Littlefair Names

At one time I recorded variations of Littlefair thinking they might be different families but soon realised that nearly all those attending ceremonies could neither read nor write and it was left to the Curate to determine the name. If the family were local and Known to the church then there would be some consistency in what was written down. Even people newly appointed in the church had the opportunity to search back through the registers and record the name as their predecessors had done.

Most of the variations came from the past when communities were widespread with poor links. As links improved the consistency of recording names improved. The Church must have played a significant role in this process at a time when people who read and wrote were far from common. I give below a list of Littlefair names I have encountered:-

Littlefair, Littlefaire, Littlefare,Littlefayre, Littellffayre,Littlephaier and Littlephare,Littlefar, Littlefer,Littlefear, Littlefur, Littlefarn, Littlefield, Littlefoot and variations of these with only one "t". Littlefare in early times developed from most of the forms using "ph" and "ayre" and was at one time dominant. Now we are nearly all of the "fair" variety.

Littleforth, Litelforth, Litleforth were the variations of Littleforth, which you will by now know, or are about to discover, was a name used for a while when the name Littlefair was temporarily lost.

The Igi database uses the standard name Littlefair alongside the variation of the name as written in Church records. Any name you ask it to search for is first converted to the standard. In this way it finds all variations of the surname for you but only if the variation is recorded and linked.