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Many Hollier families left their mark by way of street and place names, which are described here.
In my Volume 3 booklet, I published further information about the relative frequency of the three names Hollyer, Holyer and Hollier and also the distribution of the names in the 1881 census and in the present day telephone directory. You can view this material here.
Distribution of the Hollier name in France can be viewed here.
Distribution of the Hollier name in the USA (1880) can be seen here and shows the concentration of the name in Louisiana.
The maps on this page were produced using Steve Archer's Genmap program.
That Shustoke is the original source of many of the Hollyer and Hollier families is supported by the distribution of events from the IGI which radiate in density and time from that area.
By the start of parish registration, the name had however migrated to many surrounding counties and to London. But also by this time, the name occurs in several other areas and it is quite possible that the name arose separately in these instances. In particular, there is a very large group of Holliers in Somerset that flourishes after the mid 18th century in places such as Cheddar, Draycott, Burrington, and Blagdon. There was also a significant group using both the Hollyer and Hollier spelling in the Fordingbridge and New Forest area of Hampshire and across the Solent on the Isle of Wight. The main Holyer name arose in Kent after 1737, but there are earlier records from the 15th century to the name in both Kent and Sussex.
Click on the map below to see IGI details of various counties. (Needs Acrobat Reader - can be downloaded free from Adobe's web site.)
An alternative way of browsing locations associated with the name can be found on this interactive map using Microsoft's Virtual Earth, here.
A better picture of the early distribution and spread of the name can be seen by using a point type map and limiting the parishes displayed to those having 2 or more events recorded in the IGI. This filters out events which may just be strays or transcription errors. The map below uses a slightly older version of the IGI which doesn't have any patron submissions, but equally misses a few Hollier events, such as those on the Isle of Wight. However, it gives a good impression of the 'point source' of the name in North Warwickshire and the almost random occurrence of the name across the southern counties.
By the 19th century, the big cities of London and Birmingham became magnets for the Holliers as with so many others. Analysing the births of the Hollier name variant between 1837 and 1899 shows that the 1025 births were concentrated into just 145 Registration Districts (RDs). Click here to see a detailed map at Registration District level. The largest single group is the Somerset Holliers with 131 births in the Axbridge RD, 30 in Bedminster RD and 18 in Barton Regis, as they migrated towards Bristol. After that, the Birmingham and surrounding area accounts for 168 and the London area for another 160.
There are major groups at Hinckley, LEI (49) (the Sharnford and Hinckley families), Thame, OXF (44) (the Sydenham family), Shipston on Stour, WAR/WOR (21) (the Moreton in the Marsh family).
Other large RDs are: Highworth, WIL (28)(three families drawn from Somerset & Bristol towards the railway town of Swindon); Stourbridge, WOR (19)(George Hollier/Julia Spencer and descendants); Alcester, WAR (18)(the Studley families); Daventry, NTH (16)(the Weedon families); Woodstock OXF (13) and Banbury, OXF (11) (the Deddington group).
Prior to the 19th century, there was also a major group of Hollier/Hollyers in Berkshire at Reading, Binfield and Shinfield.
There are a number of Hollier families in Wales in the 19th century. Some descend from Henry Hollier of Cardiff, the Steward to the Marquess of Bute, whose family origins were from Barton under Needwood in Staffs, while others were migrants from the Somerset group of Holliers. One Hallier family in Wales (itself from their home county of Gloucestershire) was often recorded as Hollier.
Some of the Holliers in the Cheshire area (Nantwich RD) are connected with Olliers who changed their name.