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[–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yeah, that's just odd. 'A' isn't something you'd find before a surname as part of the name, unlike 'd' or 'o' etc.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    In Wales they used to use ab/ap as a patronym, a bit like Mac in Gallic. There might have been similar in parts of whatever they called England before the anglo-saxons came, but that's not likely to have influenced anything by the time of Becket, or the later time when the 'a' was added.

    I don't think it has really survived in Wales either; the 'a' has often dissapeared and the p/b merged with the fathers name, like Prichard, or Bowen.

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