Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-08-11

ENGLISH sURSAxEs.

Inc last number Of the Edinburgh Review
lScott Co.'S republicstionl has a very en-
tertaining and curious article on English sur
names, Of which the following abrid cement Is
made by weekly newspaper. Eight leading
classes are given as follows: a-s
4. The Norman names brought into Eng
sand by the invaders at the Conquest. Domes-
day Book Is the great authority for this class
They are either preceded by the French par-
ticie de, referring 10 particular places In Nor
mandy, by le, which implies some other dis
tlnction Of the individual. or they stand alone
without prefix DE Valance. lie Strange,
Lortescue, are illustrations FitI, prsf1ed 10
Norma an names, corresponds To son. anpepded
tosaxon names. As Fiti James, the sor of
James; FItz William, the son of William.
Some modest parven1es have exposed both
their variety and their ignorance by using the
Norman and the Saxon form at the same time.
as Fitz Harrison.
2. That large class of names which have n
local origin in England itself, such rs Brook,
vale, street, Field There is aneld English
couplet that runs thus:
"In ford. in ham, in lev and tun. r4
The most Of English slrnames rum
An anecdote is told of a former Lord I,,,,,..
ton, that he jocularly boasted OF the So per;or
antiquity OF ais name over that of he Gren.
vllles, on the ground that the little town az.
listed before the grand vile; an anecdote that
reminds the reviewer of more serious disnnte
hat once arose at Venice between the Iami-
lies OF the Ponti and the Canali The former
alleged that the bridges were above the ca
nails, the latter that the canals existed before
the bridges, and the Senate was AZ last obl;gcd
TO interpose and settle the quest M for them
In this connection, it is remarked that. In a
few instances, the names Of men have been
converted into words of common import. as
tantalise, macadamise, a sandwich, a tilbury.
or brougham.
1t is an interesting fact connected with the
local origin Of names that Fairfield runs
through all the Languages of Europe. as
Sampoeii, kemble, CampO-bello, Beaacamp,
j. The class of na mes derived from occuna-
uons. There are 5,55s Smiths born annually
10 England and Wales. The Taylors are nsIt
in humber In France, the name OF Lefcyre
corresponds to our Smith, and is derived from
the Latin faber. Turner'S, Cooks. and Sbep-
nerds are other familiar examples Of the class
OF names now referred TO. The nane of the
poet Chaucer is supposed to be derived from
chaussurs, hose, and is said to be the same az
hosier. The derivation of Napier is also ip-
teresting. II old times, the servant who. at
table, held the napkin for the host or guest.
was called napier. Napery, observes tho
reviewer denotes tsbl1 linen; hence the Of
eial designation and the surname derived
from it.
, King is very common English nane-lt
existed In Rome in the form of Rex, aud il
frequent In France as Roi and in Gornapv as
koenig
wish to get rid Of a vulgar name has in.
duced many German scholars to aiopt Greek
aud Latin forms. Neander is translation of
Neumann. Melacchton of Schwartzerde. Gro
tus of DE Groot. An English physician. d..
Key, gave charter and bis name, latiuized.
TO Caius' College, Cambridge, which Is pro.
nouneed Keys College to this day. For some
similar reason, perhaps, a son of Monsieur Pa
4uetln became celebrated as Moliere and a
cadet or the sanity Arrout made himself fa-
nous under the surname of Voltaire. The
name ot PhlllpOtts is corruption of PhilpOt
dlminutive of st. Philip, and should be so
written.
4th. Another large class consists of those de-
rived from the christian names of parents an
rom Henry are derived Harrison, Harris. Her
RES, Halkin, Hawes and Hawkins An in
welsh signifies son, and Thoma As An William
ap Thomas, Ap Richard, Ap Hoet Evan. the
actual name of a Welsh gentleman of former
times, Is thus easily understood
9th. This class consists Of descriptive names.
Is Goodman, Wise, Moody.
9th. Those derived from the animal vs,e-
able, and mineral kingdom, as Wolf Steele.
Rose
9TH. Those derived from religion, as Pardo,
Blood, St. John.
sth Those are the foreign names introduced
nto England after the Conquest, from Scot
ana, Ireland, and other countries of Europe.
Ihey are too numerous and familiar TO reouire
Illustration.