Whats in a name?

The surname Caffyn is thought to have orginated from the time of the Norman Conquest.  In simple terms the Normans who invaded could not speak English and the locals could not speak French so a combination of the two languages evolved and effected things such as surnames which were developing at around this time.

Caffyn is a derivation of the French word ‘chave’ which means bald.  It comes under the category of surnames which have developed from nicknames - descriptive terms which were used in a complimentary or derisive manner.  So we can guess that the earliest Caffyn was either bald or very hairy!

In the UK there are two forms of Caffyn which predominate, Caffyn with a Y or Caffin with an I.  Early records show that families used different versions of their surname themselves, unlike nowadays, they were not too particular.  A similar surname Kaffin is not thought to have any connection, the Kaffins are from Wales and Devon although there is an overlap sometimes such as the vicar of Horsham who was thought for a long time by many people to have a connection to the Caffyns of Horsham.  As surnames became fixed some branches of a family took to using an I whilst other branches stuck with a Y.

There are a lot of Caffins in France.  At present I have no idea if they connect to the UK Caffyns although I do have a wonderful theory as to have they may be part of the same family and it all goes back to the Tower of London.  To get any further  I will have to learn to speak French so this aspect of my research is long term to say the least.