Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1843-04-27
Prom fAs Nsle Mirror.

oftheir application to individuals and families
not sufficient Tor person al nqui-ityc mind that he
hssfs such and such because his father aud his
grandfather bore he will naturally feel dcsrous o know
Why ard when hts ancestors acquired IT, And should he
We successful IN arriving probable conclusion cspcc.
ting his own, the perhaps increased degree o
curiosity will be induced his mind those o others
The subject s however too extensive for particular notice
sl details short essay. and sheet now is mere
" give few facts which and perhaps instruct
the readers Ut the New Mirror.
Tho following Doctor Johnsons definition OF the word
"The name OF the family the name which
has over aud nbove the christian name" SirHams differ
cd originally from Mac Allan Fitz Harding, Ap
Tudor aud Stephenson, properly aud
equivalent To the al Allan, ot Harding, o Tudor
at Stephen O sHrnamcs Du Cangc they rst
written not direct line, after the Christian name but
abore n, bsfreeR the lines " aud hence they called ~
Latin syprdRoia in Italian sofTaRome, and IN French
from which probably the English term Is derived
u, therefore, supcradded a. the FIRST
Christian name. indicate the family which the indyid
nal hearing II belongs. Edmund Senser, John Mifon
Alexander Pore. Hence Is evident that, although every
Surname - surname, every sHrnane ~ not Surname;
Distinction which Is scarcely recognized and the
words used unfortunately by the best English
In the first ages OF the world single sufficient
for each individual and that generally invented
for the person. IN ausion To the circumstances attending
his birth, personal quality he possessed, which
his parents hoped he might The writings Of Moses
aud other booksoi the Old Testament furnish many proofs
at this remark This rule To have uniformly pre-
vailed IN all the nations Of antiquity concerning which
have records the earliest periods their history In
Egypt find persons Of distinction using only
for example, Pharaoh, Potphar; Canaan, Abraham
Isaac; in Greece. Domedes, Ulysses; in Rome Romulus
Rrmus; IN Britain Bran, Caradoc, sc.
The first approach the modern of nomenclature
found IN the al ones sire, addition his
proper Caleb the OF Jephunneh, Joshua the
tunof Nun, Mech ben Addi; (that is Mech the SON of
Addi,) lcarus the Of DTdaus. In ancient times,
well KNOWN common tobcstow ephetson monarchs
NJ Alexander the Great Dionysus the Tyrant Taruuinis
Supcrbus, Ptolemy Phiiddelphus.
As society advanced in refinement partly for cuphonv
and partly for the sake OF distinction other
into common Thus, the Romans, these names
and sometimes four FIVE used by single per
The first these called the prGHOen answering
tn Christian This originally characterized
the ud, idua thus the frst Faber dixie the English SMITH
doubt artiicer IN iron wood while the prim-
tive Agricoa (like the English family of Farmer
like manner cutyaor OF the soil. Their second name,
called had close analogy the clan used
IN Scotland and was given 10 all the branches of
stock. The cogHOHeH third name, indicated that par.
ucular part OF the orbe which the person belonged
Thus in Pubus Cornelius Scipo, PHbiius correspondent
our John Thomas, William; Cornelius the generic
Of clanship; while Scpio conveyed the inor.
that that particular Pubus belonged to the family Of
Scipo who acquired his pey in leading
about hs blind and crippled father whom ne thus became,
hgurauvcly scpiO star. The names Arcanus, Ger
mnncus &c, bestowed upon military chieitnnS for
quests IN Africa, Germany, &c. became, in like manner,
second and honorary cognonina.
Modern nations have adopted various methods distn.
gushing families The llighlander of Scotland employed
the with Mac, and hence the Naedoaalds an Ma.
caTfys; meaning, respectively, the of Donald and of
Arthur. The Irish had the practice of prexing Oy o.
ed IN many ilibemian names. The old Nomans prefNed
their the word Fits, Ia corruption Eds derived
from the Lam Eius Fts Walter, Fitx Gilbert The
Poles employ sky in the James PetrOrsy-
James the o Peter The Aabans theiraiherS'
without forenamc Aven Pace, Aven Rois; that Is
the Of Pace, the of Rois At IA later period
than the fifteenth century, were used IN
Wales beyond Ap, son, David ap HotreH
Evan Gp Rhys Griffith ap Roger John Gp Richard,
very naturally corrupted PODeH Price, Prodger aud
Pr,iehard. Ancient Bntons generally used name on
ig; sometimes they added another, the OF Ro.
