Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-01-23
NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS

The study Of men's names is - Curl
ous as Il 10 interesting. Arbitrary as
they seem to-day. they all had their
source evidently in some 6tting fact
Many English surnames express the
county; estate or residence Of their
original bearers, as BurgOyne. from Bur-
gundy; Cosnell OF CoFnwallis. from
C0rnwsal; Fleminn. from FlandeFE Gas
Kin ~ Gasceyns. f1.s.A Q. soays Itsn-
way,' from HainauIt; PClack, from 'fo-
land; Welsh, walsh or Wallis from
Wales; COombs, Compton, Clayton,
Sutton, Preston. Washington, from
towns in the county Of Sussex, Eng
land. Camden, the sntiquary, says
every village in Normandy has surna-
med some English family. Dale, For
est, Hill, Wood, and the like, are deri-
we'd from the character or situation Of
those who first bore the names. The
prefix atte or at, softened to an q or aR,
has helped to form = number Of names.
Thus, If q man lived on q moor, be
would call himself Afternoon or At
moor; if near a gate, Attegate or At
gate. John atte the Oaks was in due
time shortened into John Noaks; Peter
at the Seven Oaks into Peter Snooks.-
By field, BY ford, Underhill and Under
wood indicated residence originality
In old English. applegarth meant or
chard, whence Apologize aud Appleton;
chase, a forest, Give, a cliff; clOugh, =
ravine; cobb, . harbOr; whence these
names. The root Of the ubiquitous
Smith is the Anglo-Saxon smitan, to
smite. 1t was applied primarily to
blacksmiths, wheelwrigLts, carpenters,
masons and smiters or strikers in gen.
eral. Baker. Taylor. Butler, Coleman,
(coalman). Draper, CowPer Cooper,
Cutler, Miller and the rest plainly de-
note occupations. Latimer rs from lati-
ner, a writer of Latin; Lorimer IS a ma
ker of spurs and bride bits; Arkwright, a
maker Of chests: Lander, contracted
from lavandier, washerwoman; Banis-
ter, the keeper OF abath; Kidder, huck-
ster; Wait, minstrel; Croker, pot
ter. Such names as Baxter and Bags
ster are the feminine Of baker. Web
ster Of webber or wesver, which shows
that these trades were first followed by
women, and that when men began to
take them up they for time kept the
feminine names. Steward, Stewart, or
Stuart, Abbot, knight, Lord, Bishop,
Prior, Chamberlain, Falconer, Leggett,
0egate) either signiied what the per-
sons so styled were, or they were given
them in Jest or derision, like the names
Of King, Prince and Pope. The termi-
nation ward indicated keeper, as Dur
ward, doorkeeper; Hayward, keeper oi
the town cattle; Woodward, forest-keeP-
er. Read, Reed, Reid, is an old form Of
spelIingred and was bestowed, as White,
Brown, and Black were to denote the
color worn or the complexion had
Hogarth, from the Dutch, means Gener-
erous, high-na:ured; Rush is subtle;
Bovine, ready; Bonner, kind, gracious;
EIdridge, wild, CHASTITY. Many Welsh
names, naturalized in English, are from
personal traits, as More, great; Duff
black; Vaughan, little; Lane, slender;
Mole, bald; Cough. red. Surnames
now apparently meaningless, had mean
ing in old English and provincial dia'
lects. Brock, for instance, signifies
badger; Talbot, mastia; Todd. fox; Cul'
yer, pigeon; Henshaw, young heron
Coke, cook.-E. y. Times.