HEBBORN FAMILY HISTORY & NEWS – April 2005
TWO NAMES OR ONE? – John Hebborn

Chad Heyborne from Utah posed a very interesting and difficult question on the HFH&N Forum. “I would like to find any links of my surname Heyborn to Hebborn, ie: when/where the name changed”.

There is no easy answer to this. We must not try to look at it in the eyes of the present generation, which expects us all to write our names in a particular way all the time. It is usually what is on our birth certificate. If we deviate from this we can expect to be questioned by the authorities when we apply for a passport or marriage licence, etc. So it becomes important to maintain our identity.

Things were not always like this. Our ancestors seemed to have no such problem. In days when most people only had basic literacy, if any, the officials would write down the name as they heard it. How the name sounded could vary with regional accents. For example the ancient name Hebborne spoken with the Northumbrian burr sounds more like Heb-won. This might well be interpreted as Hebron. There are certainly recorded examples of families in Durham and North Yorkshire where the name started as Hebborne and became Hebron.

Further south in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Hebborn spoken with the regional accent could well sound like Heyborn. There are also instances of Hayborn and Haborn. It is not only the first syllable of the name that causes problems. To this day some bearers of the name Hebborn pronounce it “Heb-urn” others “Heb-orn”. That may account for the loss of the second B and the name Heborn on many old documents. In Surrey the name turns up as Hebburn and even Hepburn. Could that be due to a local dialect?

 At this point I should mention that we have to be wary of transcripts of old documents. The person transcribing often has a difficult job interpreting the writing, and might well get it wrong.

What I have noticed over the years is that a particular version of the name will be prominent in certain parts of England. In particular:

Ebborn.Gloucestershire, North Oxon.
Eborn. Warwickshire, Staffs., with a pocket on Bucks/Oxon border.
Hebborn.Initially Northumberland, Durham, N. Yorks. Also Oxon.
Hebron.  Northumberland & Durham.
Hebburn.Northumberland, Durham & Surrey
Hepburn. Scotland also Northumberland, Durham and Surrey
Heyborn. Buckinghamshire.

This is only a very rough guide. All versions of the name can turn up almost anywhere. London, in particular, was a magnet for people seeking their fortune. It has a good collection of names that could be related. The cockney accent might explain names like Hebben, Hebbin, and Ebben.

An interesting point is that many variations of these uncommon surnames tend to crop up in the same areas, sometimes within the same family. For example within my direct ancestors (the Hebborns of Cowley and Headington) the name is recorded with these variations. Starting with the earliest reference: Heborn - Heeborn – Hebborn – Heyborn – Heybourn – Hebron – Hebbon – Hebbern – Heburn – Hepburn - Ebborn – after this it was standardised as Hebborn! Similar patterns will be found among other family groups.

My ancestors probably had limited literacy, but even educated people suffered from this ambiguity when it came to names. Even Sir Ferdinando Heyborne, courtier, accomplished musician and composer also appears as Heyborn and Hebborne. It seems that our ancestors were not as worried about the precise spelling of their names as we are today.

I believe that things started to change in England after 1837, when the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths commenced. In theory, every child born after this could possess a certificate signed by a government official, showing their name. Then in 1871 universal compulsory education was introduced. The children would be taught how to write their names, and these surnames were then passed on to their children. The standardisation which is so important to modern bureaucracy had begun.

To be honest, it is impossible to say when Hebborn became Heyborn or vice versa. Neither can we say whether the names came from one source, nor that they were two completely different families. What we do know is that both names are very old. Tony Heybourn has found a reference to his surname in 1331 and I have found a reference to a Hebborne in the reign of King John (1199-1216). That is not a bit of one-upmanship, or a claim to the primacy of the Hebbornes, just an illustration of how old these family names are. I don’t expect ever to find a point linking the two families, but I will keep logging all the references to the families that become available. Who knows we might discover a link between the Hebborns of Oxon and the Heybourns of Bucks., Even if we don’t I hope that the information we are able to put on HFH&N will be helpful and interesting to anyone interested in any of the families mentioned.