cOgnomen. The Anglo-SaXons had peculiar kind OF
Sire-RaHs the termination ing sgnying offspring as for
instance AfheHg Browning, DeariHg, Waiting, mean.
ing respectively dear noble, dark dtrny and
far, offspring More usually this termination added
- the fathers name Many O the AnGloSaXon foenames
characterized by beautiful signitcancy and simplicity
and many of these afterwards adopted family
names. But itwoud be DEPRESSING from subject give
list and Specifications OF these names of ancestors,
which have been transmitted To their poseriy England
and America.
precise can be assigned To the introduction Of he
rcdary surnames into England, personal soubnqucts
were known from early period of the Saxon heparcly
The old termination gradually rejected from names,
aud that oi substituted for it, in the tenth and eleventh
centuries 1t ~ generally supposed, that the Of
brought into England by the Normans, after
the invasion by William the Conqueor; but Mr.. Lower,
English antquary, 10 whose researches ndcbi
cd Tor much OF the above nlormation,j opinion that
they known and IN by the AngloSaxons before
that epoch lie also dlsproves the common opinion
tanned by antquarcs, that surnames assumed 10y e
ars,crHcy long before the commonalty took them. IL
shown that the AngIoSaXon bondmcn clus used them
before OF the landed pOpnetors had any other de-
fIgnati1n than Christian alt would be prepOste-
Tous, SAYS tins winter, to imagine that unyer
sally prevailed early the eleventh century: have
overwhelming evidence that they did NoT and must admit
that although the Norman conquest did much introduce the
practice oi using hem long before they became very
common All that am anxious establish IL, that the
sIOa Of in England, dates beyond the ngreS,
OF the Nom1ns."
After the battle OF Hastings, which gave the English crown
10 William the ConquerOr I'm 1861 those Normans who
had fought under the duca banner took every possible
have their well mud
future generations. For this reason the of every
person "i consideration among the Norman officers
written upon roll and hung up IN "Baffei AJJsy"
mastery erected by William the very spot where lac gam
ed his decisive victory, from which circumstance derived
lis name. The persons mentioned M this list about
ar c&h hundred different names M a were the palrchs
oi most VI the English nobility and gentry for many ares,
aud some Of their descendants still be found among the
clase. The names have been transmitted Ia n
in-rou' families IN England and America OF the present
day. and as the st has been preserved and will be interest
ing to many, may notice 1t farther n
II English surnames remarkable lur their variety,
hty are no less 50 Tor their number English anquaTians
are q" opinion, that the whole number present
Hry aud tOrfy thousand and that the nomenclature
the increase.
Ia the fullest NewYork City Directory there are about
$4,000 names and the number Of different surnomes will be-
found to exceed $4,000. OF these probably wo.ihls
the whole are English surnames, 23OOO that the
'y o English names, M thus city alone, - equal p One-half
Of the whole number IN IN England Ii To be obscT-
we'd, however that independent Of foreign names, (uch
the German Dutch French, &C. America differs very
scnualy In IT. nomenclature, from England
English surnamcs may be divided into the following elias
sex:
J. Local sunamos Winchester, Wood, MI, GTseH.
.. Names derived from occupations aud pursuits Ea-
her, Smith, Taylor.
3. Names derived from dignitics and Offices as King
BisLOp EayL
g. Names derived from personal end mental qualities
Strong Rich, Noble.
. Names derived from Christian names as Adam Ed
mard, Henry.
G. Names, derived from natural objects, as Star, Lynn
bird.
T. Names derived from social relations as Chud, Cous.
ig FfieHd
r. Names derived from periods Of time, Spring. SYM
ms,, WnfeT, Day.
Names derived from virtues and other abstract IDEAS
a. Lors Hope, Wisdom.
To-. Names Of contempt, Troliope CoookshaHks Hus
ssu.
There also other classfcatons oddities, and changes
which we cannot notice AZ present
From The Wo,H Of Fasliool