National Republican., 1888-03-19
THE ORIGIN OF & NAMES.
INTERESTING LEeruITTHBNATIOyAL
MUSEUM BY NJ EGGLEsToN'
How Cognomenswcre obtaincd-odd
Combinations hat Finally Became
curtaiied u Appeiiatiens-Not I'm
I'll the 7 eenth Century That They
Beeamp hreditary.

The hf bf the series OF lectures at TIL
NationaI1uscum was given Saturday after
noon byfr. Nathaniel. II, Bglcstpn. Ills
subiect%as "The Origin of our Names"
and, zone can Judge by the crowded con
ditiogof the hall, 1t was a subject which
EXCEED much general interest.
4fter asserting that a rose under any
der name would not smell as sweet, the
lfcturer pointed out the facts that ono of
Rhe first acts of Father Adam was, to call
together the beasts and name them, and
that not until an infant has been named
does he or she assume the proper place in
the family circle. Names, he said, rank
next to men and things; in faet, they were
things, and all history was history OF
names.
In the earlier stages Of society q man was
given but single name, aud this generally
had reference to some event in his career; rs
Moses (drawn FORTH and Jacob (the sup
planter. But when communities became
larger 1t sometimes: happened that several
men had the same naIne and these IL was
necessary to distinguish. This might have
been done by numbers, but man followed
the more natural method of coupling the
fathers name with that of the SON. So the
sou Of Thomas became Thomas son, and as
the tendency oflanguagc was to abbroviatc,
Thomasson soon became Thompson and
Williams son, In most cases changed TO
Wilson.
Certain name prcfixcs or suiIlxcs We're
| peculiar to certain races. Son was the
| Saxon termination, O' and Mac or Nc are
Celtic, and the common prefix, tWs was
| derived through ills, from the Latin II iuS,
meaning Il son. Skis Polish for son, and
| ,rit= is the Russian form for the same word.
| The Wclch use dp as corresponding term,
| and as the vowel was sometimes dropped
and the p amalgamated with the next
word, they took the form Pritchard, for
instance, from ap Richard, or the son Of
| Richard.
For long time after their coming in use
surnamcs were not hereditary. If mans
name were John Richardson and he had a
| son named James, the son would probably
| call himself James Johuson, though he was
| by no means restricted in his choice.
1t was not until the thirteenth century
that names generally became hereditary, and
as there was practically no such thing rs
| orthography before the invention of the
| printing press It has been only for the last
four or five hundred years that names have
| been fixed.
As English is q composite language, there
| are many nationaities represented among
| her proper names. Scott was the mau from
| Scotland, French came from France Ireland
from Erin, and German or German from
| Germany.
More places had given their names to men
than men had given their names to places.
| If man named Richard lived near wood
| he was soon known us Richard at the wood
| Richard Atwood was near consequence
and Richard Wood followed as a still further
| abbreviation. To this class belong suc
common surnames rs Hill, Underwood, At
| well, Well, and Wells. The man who lived
| a an known
as John at an Oak and by contraction a'
John Nokcs. Some long-since-decayed ash
is in like manner responsible for the famil,
of Nash, while Snooks is only corruption o
Sevenoaks. A very large n,mberof Englist
names end IN ford, lee, ham, or ton Ham, ant
ton meaning village, and town respectivel,
and lee is partially wooded field where
cattle can find shelter as well as pasturagc
A ford, Of course, is the shallow part of ;
stream where the road crosses.
In the name of Shakespcare's birthplace,
| are given memorials Of the three house
which ruled Britain in succcssiop'- Strd
is from the Latin strata, street or pavct
road, and shows that at tp's particular fort
1itS;&Onl there crOsstd The great RomaI
road, the Waiting street, while Avon Is th,
name given to the stream by the old British
Inhabitants
The occupations of men have ever been
fruitful source of their surnames. Tn,
Latins had their Agricola and Fabcr among
others, corresponding in this country I,
Farmer and Smith S'lch names as Hunter
Cooper, Carpenter, Sc.,werc obvious. Bacol
was the Saxon form for Baker, and Baxter
the feminine, shows that the occupation o
breadmaking was not confined to the men
| Webster and Brewster were, respectively
the feminine of Webb and Brewer. Fletchc
was an arrow maker, and the name Archie
and Bowman were connected also with til,
long-ago popular sport of archery.
The lecturer spoke in particular upon th'
emnently honorable derivation of 'ou
friend Mr.. Smith" and accounted for th
common occurrence Of the name by the fac
that Smith from tile German snittcn, tt
strike) was not only he who worked in iron
but included all manufacturers TIL,
personal characteristics Of some ancesto
was accountable for the l.ittlc5, the Longs
and the Shorts, the Whitelicads and til
Whitmaus, MS well as for all the Browns anC
Greens, the Blacks and Dunn5, the Gray
and SCarlcts. Moral traits We're reflected Il
Wiscman, Curtis (courteOus), Blunt, ant
Moody (or sorowful).
Animals, lie said had often given thei
names to men. AS Lion and Wolf 70
Guelph), IIogg and Ogden Cthe Cockne.
Hogden), and the many combinations II
which'deer appears. ''ln fact, all natur
has helped to name mankind" he said.
In closing his entertaining discourse III
lecturer said he had touched upon his wild
subject Mt but n few points, and advised hi
auditors to carry their investigations furthe
into what he declared to be a most interest
ing and useful branch Of philology.