The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-08
ORIGIN OF SURkAMES.
PATCHES OF PEOPLE TOOK SAME
NAME AT BAPTIsMS.
Much Confusion FeIIowed-Then an
Invention of system of PatrOny-
mics Followed-Trades and Col
IeEes Took Part.

ferent countries. but that they were gem
eral at comparatively early period of
the civilization of each nation needs no
insisting on. To give but single in
stance 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 a concourse IL be.
came the custom of the officiating clergy
to bestow the same name upon whole
patches of people who came to be admit
ted TO the church. At one baptism, for ex-
ample, the name Peter was conferred
upon all the men and Catherine upon all
the women On another occasion they
would all be Pauls and Margarets and
so on.
Great confusion must inevitably have
been the result. and the rapid adoption of
a system OF patronymics was the only es-
cape from the difficulty The origin of our
word surname, formerly occasionally spelt
"sirname," is often supposed to be sire
name" and it was, indeed, only in the ma
ture Of things that the earliest kind of
distinguishing second name should have
reference to the parent. Our English Rob
insons, Johnsons, Wilson's and so forth
are as common, ancient and characters
tic as the Scotch Macs and the Irish O's.
which mean the same thing. The Mac, 1t
need scarcely be said, though often con-
sldsred essentially Scotch, is common to
the two nations, as witness the we'll
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,
% is more properly grandson. The
Norman equivalent is "Fitz," a corrup-
tlon or mis-. The Russian termination
WITT signifies the same word, as also
the follsr sky" With regard to the
Welsh 'ap," which also means son. mat
ters stand rather differently: for irs this
case "ap' is "A separate word and is not
Incorporated In the whole name except
as corruption; also II may be intro
uuceu an indfinite number of times in the
same appellation, so that Welsh sur
name can convey a complete genealogv
and be, moreover, one of the longest words
IN civilization. 1t is a common Joke TO
laugh at Welshman for his long list
OF ancestors with the connecting APPS i"
mere is an old story of an English
man, foreign TO the princpality and its
ways, riding after dark near a ravine
from which issued a cry for assistance
from one who had fallen in
hos there?" shouted the English
man. Jenkins -ap-G rifith-ap- William
Rees-ap- Evan-a p-Robin," came the renlv
Lazy fellows. half a dozen of you, why
can't you help each other out?'' ex-
claimed the Englishmsn, ignorant OF the
Iact that he was addressing but one man.
The corruption of the "ap' has led 10
number of common notifications of old
Welsh names, as Price for ap-Rhys
Pritchard for ap-Richard, Powell for an
Howell and many others, Probert. Pro.
pyh, Pugh Perry, as also-the "b' being
similar to the ''p'-Bevan, Barry. and the
ike. Another Welsh form of family
name-that which simply puts the Chris
tan name into the genitive case-has
contributed many OF our commonest sur
dmes, as Jones. L. e.. Johns, Harry's-
harris, Williams. Hughes, etc
The roots of our family names. as of
our families themselves. have sprung from
among many nations and many tongues.
Inere are well night innumerable cases
IN england of surnames which point un-
nlstakaply 20 the foreign country and
frequently, too, actual neighborhood or
town even, from which the family orig
inally migrated. though no other kind Of
record may exist to prove that. in far-off
time, they came from over seas. or the
original Anglo-Saxon there are some few
-NN F'fNtS ottilt can De traced In thu
termination ing" which, among Teutonic
people, signify Offspring" Browning and
Whiting in this way would mean the dark
OF fair children
Place names from Normandy and Rrit-
tahy are very common. as might be SUD-
posed. Darcy. Nevill, Ferrers. Dever-
eux, Warren, Percy. MarmIon, Tanker
vile. st Aubin, Lascene, Morley-aIl
these and many others can readily be
referred to their original birthpIaces. In
DINERS, through corruption of the word
lhe iocality Is not so easy to trace, though
sun there-as, fr example, the name 81
Maure. which, by process OF time has
come to stand as Seymour; vaIoins. which
we now know only in its English sur
name, as Valance, etc. Some of our
Names again, have a NetherIand birth
pace, as Gaunt which was originally
Ghent; st. Leger, and Bridges, which last
Is corruption. in all probability. of
Bruges. Vi
II needs no pointing out how easily
pace names can become family names
10 distinguish an individual by the name
OF mis- nome, birthplace or residence was
ready means OF securing his IDENTIFY
In rural districts and among a noDuIatio,
that continued for generation I'm the
same homesteads, place names would be
given from trivial features of locality. as
Wood and Hill and Lane and Dale. Tn
this connection we can find n number Of
ancient words for country objects which
nave long ago become obsolete and for
gotten. "Cowdray." for instance. in
olden days signiied grove OF hazel:
Garth is old English for a ward.
'Hithe" for haven; "Garnett' for
granary; SHOW for a small wood. The
common surname Head Is really a place
name. Head" being frequent term for
a promontory or cape, as Beachy TJead
The SUNK Bee" as in Ashbee. Holm
bee Is survival Of the Danish by" n
habitation.
The name Dean is not from the church
dignitary, but signifies a hollow or dell
whence we get Dean Forest and Arden
Another word still in common use in GER
tain parts Of England for the same thing
is bottom" Higgenbottom thus means
the dell where the "hicken" or mountain
ash hourished. Beckett" is a little brook
still called beck in the North; "boys''
Is the English corruption OF "bois," a wood
''Donne" means a down. Holt a grove
and Hurst" a copse. Stead" of course
is a farm house and It's SURROUNDINGS
Lynne" Is a pool. Law" once meant a
hill and Homer a corner "Townseud"
would signify "the towns end. Brock"
was the old term for badger-hence
Broxburne and other similar titles; while
"gos," as In Gosford and other examples.
merely referred TO a goose.
II is needless TO say that vast ma
jority OF English surnames. among which
are 10 be numbered our very commonest,
ara ARRIVED from frudau ana oafIlnos