The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-08-07
fFor the Disps,ch.l
Oar Nam ess


o,r con,empcrary Of the Lexington Ga.
..s,s a. nubIishiug. over the signature Of
!" May S,cc,bert,r some dispositions on
English surnames. We beg leave 10 oher
one or two friendly criticisms.
In the first place, Professor Sigelbert
fwe,,l give him the title, whether u belongs
"a him or not) considers Hubbard to be Z
form Of Humbert or Hubert. Why not 0,
;sw,,,s,,y ~ an abbrevistion OF Robert, or
rather of the older Robin. The final sylia-
hIs In such names as Egbert, Albert, Cum
S.r, sihert. Herbert, Hubert, Robert, we
sste n he the Saxon oeorht, our bright. 80
,hst Robert Is "bright Rob" or Robin I;
and Uobcrt or Hobart or Hubbard IS
" bright Hob or Robin. eIhis suos'',u-
s,on o. hi for II occurs also In Hodge tne
,,,ch name for Roger, and In the old Hitchin
sor Richard. The surname Hitchcock SUN
survives. and means /" little Richard the
a,., svIlabIe being the same dimiuutive we
have in "cock boat" "cockhorse," ana
:. cockrobip.v So Hancock is "ittlc
Johnv: Hans, the middle syllable OF
johannes, being one OF the forms OIL
" john"
The popularity Of Robin as given name
dating from the time OF ROBIN h"oo, Tue
FAMED outlaw Of Sherwood forest, Tor whom
the poorer classes in England had nearly
admiration) is attested by the number OF
patronymics derived from it-Robb ana
Robson. Dobbs, Dobson, and DoDplns'
Hobbies and Hobson, Hopkins ana hopkIn'
son. Bobett little Bob, Robbins, Robinson,
Robson, Robarts, Roberts, Robertson, anu
Robson; and also, we presume, hooar'
and Hubbard, and Babcock ior boococ n,
.nttto w
Cnur de Lion, though the frequency WIN
which Richard was. used as baptismal
name appears from the numerous forms IN
which IL is now a family name-Richards,
Richardson, Ricketts, (which means "little
Ricbard,v or rather the son OF little Rich
ard. the s being the possessive sign without
the apostrophc), Dicks, Dix, Dickson, DIX,
on, Dickens, Dickinson, Hitchns, ana
Hitchcock.
In the early formative stages OF society,"
while population was as yet sparse ana in-
tercourse infreQuent, man needed OUT one
name. But as individuals bearing the same
personal appellation multiplied 1t became
necessary to seek further particularly In
mentioning ones acqnaintsnces than n
ole name would give. This object was Sc
cured In one or another OF four ways: l.
The fstber's name was added, with or witn-
ont the word "son," as Roger Williams,
Thomas Wiiismson; these are called pa
tropymic surnames. 2. The person Is de-
scribed by his place OF residence, as George
Hill. James Brook. 3. The office or occu-
patton is tackled on TO the personal name as
a surname, as John Smith, Peter Cooper,
Zachary Taylor. Observe that surname i'm
niles name added OMIT IS not Sirname-
but the first syllable is the French preposi-
tjon corresponding TO our on. 4. The per-
son IL indIydualZed by some popularity oil
his appearaDce, manners, habits. or disposl-
tiop. as Tom Brown, Jonathan Wild, James
Hogc, Edmund Keene. Frank Sharp, Henry
Smart. John Bright.
Hinder one or another of these four great
classes all our family names fall. 1t may
moi ALWAYS be easy TO assign place to every
name, where the original meaning has been
lost or obscured by the phonetic mutations
TO which proper names, more tban any
other words, are exposed In the infancy OF
society. As an illustration OF the difficulty
of detecting the original form OF Il surname,
take the case Of Shakespeare. In tue OLD re-
cords where this name occurs it IS spelt Ia
10 less than twenty-seven dlnerent ways.
The poet himself wrote ii SHAKESPEARE IN -FOUR
out OF the six genuine signatures That nave
come down to us. The remaining TWO are
so illegibly written that it can only be al
firmed that they contain more letters than
are found in Shakespeare" Id his mar
riage.lcense the name appears as Shagspere.
Other forms in which il appears are Chac5s'
per, Sbaxpur, Shaxper, Scbaksper, Schakes-
per, Schakespeyr, Saxpere. ShaXpere,
Shaxpeare, Sbaxsper, Shaxspere, Shakes
pere, Shdkspedr, Shdkspere, ShdHeSpedr,
Shakespeare, liz is still seen 10 all
OF these italicized forms,) Shakespeare,
Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shackespere,
Shakspeyr, Sbaksper, SHAKESPEARE, Shakys
pere. SHAKESPEARE, Shakespeare. From an
examination OF this list II seems pretty GER
tain that In the poets younger days th'
name must have been pronounced "ShaX
per." II is probable that he got the hint Il
pronounce il shakespear from some herald
whom he consulted for a coat-of-arms aftel
he bad made his fortune in London. anf
who doubtless found it easy 10 persuade
him that he was descended from some
doughty ancestor who fought at AgincouT
or Cressy. And ths. the name was origin
ally bestowed in recognition OF MARTA
prowess is rendered likely by the existence
OF similar names in the old records, such a
Winspear, LoyeIance, Bruselance, Crack
shield, Ben(0bow.
Jam salts. 1t IS possible that we ma
ask the readers OF the Dispatch for anothe
hearing on this subject. But sufficient Z
the day is the evil thereof.