Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1872-07-18

tain it il that the cay was long after
tho Norman invasion, il not many
years subsequent to the time of
the Crusades. "rhe Conqueror" and
Occur de Leon" were added to the
names of William and Richard in to.
ken Of their achievements and char
acter. These were personal testimo
mails which their heirs did not in
herit.
THE SURNAME PROPER
seems to have been gwen, primarily,
in order to distinguish the many in
significant Williams and Richards
from the many other equally insig-
nlficant Williams and Richxrds.-
This il in effect title-a title that
all of family bear in common, but .
title, nevertheless, . sort Of family
title. The system Of surnames was
not, in all probability, one Of sudden
adoption and arbitrary in Its termG,
but was undoubtedly generations in
development to its present perfec.
ton. There seems.to be reasonable
grounds for the belief that no sur.
namo was arbitrarily bestowed, bat
that all were given for cause, howev-
er obscure and hidden it may be TO
us at this distant day. Relationship,
proximity to natural and artificial
objects, occupations, professions, OF
fees, trades, names of beasts, do
mestic animals, fishes, birds, insects,
implements Of labor, husbandry, and
war, and various other circun.
stances, conditions aud things, quali-
ties and characteristics, have given
names to families. We will illus.
trate by various AMI familiar exam
pies. One Of the earliest, and per.
haps tie first, expedients to dis
tinguish families was that OF
RELATIONSHIP.
In the English language this
was accomplished by adding the
word son to tho name of the father
The son Of John became johnson, q
name borne ever after by his de-
scendants. In this way came into
use Davidson, Jameson, Peterson,
Richardson, Williamson, Wilson,
Robertson, and the many other sur
names ending in son. Il do Mt wish
even 20 suggest that Benson, Edison,
Jackson, Rlchettson, and some 9TH
crs that might be mentioned, we're
formed III the same manner under
consideration). In Irish nomencla.
ture, the letter o, followed by the
apostrophe, signifies son, and was
prefixed to the fathers name to form
the surname of the children. Thus,
we have O'Brien (son of Briep),
O'Connell, O'Donnell, O'Kecfe o.
Neil, and tho like. FITS, . word
from the Norman, was applied to il
legitimate children; as Ntzhugh, son
Of Hugh, Fitzroy, Fitzherbert, Fitz-
gerald, Fitzpatrick, Fitzwilliam, and
others. The Gaelic Mac, Me-, II, with
the Same significance as son, is found
IN very extensive use, especially
among the Scotch and Irish. The
examples are SO numerous that none
need be given here. These illustra-
ton of = system of bestowlng SUR
names embrace very large number
Of names, and tho names are borne
by very large number of individ-
uals.
Names of the
NATURAL DIVISIONS OF LAND
are common with those borne by a
large class Of persons as surnames.-
Here are q few of them: Banks,
Barrow, Beach, Bergh, Bray, Cliff,
Clough, Comb (also often spelled
Combe, Coomb, and Coombe) Dale,
Downs, Fem, Gill, Glenn, Hill,
Holmes, Inches, Key, Lea, Low ,(per.
haps more frequently with q termln-
al ., as Lowe), Marsh, Moore. Ridge,
Slack, Slade. Fem and Glenn, Civ.
en- above, are examples Of the fre-
quent duplication of the terminal let
ter. This duplication is especially
noticeable in the letters and Z, and
may have resulted from early at
tempts to Latinize the names by ad.
dition Of lettcrs-the residue Of the
addition having been lost in the re-
turn to Ang!o-Saxon pronunciation
and spelling. In some cases it may
have been, and probably was, purely
arbitrary. It may also be noted
here that the letter is very fire.
qucntly, perhaps moro frequently
than Otherwise, added to names,
probably tor euphony. | give the
names. as I find them, regardless of
the terminal duplication or addition,
aud when names are found both with
and without the terminal :, the
names are given with the letter add
ed. The pathological student, even
though his studies have not been
very extended, will remember that
very many OF our common English
words, ending in single consonant,
were spelled frequently in the origin.