Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-05
GOSSIP ABOUT NAMES.
The Truth OF Shakespeare,s Saw.

The Truth OF Shakespeare's Saw.
WE. BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO HEARING HIGH
souSDINo AND INAPPROPRIATE TITLES APPLIED
TO VERY INSIGNIFICANT PEoPLE--wHERE SOME
NAMES COME FROM.
3 According to writer I'm Al the Tear Round,
most English surnames are taken from counties
or towns. from professions or trades. from some
personal popularity, from the fathers christian
name. with Son. Fitz, Mac, APP. OF o. prefxed
or affixed; or lastly, from the crest borne
by the founder of the family in the middle
ages.
We have Cornwalls, Cumberlands. Yorkes,
and Somersets from counties; and wiltons, Bar
nets, Chichesters. aud Henleys from towns.
Almost every profession and trade Is Included
IN the list Of names, the town gives us Butcher,
Baker. Mason. Sadler. and Draper; the country
Farmer. Shepherd. Fisher. Hunter. and Fowler;
and the household. Cook and Butler. To trades
too. must be assigned such names as Potts.
Buckle. and Tucker. Personal peculiarities or
qualities account for almost as many; there are
Long and Short, Rich and Poor, Bigg and
Little. Large and Small; while of names taken
from conrs there Is a whole chromatic scale
Black. white, Gray, Brown, Pink, Scarlet and
many more.
Then, again. men whose fathers boosted no
surname. and who had no striking personality
or regularity to mark them out from their fell
lows. were content to be known So-and Sos
son. and thus founded the families of Richard
sou. Johnsoa. Robertson and Williamson. Not
only did this principle obtain among the English
peaSantrS in fpudal times, but even among the
Norman families: and so we have Fitzpatrick
and Fitzwillams. while in Scotland there are all
the Iaesi in Wales all the APPS and in Ireland all
the 0s.
Sometimes the neighbors did not even take
the trouble to add son; they simply pluraliZed
the name, ard called the faulty Clements
Stephens and Adams. In Wales this is very
iavorite l.lan, Though very. otter they do NOT
even add the plural. and the stranger to the
mountains gets sadly confused between Evan
Morgan and Morgan Evans. and between WILL
lain Thomas aud Thomas Williams and all the
other combinations and permutations which can
be twisted out of half a dozen names.
To medieval heraldry-tbough. perhaps. in
some few cases to personal peculiarties-must
be assigned such names as Wolfe, Hawke, Fox
Crane. Swan and the like, the owners being
called after the cogniZances emblazoned on
their shields One of the most luminous in
stances OF the schoolmaster being all abroad
was the derivation laid down by the English
and writing master at public school of the
name Dove. The origin OF the name was actu-
ally ascrbed to an ancestor having kept doves
In his back yard at some time or another.
Royalty and nobility have also given surnames
to humber folk. King. prince. duke, marquis
earl. and baron are all names that may be met
with every day, while the lesser nobility and the
territorial gentry have furnished such names as
lord, knight, and squire From the church,
too, come pope, bishop. abbott. dean. priest.
Pilgrim. parson, and clerk. almost every grade
in the hierarchy being represented in one form
or another.
There is a story told OF the ancient Wiltshire
family OF the dukes OF Lake House, which Illus
tratss this peculiar form Of surname and also
the ride of the untitled nobility i'm the supe-
q mn
age. At the beginning of the century a brand
new peer carOmed against the master of Lake
House in the hunting field, aud, turning round,
cried:
DO YOU know whom you're riding over, sir ?
I'm Lord SO-and-so!"
And I.fny lord," replied the old gentleman.
with quiet dignity, IAN Duke of Lake"
The names Of great families are often inter-
woven into pnnpng notices. For example,
Lord Vernon's motto Is "Ver non semper viret,"
which may be taken either as a boast or as
statement of fact; and Forte scutum salus
ducum." the motto of Lord FOrtescue of which
the same may be said. But not only Is the fam
lily motto often pun upon the NAME but also
the crest or coat of arms itself. These arms are
called canting arms-for example, a doe between
three bells for DOebei; three primroses for
Primrose; three "frases," or strawberry flowers
for Fraser; and many Others. In Jesus college
Cambridge. are to be seen windows oiled with
the painted cock. which was the crest of Bishop
Acock, Of that college; and at New college, Ok
ford, warden, named Chandler filed the hall
with painted windows representing candles
with the words "Fat luX'' underneath Them
but he so darkened the hall by so doing that
wit declared he should have written "Flanten-
ebra."
There was story current at Cambridge not
long ago to the effect that the proctor one night
discovered an undergraduate on Magdalen
Bridge endeavoring as he thought. to get into
bed. The outraged don demanded the inc
br'ate's name and college, and the latter re-
Piled:
Mott. Of Magdalen."
The proctor repeated his question, and re-
ceived the same answer
Il don't want to know what college you are
not OF" he cried, angrily, "but what college you
do belong to-"
MY good man." replied the UNDERGRADUATE
with intense soemnity, II have no other name
bed" '
Other people, not content with punning mot
toes and canting arms. have twisted their names
into anagrams and metagrams Peter lie Loyer
OF Angers, who lived at time when people had
more leisure for such researches than they have
at present, found that there was line of Homer
out OF which could be formed his name Peter
lie Lover; the place he was born at, Huile; his
province. Anjou, and his country, Gaui; three
letters were left over A. X. X, but they show
the date, 1920. A. D.. when this important dis
covery should be made. This mavelous proph-
ecy OF HOmer's should stimulate Mr. DOnnelly
to unearth from Shakespeare's works the proph-
ecy OF the discovery of Bacons cryptovram.
which doubtless exists in them. Other persons
have had aDagrams made for them among the
best wOrd-twistings being prince regent, &c.
X. in pretence." and Princess Charlotte Augusta.
OF Wales; Her August race is lost. Oh! fatal
news"
In addition to the modern sources for sur
names, which have been already enumerated.
There are the classics. Celebrated names of an
tiquity are even now borne by everyday En-
ghshmen. and though. at first the names sound
lationr, Themstocles and Pericles, when adj
dressed to ragged loafers In modern Greece Vet
We soon get accustomed to Them and see the
name or julius Caesar appearing In the first COL
umn OF daily paper without even SO much as a
smile. some years ago there was a slight dis
turbance among the undergraduates In the gal
lery on Cambridge degree day, and an over
jealous proctor rushed up the stairs to take the
names and colleges of the noisy ones. The first
man pitched upon gave in answer to the cues
ton, Homer. of Gals. The proctor got very
angry. thinking he was being laughed at. but
when the next man gave Pinder. OF Queens. as
bis name. the poor don completely lost his tenn
per and threatened these classical undergrad
yates with all thefba ins and penalties the uni
versity can inf1lct. and was hardly to be ap-
peased by tine discovery that Homer and Pinder
were so entered on the university register and
on the books of their colleges. Such great
names as Alexander. Regulus, Nero. Cesar
among the ancients. and Shakespeare Milton
Addison. Angel, Swift, among more modern
celebrities. not to mention whole crowd of war;
rors. poets, authors. artists and heroes of fic-
ton, may be found in the London directory or