Harry Parkin

Research Interests

My research focuses on the history of the English language. I am particularly interested in the study of names, especially surnames and place-names. This field, known as onomastics, is interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistic, historical, and geographical knowledge.

Research of this kind can tell us a great deal about past stages of the English language, while also providing insights into regional history and identity. Many people are interested in place-name and surname history, and so one of the aims of my research is to use these topics to make the history of the English language a more accessible subject for students and members of the general public.

Latest / Proudest Achievement 

I have recently published a dictionary of the place-names of Leeds, with the title Your City’s Place-Names: Leeds. This is part of a new series of books produced by the English Place-Name Society, one of the aims of which is to increase awareness of local place-name history. Following the publication of this dictionary, I have been invited to talk to local history societies about the origins of English place-names. I was also a member of the research team responsible for writing the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, which was published in 2016.

Further information 

Selected recent publications:

• Parkin, H. (2018), ‘The value of recent records, historical context, and genealogy in surname research’, Nomina 39, pp. 1–20.
• Parkin, H. (2017), Your City’s Place-Names: Leeds. Nottingham: English Place‑Name Society.
• Parkin, H. (2015a), ‘English regional dialect lexis in the names and occupations of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds: a reassessment of the relationship between names and dialects’, Dialectologia et Geolinguistica 23, 1, pp. 24–37.
• Parkin, H. (2015b), ‘The fourteenth-century poll tax returns and the study of English surname distribution’, Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 48, 1, pp. 1–12.