(last updated 2020-10-13) Where did our Vincent / Vinson surname come from? ------------------------------------------------- ------------------- OFFICIAL DEFINITION ------------------- "... last names first started to be recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries (Henry VIII making it compulsory for marital births to be recorded under the surname of the father)." (SOURCE: https://blog.myheritage.com/2011/04/rare-british-surnames/) ------------------- OFFICIAL DEFINITION ------------------- The official history of our surname is below, if you care to read such drivel: Vincent Name Meaning English and French: from a medieval personal name (Latin Vincentius, a deri- vative of vincens, genitive vincentis, present participle of vincere ‘to conquer’). The name was borne by a 3rd-century Spanish martyr widely venerated in the Middle Ages and by a 5th-century monk and writer of Lérins, as well as various other early saints. In eastern Europe the name became popular in honor of Wincenty Kadlubek (died 1223), a bishop of Kraków and an early chronicler. Irish: the English surname has been established in the south of Ireland since the 17th century, and has also been adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mac Dhuibhinse ‘son of the dark man of the island’. Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press (from: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts viewed 8/16/2014) NOTE: See "What It Means" below under "LATIN ROOTS." ----------- LATIN ROOTS ----------- So our surname has Latin roots? Julius Caesar is quoted as saying, "Veni, vidi, vici" (pronounced WE-NA, WID-DA, WICK-KA), meaning "I came, I saw, I conquered." These are forms of the Latin verbs venire, videre, and vincere. It's that last verb, "vincere", meaning "to conquer", from which our surname is derived. - What It Means: The dictionary definition above says our surname is the present participle of of ‘vincere’ which is a Latin word meaning ‘to conquer.’ That means you add "-ing." In other words "Vincent" means "Conquering." But most of us don't care about all that. We just want to know how WE got our surname. It's most likely because some young conquering Norman-French warrior in medieval England decided the name sounded cool. Our surname probably began as "Vincent" rather than "Vinson." However, variant spellings of ALL English words were common prior to the publication of the first reliable English dictionary by Samuel Johnson in 1755. Let's look at the facts: - We speak English. - We got our surname from our fathers. - We get our yDNA from our fathers. - Our Vincent yDNA Haplotype is most often R1 with I1 being the 2nd most frequent. - Both Haplotypes are common to southern England where the Vincent surname is historically common. - English surnames came into use following the Norman-French invasion at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. ------------------ REVISED DEFINITION ------------------ With these facts in mind, a better answer to the question, "Where did our surname come from" is offered below: Last name: Vincent This fine name, with variant spellings Vincett, Vinsen, Vinson, and Vinsun , derives from the Latin "Vincentius", a personal name of victory from "vincere", to conquer. The popu- larity of the name in medieval Europe was partly due to the veneration in which the 3rd Century Spanish Martyr, St. Vincent, was held. In medieval England, Vincent occurs in docu- ments from 1200 onwards, usually in the Latinized form "Vincencius" as in the 1206, Curia Regis Rolls of Norfolk. One Vincentius Filius (son of) Wuluiet, witness, was noted in the 1222, Assize Court Rolls of Warwickshire. The surname first appears in the early part of the 13th Century (see below). Other early recordings include Roger Vincent (Berkshire, 1273), and Agatha Vincent (Sussex, 1296). In 1626, one William Vincent, an early settler in the New World, was granted 100 acres of land near Charles city, Virginia. Another William Vincent (1739 - 1815), dean of Westminster, Superintended restoration works in Westminster Abbey from 1807. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Vincent, which was dated 1230, in the "Cartulary of Oseney Abbey", Oxford- shire, during the reign of King Henry III, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. © Copyright: Name Origin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2014 (from: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/vincent viewed 8/16/2014) ---------------- GEOGRAPHIC FACTS ---------------- We are pretty sure that OUR Vincents: - were Vikings who came to England via Denmark and adopted a surname that originated about the 13th century. We know that: - According to FamilySearch Internation (the largest genealogical organization on earth), 25% of all who share the "Vincent" surname lived in the U.S.A. and another 25% lived in England. 12% lived in France and another 4% lived in England. Therefore, although the name is used worldwide, its origins are decidedly English. - The earliest recorded Vincents in America arrived in the mid to late 1600s. - A name change from Vincent to Vinson occurred for those Vincents who settled in the south most never to change back to the original spelling. ------------ DNA EVIDENCE ------------ The Vincents who settled in the north have a Haplogroup subclade of R1 and are originally from New York. Their website is http://vincent-family.org/ [NOTICE THE "-" DASH]. It is managed by Sheridan Vincent. The Vincents who settled in the south have a Haplogroup subclade of I1 and are originally from Virginia. Our website is http://vincentfamily.org/ [NO DASH "-"]. It is managed by Ron Vincent.