The Florence daily tribune., 1899-02-04
ORIGIN OF SURNAMES
PRsFlxEs OF VARIOUS Kinds AND
WHAT THEY MEAN

ture of the Present nay.
In nearly every country where per
soual nomenclature has assumed surs
aud settled basis-that is, where SEQ
end or surname has become heredi
tary possession in the family-we shall
mud that that portion of It which is OF
local origin bears by far the largest pro
portion to the whole Pretixes Of var,-
Gus kinds were at first freely used to
declare more particularly whence the
nominee was sprung Thus if he wors
come from some town or city he would
be William of York or John of Bolton.
familiarly pronounced William York
or John Bolton. This. Of course. Is
met in France by de, as it was also ON
English soil during early Norman times
If, ON the other hand. the situation
only Of the abode gave the personality
Of the nominee, the connecting link was
varied according to the humor or ua-
price of the speaker or relative aspect
of the site itself Thus we find such
entries as John Above brook or Adelina
Above-town or Thomas Behind water,
or John Beneath thetuwn The word
name In the following ways; Cecilia IN
the Lane. Emma Ia Lane. John de la
Lane, John de Lane Marietta en- l.
Lane, Philippa ate Lane and Thoma,
super Lane.
OF tue definite terms used some ars
purely Norman, some purely Latin.
few an admixture of the two, ana tn ?
rest are Saxon, atte being the chief QUE
This atte was Int the - answering .
the Norman dc la, del or dn, and was
familiarly contracted by our forefathers
into the other forms Of ate and att, or
for the sake of euphony when vowel
preceded the name proper extended u
"atten. This atte or att was occasion
ally Incorporated with the sobriquet of
locality and thus became recognized
part of the surname itself Tins such
name as John atte Wood. OF Gilbert
attic Wood, has bequeathed us not mere
ly the familiar Wood but Artwood and
Atwood also. In like manner atte
Ridge has become Attridge atte-Field.
Attield, while such other designations
as atte-Town, atte-Hll atte- Worth.
atte-rree and attic. .Cline are nowadays
Alton, Athill. Atworth Atiree and AT
cliife.
Such name us De la Dene or Alta
Den, of frequent occurrence formerly
and as Dean or Den. equally familiar
now, is worthy of uartieularity a den
was sunken and wooded vale, whers
cattle might find alike covert and pas
ture. We have remembrance of thu
brock in Brooktou. the wolf in Wolfen
den, the fox in FoSden, the ram ID
Ramsden, the hare IN Harden and this
deer in Dearden, Buckden or Bugden,
Raydn and Roden, or Rowdeu The
more domesticnted animals abide with
us in Horsden, Oxenden, Gowden, BOr
den and Sugden, or Sowden. Swiuden,
Eversden and Ogden. at first written de
Hogedene.
The lee afforded shelter to oil manner
of domestic live stock aud some few of
the wilder quarry The equine species
has given us Horsley, the bovine Cow
ley, Kinlee and 0xlee or Oxley the
deer, Hartley Rowley. Buckley and
Hindley; the hare, Harley. and the
sheep, Shipley Characteristic of the
trees which inolosed it we get Ashley
Elmsley, Oakley. Lindley or Berkeley
Our Hargreaves hail from the grove
where the hares are plentiful. and our
Congreaves represent the same in ths
ooney Our Cloughs represent the mar.
row fissures between the hills To the
same root we owe our Olives, Cliifes,
Oleves and Cloves, besides endless Cliff
fords. Clevelands Turnicliffes, Sut
cliffes. Ratclitfs. Faircloughs, etc
Another branch Of local surnnmes |
throws light upon the migratory hab-
its and rowing tendencies OF our forefa-
theirs Thus such name as Peter le /
Newe or Gilbert lie Newcomer or Wal
ter 10 Neweman declares tn us al oues |
its origin Then there is no village or
hamlet in England which has not sub |
scribed in this manner 30 our uomen /
clature, as Ralph de Debenham or Miles /
de Ashford a passing from one part OF /
the British empire to another has been
a prolific source of names Thus we .
find Henry de lrlaund, Adam dc lrland |
Roger lie Escnt and Maurice lie Scot
Other countries also furnished many .
names. The Arters, once registered ds
Artoys, came from Arto,s. the Gaskins
and Gascuienes from Gascony, while
TO Champagne we are indebted for the
To Lcmhardy and the
Jews we owe the Lombards, Loutu bards
and Luhbards From lie Aleman or de
Almania or le Alemaund have sprung
our Alemans, AlmMnes aud Allmans
and through the French probably our
Dalmaiues. Dalmans aud Dolmans
A class of surnamss which occupies
no mean place is that r~qusathed by the
and ofictrs of medieval
times. These include king, priest, abbot,
prior and many others la considering
the summaries OF occupation. we remem
Der that every village bad It's thatcher
to make aud mend the raofs From this
we get the surDames Thatcher, Thacker
and Thackery or Thackeray A hilyer
was also roofer, ana we have Hiliyer,
LIillinr Lnllinr II.lI.. ~ II..l....,.. ,...l !