane/Frame, lord of Belvoir (Leicestershire) and De Plessis (France) - a thegn to Edward the Confessor. However, the origins of the place name Framlingham was perceived differently by Robert Hawes and Robert Loder [THE HISTORY OF FRAMLINGHAM IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK: INCLUDING BRIEF NOTICES OF THE MASTERS AND FELLOWS OF PEMBROKE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE, FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGE TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1798, p.11]:

'Thus fell the kingdom of the East-Angles, (whose Arms were Azure, 3 Crowns, Or.) and consequently this strong Castle, fell into the hands of the Danes, and probably from thence, it was called Framlingham, or rather Freindlingham, by the Saxons. For Freindling in their language signifies a Stranger, and Ham, an House; that is to say, ‘An House of Strangers...'   

FRAMLAND wapentake in Leicestershire is said to derive its name from the Scandinavian personal name Fræna and lundr, meaning 'Fræna's grove' – with variants of the name including Frandone, Franelun, Franelund, Franland, Franlund and Framelund.

Three prominent individuals with the name Fræna have been noted in English records:

• Fræna, a Danish Jarl killed at Ashdown in 871

• Fræna Dux, a Danish noble who subscribed a charter of King Æthelstan in 930

• Fræna (aka Frane/Frame and Fráni), a king's thegn fl/ 983/93. He was of Rockingham, Leicestershire (father of Osulf fil Frame/Frane?).   Other men named Frane held land at the Domesday survey.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES FOR SURNAME ORIGIN

Y-DNA has proven that a very large number of Frame families around the world descend from a single progenitor.  However, others have proved to belong to separate genetic groups. It stands to reason that all families with surnames eligible for this Project will not share the same genetic origin. There are different ways that a person may carry these surnames including from first names, locative names etc. Whilst modern scholars are now sceptical of many etymologies provided in earlier Surname Dictionaries, some of those found for 'Fram / Frem' type surnames follow:

 STRANGE, FOREIGN

There is absolutely no doubt that the early ancestors of the Frames, Fremault etc in England would have been referred to as 'Strangers' or 'Foreigners' when they arrived. This surname etymology may apply in some instances; however, certainly not for all British families surnamed Frame etc. If this were the case, there would have been many unrelated families with the same surname and thus far, DNA results have identified a very large related clan who shared a most recent common ancestor perhaps 500 - 800 ago.

• • • Charles Bardsley [i]  FREAN, FRAYNE, FRAME Nick. ‘the frem,’ or ‘fren,’ i.e. ‘the stranger’. ‘Frem, strange, foreign, unknown’: Halliwell. ‘Frenne, a stranger, an aliene, a forraine, a frenne...’     

    • William Lytteil  [ii] also suggested foreign: ‘FREIT-LORE AND HEROES  …By a similar method of inspection, we find that Danskin means or signifies the Dane ; Friskin, the Frisian ; Wynning, the warrior ; Fleming, the stranger ; Frame, the foreigner the last of these, in its adjective form, being the word used by Cuddie Headrigg when he speaks of one who "routed like a cow in a fremd loaning." Old Mortality, chap. 14. From the term fram, fraeme, frem, we have the name of Formby i.e., strangers' town (between rivers Mersey and Ribble), Framlington in Coquetdale, and our own Dunfermline i.e., da fremlings 1 toun, the foreigners' town. The definite article da, de, di, &c., is used in many Scottish names, as will be shown in a separate section. From other terms denoting men, heroes, warriors, we have Forfar, firdha-baer, warriors' town…’

    •  David Dorward in his book SCOTTISH SURNAMES stated: ‘FRAME.  The origin is in some doubt; Frames are recorded in Campsie and Lanark in the 15th century, Arthur Frame is in the Glasgow records in the 1550s, and Daniel Frame in Edinburgh a century later. Despite this evidence, the name is most familiar in Ulster, where it is thought to involve the Old English word fremde meaning ‘stranger’; and it may well be that the name itself is of Irish provenance.’

