The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-08-10
EryMoloeY MADE lnreAssrIsa.


me- Onexfn and lcurssus Evosutxon Of
eems Enxissh surnans& ~
A masnxine ARTICLE by Sir Herbert
Maxwsll presanxs IN avery readable
form The derivation Of 9 number OF
common nAmss. It viii 30 nsws, for
example, TO many Of our readers that
Shocks was once known o. 6evenoakes.
Some persons are not aware that Eliza
beth 10 70 be accounted an uncouth form
Of Isabel, which Yves formed from Isa-
beau on O false superstition that Isabeau
was masculine. Eliza, It is stated, 10
not shortened form Of Elizabeth. but
Is the equivalent Of Alice. Marion, we
know, "a In line with Marie, Mary and
Maria.
Patronymics have been much multi
Piled through pet names. The Saxons
formed pct names by adding 70 the
original nams-often Abbreviated kin
and cock. and the Normans introduced
ct and OF, On and on. From William we
have the pet names VIII, Wilcock, VIII
kin, willett, Wiley, Willemot, willen,
Bill and Guik Nstina From these we
get, in order, Williams. Macmillan,
Williamson, Wills, Wilson. Wilcox, VII
kins, Wilkinson, Wilkinson. Willet, Viii
letson. Wilmot, Willing, Bilson. Gill,
Gibson, Gilkins, Gillison, Gillon and
elliott. Robert-through Robin, Dobb,
Hob, Rob and Hobkin-gives Us Rob.
erts, Robertson, Robins, Robinson, Rob
ison, probyn, Dobbs, Dobson, Hobbs.
Hobson. Robbs. Robson, Hopkins and
Hopkinson.
Philip gives us Phipps, Philpot and
Philpots. Richard has been distorted
by affection into the pet names Rich,
Richie, Dick, Diccon, Hitchin and Hitch.
cock. From these In turn We have
Richards, Richardson, Richards, Pritch-
ard, Rixon, Richie, Richison, Dick,
Dixie, Dixon, Dickens, Dickinson, Hitch
ins, Hitchison, Hitchcock and Hitchcock.
David has given as Davidson. Dodson,
Dodds, Davy, Dawson, Daw, Dawson,
Dawkins and ODowd. We have from
Henry the derivations Hal, Hallet,
Harry. Harriet and Hawkins
From John we get Jack and Jenkins;
from Simeon, Siinkins. Thackeray'e
ancestor was o thatcher. Nautilus got
his name from malthouse and the com.
mon family name of Bacchus would be
more correctly spelled bakehoszse. Mac
pherson means parsons son. Vickers
was the wears son. Wallace means a
Welshman, and Bruce is Norman
name. Sinclair, Montgomery, Hay and
VanceSare, like Bruce, names derived
from lands in Normandy. Many English
surnames end IN ford, ham (house), lea.
ton (farm) and by (dwelling). from the
old practice Of naming persons after
their native place. Aylesford, Grim
ston, Habersham and Or1nsby are ex-
amples.
Winslow is from words that mean
Wines hill. From Lea we get Lee,
Leigh and Leigh. The Welsh Ap, son,
with Robert, has become Probert. An
Rhys has become Price, Ap Owen has
become Bowen, and APP Hugh has be-
come Pugh- A prosperous Dublin snuff
dealer named Halfpenny has had his ap-
pellation shortened, it is narrated, to
Halpen, and then enlarged to an impos.
ing McAlpin. 1t is interesting In this
connection to know that Finn and Find
lay are Celtic surnames equivalent to
our White. Duff, Macdutf and Dow are
for Black. Glass is for Gray. Roy,
Cochran and Cochrane all mean red.
Our Mr.. Brown is in Celtic Mr.. Dunn or
Mr.. Donnan. Moore and Moran answer
to our Bigg. On the other hand, Beggs
is good Celtic for Little or Small. Oil
plant (elephanD Is name derived FROM
a shop sign. The reader will perceive
that m " of our Christian names and
surnames have had curious HISTORIES
Baltimore Sun.