Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-05-28
Facts OF Family Nomenclature.
fGentleYnausa Nrara zfna

Passing on TO the materials out of which our
surnames have been made, we must Set In the
nrst place the names OF towns, villages and
estates Under the feudal system. landed DOS
sessions naturally gave names TO their owners
Wnile az markets and other public meeting
places persons bearing the same bsptismi al
names were often distinguished by the names
OF the parishes or hamletS In which they lived:
OF, again, migrants from country to town, or
from CITY to city, associated By new neIghOors
with the places they had travelled FROM came
to be called by the names of those places
with cognomens drawn from names OF
places are to be ranked those created by the
situation or circumstances of dwellings, The
Jutting cliffs, the airy heath, the sheltering
oak. ASH or elm. the brook that oaooled by"
o9e s, waysae cIacna the rustic grange or ford
jects lent their names-varied In a HUNDRED
ways as their special characteristics differed
10 me h ,,aa. OF houses placed near or
came hereditary. The At,oeNs, the BROKERS
the By01OreS, the COnlbseS, the Greens the
Aoores, the Washes the Redcltts, the Rudn,aras
and many others among US To-day owe their
family denominations to the source we refer to-
Trades, occupations and offices have. "a
everyone knows, given family names to large
numbers. The familiar Smith ia the most
prominent example OF the trada-names. Tue
Registrar Genera. has shown by his figures
that 1t Is what IL would be expected to be. the
commonest surname In EBgland and Wales:
and Taylor. kindred cognomen, stands fourth
10 point OF frequency. The thatcher who
sheltered our fathers from the storm. the
nesher who fed them the crowder Who fid1led
for their entertainment; the shower who Gov
cred them In their last earthly resting place
each has beQueathed the name that his calling
gave him to descendants who are amidst US
10, day, for any London directory win disclose
thdchrGyS, Fletche7s, CrOtrtherS and SfOuellers
Sone surnames of the occupation class. as
Cook Hudson. Ste'cardson and Wrtghison,
distinguished: not by their own trades
or callings, but by those of their fathers.
Baptlsnal or personal names constitute q
intro great fund from which the necessities OF
FAMILY nomenclature have been supplied. They
nave become surnames, not only In their CON-
plete FORMS but in the many familiar shapes
whlch usage may have assigned to them-as the
mOnosyllaolc appellatiyeS once current In the
workshop Or on the farm, and as the aYection-
ate dtminutives that found favor In The domas-
tic circle. Thus With the everyday Richay'd
of parish registers, ana an interesting writer on
surnames, "we get Richards and Richardson.
Kicks and Rir. Richson and Rjr0n or RitSoh.
Richards and Ricketts,. From the curter Dick
WrOh, Dickens or DiccopS, and Dickinson or
Dacc0ns0n. From HiJcbin, onca nearly as
familiar as Dick. we get Ritclttns. Hutchinson,
atchcoch and H.tchcot.n Most surnames OF the
personal names on which they are based ell her
the poSsessice "s" or the more explicit s.son. u
these being the Saxon patroymic forms, as the
pref1xes ''Fitz" and "Ab" or "Ap' (from NAB
sony are respectively The Norman and Welsh,
But some are devoid Of any such explana-
tory notifications. There are. for EXAMPLE.
ancient Anglo Saxon names nov existing
AZ surnames In tneir original shapes OF
these 1t is coniectue1 that in post Nor
man days they were revived by persons OF An
glo Saxon origin. and adopted by them as fam.
lily surnameS ia Difference to ancestral memories
or the nrst transmltter5 OF patronymic sur.
names Ia general,i 1t may be safely assumed that
they were the stdY-dt-ho6les OF their families
the domestic and unambitious ones who were
content to tread quietly 10 their fathers foot
steps. While the enterprisng brother Travelled
TO distance, and acquired surname, perhaps
| from the remote town or shire OF his birth,
with which new associates identified him;
while the brother OF strong predictions seized
MS 1aWrlte occupation, aud extracted from Ii
Dis distinguishing appellation-the least san
gulne, least original or the three, .betook him
sell calmly to his fathers business, was natur.
ally called merely The son Of his father ana
handed to his descendants surname based
upon That fathers bapt1smaI denomination
Tne remaining cognomanS existing In Eng
land seem to have been very varIously derived
Personal characteristics; the animal vegetable
and mineral worlds; incidents OF history: an
stTact ideas; symbols: social ana domestic rela
tons, &C., have supplied or appear to have suu.
pied them. But In family nomenclature-an1
especially in that branch OF It of which we nov
speak-1t Is emphat1cally true that "tning5 are
lot what they SEEM" and the name. lists formed
In Difference to the sehtbidnceS OF their Comma
nent denominations are found to be much BAT.
tered when etymoIogy has been brought to bear
upon them.