LE FLAMAND

• • • The New Zealand author, Janet Frame, said in her biography: ‘As a child, I used to boast that the Frames “came over with William of Orange”. I have since learned that this may be so, for Frame is a version of Fleming, Flamand, from the Flemish weavers who settled in the lowlands of Scotland in the fourteenth century.’ [Janet Frame (1924-2004), AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. p.7]

Project research has certainly led to the belief that the Frames, by whatever original surname, did likely first enter Britain from Flanders / Northern France in the 14th century; however, the surname was more likely originally derived from the Framea (spear) rather than being a derivation of the surname Fleming, as stated by Janet Frame. That said, given the antiquity of some surnames, and the fluidity and vagaries of spelling, one can never be absolutely certain. Le Flamand is certainly French for the Flemish, and 'Flame' is said to be a variant of 'Flamand', so this may have led to the surnames being confused at times in the distant past.

BOLD, ACTIVE, STRONG

• • • •  Reaney and Wilson [iii] opted for ‘bold, active, strong’: Fram, Framm, Frame : John filius Frame 1250 Fees (D); Geoffrey Frame 1196 P (Nf/Sf); Adam Frame 1495 Black. OE fram 'bold, active, strong'. Also used as a christian name.

ROOT, STEM, STOCK, LINEAGE

• • • •       William Arthur [iv] stated:  FRAME. (Gaelic.) Freumk or Freamk, a root, stem, stocks, lineage.

JEWISH – OF SEPHARDIC ORIGIN

• • • •      Oxford University Press, DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN FAMILY NAMES claim: FRAME. Jewish (of Sephardic origin): probably an Anglicized form of Ephraim

UNCERTAIN ORIGIN

• • • • Michael C O’Laughlin, in THE BOOK OF IRISH FAMILIES: GREAT & SMALL, 2002, p.108, did not propose a surname etymology. He states ‘Frame. A rare surname in Ireland, our records show scattered locations for the name including Ulster, Cork and Dublin.  

      • George F. Black [v]  wrote the ‘Bible’ of Scottish surnames: SURNAMES OF SCOTLAND, in 1946.  He offered no suggestion of surname etymology, instead writing:

 ‘FRAME. Several persons of this name are recorded in the Commissariot Records of Campsie and of Lanark. Adam Frame 1495. Arthur Fram, witness in Glasgow, 1551 (Protocols, I), Daniel Frame, burgess in Edinburgh, 1642 (Inquis., 2690), William Fram is recorded in parish of Calder, 1679 (Hanna, II, p.252), and William fframe in Mauldslie was warded in the Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh, 1683 (BOEC., VIII, p.155).’

In general, Black was reluctant to classify surnames as Nicknames.  He stated: 

‘Contrary to the common view, I have found few of our surnames to be derived from nicknames, and my experience in this is confirmed by Ewen:

“What on superficial examination,” he says, “appear to have personal epithets, are often something entirely different, misunderstanding arising through the failure to grasp various processes of corruption, modification, or mutation:

• • • • • Supposed nicknames due to failure to recognize archaic and corrupt forms.

        • Supposed nicknames due to failure to recognize language or dialect.

        • Supposed nicknames due to failure to recognize the original application of the description.” [Ibid. xxix]

_________________________________

[i] Charles Bardsley, DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES WITH SPECIAL AMERICAN INSTANCES, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1901 rep.1996, p.299

[ii] William Lytteil, LANDMARKS OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND LANGUAGE , 1877, pp.25-31  - Chapter III – ‘Freit-Lore and Heroes’

[iii] P.H. Reaney & R.M. Wilson, A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH SURNAMES, Rep.1996, p.176

[iv] William Arthur, AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF FAMILY AND CHRISTIAN NAMES: WITH AN ESSAY ON THEIR DERIVATION AND IMPORT, 1857, p.133

[v] George F. Black, SURNAMES OF SCOTLAND, 1946, p.278

©  Julie Frame Falk