Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-21
GBe aaip Spy: aa1orast Guesoan ornng alareb g. 1871


| 10 the various Teutonic tribes-the SaXons,
| Angles and Jutes-which came over to this
| country in the fifth and sixth centuries, and
which were at length fused into the Anglo
| Saxon race, we owe our really national names.
! A greet variety of personal titles existed among
| the Anglo-SaXonS; for, while their language in
| general became in course of time accommodated
| TO a common standard, the names applied to in
divduals among them retained all their origi-
nal diaectic varieties. These older Teuton titles
| are now, however, TO be sought rather in the
| lists of our surnames than in those OF our per-
sonal appeatOns. But of the names which
| were OF strictly Angt0-SdrOn origin, and which
were mostly compound words. many have con-
tinued to be employed largely at baptism down
| to our own time; and these, too, in their tram
sit across the period when surnames were grad
ualy spreading downward from the higher to
| the lower classes, passed freely into family de-
nominations. Ed,odrd will at once occur to the
reader as among the foremost names of the
| division we are now considering. Edlcdrd
seems to have been unfailngly popular ever
since the period Of Saxon rnle. 1t has original
| ed several surnames, one of which, ZiZ. Ed
yards, has belonged to great numbers of per-
| sons. The registrargeneral has shown that this
| cognomen stands No. 20 as regards common
ness among the surnames of England and
| Wales The family names 1edd, Edison, Edbj1S,
and Ed,Cardson, are also derivatives of the bap-
| tismal name Edl0Grd, so again, perhaps are
| EddiSOn Eddy, and others. EdlOdrd, as per-
| sonal title, is now proportionately much more
| frequent in Wales than in England, just as the
surname Ed1gdrdS is far commoner there than
here. To cite other cases in which AngloSaxon
| titles have come down to us in probably un-
| broken line of ltsage-there is Alfred, with its
corresponding surnames, Alfred, Alfreg, Airy,
Aterd, Alcert; Edmund, with a still larger
| family of derivatives Cuth6eT, which is repre-
scented in at least three forms among hereditary
| titles; and Edgar, appearing, we believe, only
| in its original shape in the list of surnames
To these many others might of course be added;
but we need not multiply examples.
The NOrmans made popular in England an
entirely new set of Teutonc Christian names;
| and among them are to be found many that are
now ofteneSt employed as personal designations.
Most prominent of all is the name William
that of the Norman conqueror himself. We
shall presently give the reader notion of the
relations in which some of our more ordinary
Christian names stand to each other in the mat
ter of frequency; for the present, it is sufficient
| 10 say that of mems names William is in all
| probability borne by a larger number of persons
| in England and Wales than any other. 1t is
not undressing to note the meaning of the
word on which this, our principal male title, is
| based Wiz was one of the three primeval leu
| ton deties who together performed the creation
of mankind. He was personi6cation of nil:
not only of inclination, (U0LuntdS,) but of tDlpe-
| tuS also. Among an enterpriSing and deter
mined race such az ours, therefore, the name
William is fttingy conspicuous But, I'M
fortunately, it must be confessed that
its frequency in England denotes no
general reference at the time of its i'm
portation to the original Specification of its
root; on the contrary, that frequency mere
ly represents an inclination universally shown
among the vanquished Anglo-SaXons to imi-
tate the titles that were fashionable in the fami-
lies Of their victors. Henry is another still
common name of Norman introduction; Harry
being, as Miss Yonge says, "its right native
shape;" and the surnames derived from this
form Of the word wiz: HdIrieS, Harris, H1r-
risOn, PdITy) belonging to a much larger num-
Der of people than the derivatives of Henry,
which latter way ofspelling is only an imitation
of the French mode, Henri. Robert is also
and one which continues to be prominent. Wal
ter again, dates from the same era as to its in-
PRODUCTION among us, but is now considerably
: '"e~ n the preceding name; while
my other Norman titles which
2currence in DOODlSddy Book,
fallen into the background as
period gave us John, who
d in some wears 1t wn'-'id seem
| successfully, with William for predOminance
among the baptismal names of men. As a
| patronymic ii. c. in the form of JOneS) it has
| outrun William Tor WiUidmS) completely; and
dares TO dispute with Smith the honor of nam
| ing more individuals among our countrymen
than any other family coguomen. John was of
course, in the first instance, employed in refer
ence to its sanity associations; but, once nat
uralized in this connection, it soon ceased to eX
press religious feeling, and was simply given to
| the son because his father bore it.
| Passing on through the later middle ages we
| come upon another sanity title, which now APP
pears to be more prevalent in this country than
any other, either male or female. This is Mary.
| The alteration of the virgin mother in pre-re-
formation days, has made mark upon our no
menclature which no subsequent sentiment,
| whether Puritanic or otherwise has been able to
efface. Mary is an existing surname; and the
baptismal title appears, at least to have created
| other surnames, as Marian, Marriott, MdrryGt,
| MdryOn, &c.; but some doubt hangs over the
| derivation OF these words; and it has been sup
posed, indeed that Mary, as family title, owns
no connection with the personal name, but that
| it may be identical with the ancient Anglo-Sax-
on word mere, signiiying horse.-The Corn
| hill Magazine.