Preface to the Third Edition
This edition of A Dictionary of English Surnamescontains some 4,000 additional names with their variants, and constitutes a third edition of P. H. Reaney's A Dictionary of British Surnames. The change of title reflects a concentration on surnames of specifically English rather tha Celtic origin, which has been increasingly apparent in successive editions. As a rule, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish names are only included when forms for them are found in English sources, or when they coincide in form with specifically English surnames. Scottish surnames have been adequately dealt with by G. F. Black, Irish names by E. Maclysaght, and Welsh border names by T. E. Morris, and there seemed little point in reproducing information which could be found in their works.

Preface to the Second Edition
Some seven hundred names have been added to this second edition, mostly fairly common ones omitted from the original edition from considerations of space; the list of abbreviatons has been rewritten; and various necessary corrections have been made.

Preface
Of previous Dictionaries of Surnames, Lower's Patronymica Britannica (1860) is obiously out of date, Barber's British Family Names (1902) is a mere collection of guesses unsupported by evidence, whilst Harrison's Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912-18) only very occasionally gives any evidence and a large number of his etymologies are clearly based on the modern form.

A
Aaron, Aarons: Aaron Iudeus 1189 DC(L); Robert Aaron 1185 Eynsham; John Aaron 1259 ForNthy, 1327 SRSa. The name of the brother of Moses. Rare in medieval England, and usually Jewish.