The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-28

THE SURNAME GREEN.
The Name Offers Much Difficulty 10
GeneaINGfsts.
From English Notes and Queries.

ASANs
From English Notes and Queries.
The surname Green seems to have been
one offering much difficulty to writers on
surnames and to geneaiogists, for, in en-
deavoring to trace its origin, that 1t has
not one but many origins is proved, While
the variety of its sources carries with it
the conviction that under the one covering
surname Green reside people of altogether
different blood and lineage who bear 1t;
for Green, in the style ate, de la, de or
del Green, was applied to any person VINO
lived by village green, to distinguish
MIN; hence it became a surname for him
and his descendants and the number OF
dnterent stocks could only be limited by
the number OF village greens, and perhaps
not even by that. since there may have
been more than one person living by the
same village green who could yet be par
uculariZed by that addition.
Besides the descendants of each of these
there may be- the descendants of Godwnus
Grenesune or Grenessone, who held at
winchester under Edward the Confessor
wide "Winton Domesday'O, and who, it
is assumed, was a Dane or foreigner In
yited or brought over by Edwards; of
Creme, who held of Harold at Coceham
lCoQkham), Sussex wide ''EXchequer
Domesday'), and who, considering the
connections of Harold, may also have been
a Dane or Scandinavian; and Of Gren,
styled Dane, occurring in roll of barons
and knighty temp. Edward l lHarl. M. 5.
2l16l, all of whom would fall under the
same surname Green; and, turning TO
some scandinavian words, imagination
may play its part in bringing material TO
the test of research--to affirm it's validity.
or leave 1t still such stuff as dreams are
made of-for the root and origin of these
surnames in Scandinavia. These words
are as follows: Green, Scandinavian
Gothic, from grow; Gren, scandinavian.
from grena: Morse lceland.c grema, to
branch out, divide; Gren, of Viking origin,
meaning the same; and, perhaps, IN con
nection with these, and probably OF Nik'
ing origin, Gren, Grain, provincial Eng
lish. a prong or branch; Creme, middle
English, difference, debate. But in Ger
non Grenon, Greno, sobriquet meaning
whisker;- mustache, applied to Eustace, a
count of Flanders and belonging to Rob-
ert in Normandy, who appears as witness
to a charter as Guernon, and in 'Domes-
day as any of the former inadvertently,
possible origin may be found for Green,
which receives countenance from the TACT
of Gren appearing in some index TO the
records that has slipped the writer, ana
remarking that Grenon means wnisker or
mus tache in the langue doll, while 1t IS
Gren that signifies 1t in the langue doc, II
suggests there might have been Iounu Ia
Normandy in early times some Norseman
styled Gren, and some other person bear
ing the same name, but derived from the
langue doc. De Creon, again, is name
that might be corrupted into Green, for Do
Creon, as such is not now to be tound,
and in the "Roll of Battle Abbey, by the
Duchess of Cleveland, the remark is male
=
Grendon, a place in Warwickshire, might
have some connection Eith Green, ana
Hamo de la Creme ~sl Grue C'lnq. quod.
Dam" Ed. D gives rise to the thoughts,
What is Grue? Can 0Eue be the same as
Green for Hamo to be la Green vel Gruef
If Grue be surname, why can us owner HI1,,a
by a less distinguishing one-Green! was
Grue meant for Crime?
Going further a-feld in search of fore
fathers, Grun was a mans name IN GER
many as early as ta9 nRt5 'e9 and GrGn
Gruen Grein, Gren, Gryn, was tie name
of family living IN the Rhineiand nav
ing the rank of 1rgof graitt; W S9eile
bach's "Adels Lexicon'Q In CON
nection with Gryn, the last spelling
Greyne occurs I'm an early Enghsh VIII az
Lincoln, A. D. 1417, and in the De Banco
Rolls, Edward III and vi, and Grayne IS
also found as a surname. Gron is likewise
a surname, but of Tristan origin Oar
bers British Surnames'D. Again, there
was a Heinrich Won Chreine (corruptible
into Green), who built the castle or
Chreine, on the Danube, in the twelfth
century. A British word for alder, guern,
could have been given as a mans name,
and corrupted into Green.
The difficulty of finding and discriminate
ing the remote source of their name ana
blood confronts all the possessors in COM
mon of this surname Green, than which
none can be more puzzling. The dlnereat
spelling, 1t Is superhuous to say, afords
no clue whatever to the searcher In these
remote fields, inasmuch as it only relates
to how the word Green itself was spelled
at different times. The research for each
person really is to connect the earliest
reliable portion of any particular Green
pedigree that is his with some one OF
whom it may be shown how he came by
the surname. Yet on account of the pre-
sumably far greater number Of ate, de
la de and del Greens, 1t is conceivable
that scribes may have taken this as con-
slant form and have written some down
thus who had their name from some OF
its other sources, and thus brought in
fresh complications or wrong descriptions.