NORFOLK SURNAMES: C

COLMAN:
Although Norfolk residents would tend to equate this name with mustard others might think of it as being derived from a seller of coal.
Not so — the major examples in England are more likely to derive from a charcoal burner. The same source, charcoal burning or selling, gave rise to collier long before it was linked to a man who dug coal out of the ground. Cola is the Old English term for charcoal.
There are other sources of of Col(e)man, including the Irish one a follower of St Columbine or even an Anglicized version of the Gaelic O Columhain, or descendant of Clumhain.
The final possibility, though much less likely, is that the name derives from a servant of a man called Cole.
In the 1881 census for Norfolk the name Colman (or Coleman) occurs 872 times.
The International Genealogical Index for Norfolk has 5000 mentions of the variants of Colman, one of the earliest being James Colman of Wramplingham who married Catherine Clover in 1566. He was about 25 at the time so would have been born in about 1540 or 1541.

CUSHION:
This is a variant of the name Cousin, common in English and French and based on its original Middle English or Old French meaning of kinsman or relative. It also meant a person who habitually used the term ‘cousin’ when talking to someone. This was a habit of medieval confidence tricksters giving us the term cozen (to deceive or cheat).
Variations include: Cousin, Cosin, Cussen, Cusson, Cuzen, Cushing and Cushe(o)n, Cousins, Co(u)sens, Co(u)zens, Cosyns, Cossins, Cossons, Cozins, Cus(s)ins, Cuzons, Cussens and Cussons.
In the 1881 Norfolk census there were 132 examples of the name Cushion, Cushon or Cushine.
The International Genealogical Index for Norfolk shows 1035 references to the name of Cushion or one of its variants.
The earliest reference dates back to 1543.

SURNAME DIRECTORY: A B C D E F G H I J K N P R S T

Click the letter to see some examples of surnames, their meanings and distribution in Norfolk.