The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-02-03
The Rev. C. w. Bardsley. an English

written two interesting volumes upon
it, mentions that, in the year 1900, out
of one hundred Englishmen, there
would be an average of twenty Johns
and fifteen Williams. Next to these in
point of frequency, were Thomas,
Bartholomew, Nicholas, Philip, Simon,
Peter, Isaac, Richard, Robert, Walter,
Henry, Guy, Roger and Baldwin.
Among female names, the three reign
and Emma; next to these. Cecilia, Cath
crime, Margaret and Gillian; all of
which except the last are still familiar
to US.
Each person having but one name,
and the number of names in use being
so few, it was a thing of necessity to
use more particular designation. Hence
arose John the Smith, John the Car
penter, and the rest.
1t was the more necessary in former
centuries to add something to q mans
name, because our forefathers were
over-fond of family names, and it was
not an uncommon thing for a father to
name all of his sons alike. Many evil
dences of this are to be found in old
will and registers. The following is an
extract from a will of 1545, showing
how different Johns in the same house,
hold were distinguished:
occupy my farm together till Old John mar
ries; Young John. my son, shall have Bren-
lays land, plowed and sowed at Old Johns
In this family there were three
Johns, for the father was also OF that
name. A parish register of 1859 mem
tions that John and John Picke"
were baptized. A few days after. it
was recorded that "the same John and
John" were buried. There was one in
stance in that century of q certain John
Barker who had three sons all named
John. and two daughters, both named
Margaret This strange custom pre-
vailed in the highest ranks, for we see
that the Lord Protector Somerset had
three sons named Edward, all of whom
were living at the same time.
| A custom arose of appending to
very common name certain ,syllables,
such rs kin, cock, tn on, ot ct; sometimes
from fondness. as we do at the present
| day to childrens s names, and sometimes
only to distinguish individuals. Thus,
if there were two Ewes in one house or
circle, one of them would be called
Evot. Thus the name Hancock was
formed by appending Geek to the Dutch
Hans. or John. The literal meaning,
therefore, of the name Hancock is
Johnny. Another common way of des-
ignating individuals was to shorten or
nick their names. Thus, Nab, Mabel
and Mabbott were different forms of
the same name; Gillian became Jill,
Margaret became Margot. Mag and
Mad9e.
Before the reign of Elizabeth, En-
glish names were few, simple, short
and familiar. If a person had new
name of some length it was very sure
to be shortened or nicked. In ordinary
life few names were heard but Tom.
Dick, Harry. Hal. Jack, Rob, Hob,
Dob. Phip, Nancy, and similar abbre-
viations. But in the year 1860 an event
occurred which in few years changed
kalf the names in England. The Bible
and one copy of the same. if no more.
was soon to be found in each parish.
perhaps chained to a desk in the
church. Before that time, the English
Bible was forbidden book. and if q
family had a copy, it was kept most
carefully hidden, and never read except
with great precautions. The Bible was
sometimes fastened under the lid of q
stool, and if danger threatened. the
book wa, concealed by closing the lid.
Sometimes the odious detective, when
he entered, would be invited to take q
seat on that very stool.
If you wish to make book universal
ly desired, you have only to put the ban
of the law upon it. In 1858, Elizabeth
became Queen of England. and soon
after this passionately loved and long
forbidden book was spread all over the
kingdom. People read it as it had new
er been read before, aud has never been
read since. Peasants in remote parishes
may be said in the most literal sense to
have searched the Scriptures: they ran
sacked them from Genesis to Revela-
tions, and particularly the chapters con-
tanning little more than lists of names.
People in general regarded every word
and syllable even of the English trans
lation as the veritable language of
Jehovah. Thew soon began to name
their children from it. The old English
names rapidly went out of fashion, and
Bible names succeeded them. Although
the new fashion lasted little more than
two generations, some of the old names
never returned. Hamlet, for example,
was common in Shakespeare's day.
Amice, Avis, Colet, Sibyl, Dinah, and
many others, are now scarcely known.
Even Barbara, with its nick. name OF
Bah, Dorothy and Dolly, Olive and
Olivia. Cecilia and Cicely, are no longer
the favorites they once were.
Some of the old orgotten names were
no great loss. We read in an ancient
parish register of a certain "Original
Bellamy." who had a son named Orig
inal, and his son was also named Orig
inal. The discovery of this entry led to
that of other Originals of the same Gen.
tury. There was a John Babington in
1850 who gave his son and heir the name
of Original.
Many parents. it appears, have given
their children something ridiculous in
the way of q name. MIR. Bardsley
copies from the London directory the
following, all of which must have been
; given with deliberate intent to fasten q
joke upon the unfortunate children:
Cannon Ball. Dunn Brown, Friend, Bot.
tie, River Jordan, jolly Death and Sud.
den Death. A "Mr Sudden Death
appeared as q witness in London trial
about two years ago. In this country
we have had odd names like the follow.
ing: America Sparrow and America
G. Tabb. A certain Robert New chris
tened his two sons Nothing and Some
thing. We have had also Christmas
Carol, Pepper Mixer, Opportunity Hop.
per, China Ware. Lemon Peel, Salt
Codd and Always Gentle. Finally, the
London Times of December z, 1873, an.
nounced the death of a highly respecta
BILE gentleman, '.Mr. Emperor Adrian y
: james Parton, in N. Y. Ledger.
The lead pencil of the future viii
substitute paper for wood. The paper
Sc ctA IN, all