The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-10-14
For the Dlspstch.l
n0r Namea.

OuT TeaueTs WOufu StutIti1y, Ncsuppo>t,
class our common surname Coleman with
names OF occupation, considering the first
wearer OF the title 10 have been c0Gt-dig-
qer, Ike Collier, CoIyer, and Colyar, or a
coal merchant. Others might follow the
suggestion furnished by Coiiax and treat
the name as description OF one who had
coaLbtack hair. Some might remember the
old Specification OF the adjective "cot" or
"c0ld," and consider Coleman to have been
originally the name OF some sly, mischief
working individual, like Colfax. We must
bear IN mind, however, that opprobriOus
nicknames very seldom become hereditary;
and although the name we are discussing
may sometimes have been Occupatve or de-
scriptiye, we think 1t much more reasona-
BILE 10 class 1t with the numerous patro.
nyms and loconyms derived from "Old
King Cole" that 'jolly old soul" OF blessed
memory.
Cole was very common personym (by
which we mean what we would now call
Christian nancy among the heather North
men. From 1t we have Colbert {" bright
Cole " and the possessiye patronym Coles,
besides itself as q surname; also, the
diminntiyes Coley, Colley, Cooley, Colin
with its possessiye Collins), Cullen, Col
ling, and the locatives Collingwood and
CullingswOrth-tcOrt means Gan enclo-
sure.'' Other diminutives are Colquitt,
Calkins, and Colgin-the 9 in this last being
simply the fiat or sonant form OF k. BY a
similar fattening OF the initial consonant
Coleson becomes Gbolson, and Colden-i. e.,
Coles den (den is ga deep wooded valley W
becomes Golden, with its corruptions Gold
ing, GouIding, Gauldin, GauIding, and
their authorizations Gold, Goold, and Gould.
Cline We take TO be a contraction OF
Colin Qittle Cole), and Clinton locoDym-
I. e., residential name-derived from Cline.
Other locatives are Coleridge with its cor
ruptions Coolidge and Goolrick), Cole
brooke, Coibufn (synopymous with the pre-.
ceding), Colegrove, Colston, Cotton, Cul-
ton, Colby, with its corruption Goolsby,
both of them synonyms OF Colville. And
Ingoldsby means "in Coles village" the
proposition cosIescing with the noun.
The last syllable OF Colgate Is the Danish
gQtq, ga street or road" Synonymous
with it may be Galloway, unless this is a
corruption OF Galway or Galloway.
Gale aud Gales are not corrupted from
Cole, but are due TO the Norman pronuncia-
ton OF Wales. The French still call the
Prince Of Wales "le Prince de GALES ~;
and there are many words in which the in
terchange OF 20 and 9 transfers the vocable
from French TO English or vice verSd.
Thus Guiltdume is William; Gaattier, Wal
ter whence our surname Gait; and guerTe
in French Is "war" in English; garde,
ward; guise, wise {" In this wise or gu,se,"
g otherwise" etc.); guile, vile; guarantee,
warranty; and many other pairs OF similar
.transierab!es.
This cenyertibility OF the Teutonic ,ointo
the Celtic and Romantic 9 renders it difficult
very often to decide whether some proper
names In Gal are variations OF other names
In Wal, or OF those 10 Cal and Col. For
instance, we know that the French seaport
Calais was In old times spelt indifferently
Galeys or Valleys. lstherefore our modern
surname Galley "the man from Calais" or
"the man from Wales? Or 10 10 merely
like Gull, Gully, and Gulick, a variation Of
ColIy, itself deriyative Of Colep Or Is II
an abbreyiation OF Gallagher, Gailego, Gal
leen, Gallaghan, Galligan, Callahan, Cal
koup, etc.s
The frequent presence Of this syllable gal
(caF In Irish names renders 1t probable that
Il is due 10 an original Celtic root altogether
unconnected with the Teutonic pQl (which
Is shortened form Of aceQtt, "foreigner ~
and equally independent OF the Danish
Cole. What this root may be, our slight
knowledge Of Celtic does not suffice to In
form our readers. Let us resume our nc.
quaintance with King Cole.
That the FINAL aiiix OF Coleman should in-
dIcate descent rather than occupation Is
likely enough when we observe 10 how
many other plain patrouyms the man takes
the place OF son. Thus we have Dickman
and Dickerman from Richard; Hickman
from Isaac; Rodman from Roderlck; Thur.
man from Thor; Gilman from Gilbert, or
from Giles, or from Gill; Tillman and
Tilghman, a. well as Tilly, Tillott. TiIlot-
son. and Tilson with the loconyms Triton
and Tilden), from Matilda, consort Of Will
liam The COnquerer, and hence popular as
. female personym. Pearmap and Pier
man. also, are more apt TO be equivalents
OF Pjerson--i. e., Pierre's son--tban to be
the pear merchant Or the " man living at
the pier"
Right here We may be allowed paren-
tbetjcsi paragraph on some derivatives Of
Fotcf, which had not occurred 70 lii when
" uoSo writing on saints names.
peezy, which Il very often pronounced
RerSy II Virginia, may have given rise TO
III Ina3eF nslnes Perry mu>t be from Pc
~, ~ ~ eapnoe pccount Tor too initial
g gsFry sxss * < :rp p Y ,! g
4(2 \ n y - cqnfSaetjop d Sqint
~ g. Pear ~ thar "a hsye sny
~ - poasve.e - 11z>k ~ - =