The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1901-07-12
SCRANTON, MISSISSIPPI, FRIDAY, JULY

Y, JULY II, 1901.
THE ORIGIN OF SURNAMES,
CONFUSION INCIDENTS TO THE EARLY
FLOOD OF SIMILAR BAPTIsMAL
NAMES. r..t..| ..
London Standard. '
There is no very clear record Of the
time when surnames' first came into
regular use. No doubt the process
was very gradual one, and its epoch
varied in different countries, but that
they were general at a comparatively
early period of the civilization Of each
nation needs 10 insisting on. TO give
but a single instance, In the year 1887
Christianity first became widespread
In Poland, and great numbers OF men
and women were baptized at one time.
To simplify and expedite matters with
so large u concourse, it became the
custom of the ofiiciating clergy to be.
stow the same name upon whole
patches Of people who came to be ad.
mitted into the church. At one bap.
tism, for example the name Peter was
conferred upon all the men, and Cath.
crime upon all the women. On another
occasion they would all be Pauls and
Margrets, and so on.
Great confusion must inevitably
been the result, and the rapid adop.
tion of system Of patronymics was
the only escape from the difficulty.
The origin OF our word surname, form
erly occasionally spelt "sirname," is
often supposed to be "sirename," and
it was indeed only in the nature Of
things that the earliest kind of distin.
gushing second name should have
reference to the parent. Our English
Robinsons, Johnsons, Wilson's, and SO
forth are as common, ancient and
characteristic as the Scotch Macs and
the Irish O's which mean the same
thing. The Mac, it need scarcely be
said, though often considered essen
TALLY Scotch, is common to the two
nations, as witness the well known
doggerel-
By Mac and o., you'll always know
True Irishmen, they say.
But If they lack both o. and Mac
No Irishmen are they.
While "Mac" may be translated
son, 20" is more properly grandson.
The Norman equivalent is "Fitz," a
corruptions Of "als." The Russian
termination "witz" signifies the same
word, as also the Polish "sky." With
regard to the Welsh "ap,p which also
means son, matters stand rather diff
ferently, for in this case sap" Is sep.
arate word, and is not incorporated in
the whole name except as corruption;
also it may be introduced an indef.
mite number of times In the same ap.
pellation, so that a Welsh surname
can convey complete genealogy and
be, moreover, one Of the longest words
in civilization. 1t is a common joke
to laugh at a Welshman for his long
list OF ancestors with the connecting
"aps." .s. .-.t.
There is an old story Of an English.
man, foreign to the prlDcipality and
its ways, riding after dark near a ra.
vine from which issued cry for assis.
tance from one who had fallen in.
"Who's there?" shouted the English.
man. r
"Jenkins-ap.G Griffith.ap.William.ap.
Rees.ap. .Evan.ap.R Robin" came the
reply.
Lazy fellows, half a dozen Of you,
why can't you help each other out!"
Exclaimed the Englishman, ignorant
of the fact that he was addressing but
one man.
The corruption Of the zap" has led
to a number of common notifications
of old Welsh names, as Price for ap.
Rhys, Pritchard for ap.Richard, Pow
ell for ap.Howell, and many others,
Probert, Probyn, Pugh, Penry, as also
the "b" being similar to the "p"-
Bevau, Barry, and the like. Another
Welsh form Of family name-tha1
which simply puts the Christian
name into the genetive case-has con
tributed many Of our commonest sur
names, as Jones, |. e., Johns, Harry's
Harris, Williams, Hughes, etc.
The roots OF our family names, as o
our families themselves, have sprunt
from among many nations and mani
tongues. There are well nigh innu
lnerable cases In England Of surnamet
which point Enthusiastically TO the
foreign country, and frequently, too'
actual neIRhborhood or town even,
from which the family originally mi
grated, though no other kind ofrecord
may exist to prove that, 10 far.oh
time, they came from over the seas.
or the original Anglo.Eaxon there are
some few survivals., Some can be