The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-09-01

20 no somewhat tired Of names In "drd,"
we will vary the subject Tor while py u.
King nm names derived from The place OF
residencc OF him TO whom the cognomep
was arst given. And we will begin with
sour own name, Messrs. Editors.
Rarclay IS a variation OF Berkeley, and Is
an illustration OF the old distitch--
an. ford, In ham, IN fsvi In tom
The most OF EngIish surnafnes run.'
II anpears in the Hundred Rolls as Maui
rice de Berkelay," and In the Rolls oil the
Tower OF London as " Robert dc Berche'
law Without the leyitappears In modern
shape as Burke ana Burchard; and In the
Hundred Rolls we find "Hugh de Ia
Byrche,v und an ancient writ OF Parliament
gives us "John attic Bieche."
The lev or lay Is the same as the iast word
In Gray's line
aThe lowing herd Winds slowly DER the iea"-
and means q pasture or meadow. In saxon
II wa, sometimes spelled iegh, and this, as
well as Leigh, Lea, and Lee, remains with
us as a surname.
So, Mr.. Editor, you may picture your
first ancestors as living, in Arcadian SIM
plcity, In q house built on grassy plot
surrounded by birch trees. Characteristic
of the trees that incIosed the sward in which
other primitive dwellings were built, we
have Ashley. Elmsley, Oakley, and Lindley.
Sometimes the lea was named from the wild
animals which IL sheltered: Hartley, Buck
lev. Rowley, Hndley, Harley; sometimes
from the domestic animals to which 1t AZ
forded pasiurage: Cowley, Oxley (Hux'eyl,
Horsley; and though sheep were generally
driven to the scantier pastures OF rocky
steeps. they have left Us In Shipey trace
OF their footprints In the richer glades.
The simple lea or lee sometimes takes
proposition, and becomes Atlee or Atlay.
Similarly we have Atwood, Atwater, At
well, and Atfield or with the cockney aspi'
ra,iop) Hatfield. In the same way "at-the-
town" becomes Hatton; and "at-tbe.bo-
rough - gives us Atboreugh and Atterbury
"ats the-ridge" appears as Attrdge and
Etberidge and other locatiyes formed in
the same manner are Athill, Atworth, and
Atcliffe.
The prefix OF locality most commonly
used by the Saxons was ate, contraction
of at the, Just as the Norman du is con-
traction of de ie. Sometimes we find al the
used In full thus in the Coventry Mys-
teries" mention is made OF
"Thom Ty nker, and pe'rys Belle.
Peyrs Potter, and Watt at the Well"
But more frequently we hive the contrac-
III
a., as in Thomas Beckett, that Is "Thomas
at the streamlet."
In the Calendar-of- Chancery Proceedings
during the reign OF Queen Elizabeth APP
pears the name OF one Leonard Agate, in
which we find no indication OF any peculiar
preciousnoss in the character OF the indi-
vidual, but regard it simply as the shorten
ing OF such name as Richard Atte-gate "
in the older Hundred Rolls. VI names
formed on this principle and still existing
we may mention Amore and Amor, descend
ans OF some such person as "Agnes atte-
More" Il. e., at the moor and our neighbor
Amole, whose early ancestors we presume
TO have lived at the mole or dixie protecting
some low country from inundation.
By far the most common style OF locative
prefix appears in such names as "Walter
attic Townshende -; but il the name Of To-
caity began with vowel the letter n was
added to the ate for the sake OF euphony.
In many modern names this euphonic n
has survived while all the rest OF the prefix
has disappeared. Thus our Noakes or
Nokes stands for Atten- Oaks-that is, " AT
the Oaks" Piers Pl0wman makes COvet-
business say
"For some tyne served
Simme atte-Noke,
And was his plight prentys,
Ills profit 20 look"
In like manner our Nash is put for eaten
Ash" or atte-Nash"; NeImes for "atten-
Eims"; Nader or Nelder for "atten-
Alder"; Nall for Atten-HaIl" and
Motley for atten-Holly."
We have met the surname Doak, which
we take to be the English Oak with the
Norman prefix de. 1t appears in the Hun
bred Rolls as "Phiip del Okes" F.; and in
an old writ OF Parliament it has the Eng
lish particles: Roger of the Okes"; for
our ancestors used indifferently, for pur.
poses OF residential de signation, any suta-
BILE proposition OF the English, or the
French, or the Latin language.
Take Up the old Hundred Rolls and you
will find such entries as "Jobn Above
brook" "ThOmas Behind.water." "Ade-
lima Above-town," John Beneath-the.
town." The single name Lane assumes, in
these ancient records all OF the following
colocations +" Cecilia in the Lane, Emma q
la Lane, John de la Lane, John de Lane,
Marietta en- lie Lane, PhiIppa ate Lane,
Thomas super Lane" Still more various
are the pretixes used with Brooke: "Alice
de la Broke, Andreas ate Broke. Peter al le
Broke, Matilda dd Broke, Reginald del
Broke, Richard Gpud Broke, Sara de Broke,
Reginald bihunde Broke" AT first 1t was
the universal custom to insert the enclities
that associate the personal or Christian
name with what we call the surname. In
process OF time these disappeared and left
The simple Lane, Street, Townsend, Town,
Field, Hill, Wood, Forest, Meadows, Meade,
Moore, Cakes, Ashe, Holly, House, Gates,
Hall, Beck, Brooke, Waters, Fountain,
Wells, Spring, Rivers. MAX SIGELBERT.