The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-10
PHILADELPHIA Press.

| Philadelphia Press.
Did you ever think that every name
must originally have meant something?
The letters did not coin themselves to-
gether in haphaZard way, and no mat
ter how much the name has been twisted
! or perverted, it originally meant some
| thing and was intended to be applicable
to the person who first bore it..
In early times amid primitive condi-
! tons Of civilization people had only one
name, and that name was given because
of some circumstance connected with the
childs birth or some physical popularity,
or in the hope that the child would grow
up to have the qualities the name de-
noted.
The best example Of this Is to be found
in Bible names, In the early days OF Jew
| ish history. Esau, meaning hairy was
SO called because he was hairy from his
birth; Moses. drawn out, because he was
taken from the water; Benoni, son OF my
sorrow; Ruth, beauty, because 1t was
hoped the child would be beautiful.
In the very early times, therefore, each
person possessed g. name that was tndi-
vidually significant and apropos. But
when. with advancing civilization, 1t be-
came necessary, in order to preserve fam
lily and tribal distinctions, to name chill
dren after the progenitors, names or1gi-
nally applicable lost their appropriateness.
| For example, the first girl named
Blanche must have been a blonde; but
| how many Blanches we can all recall to-
| day who are types Of the perfect bru-
nette
| When the Roman father who first called
his son Quintus gave him the name it
must have been because the latter was the
fifth child" and boy. Quintus was a
very common Roman name, but later was
applied Unfortunately, whether the boy
was the fifth" or not.
| rrba 6,c+ Il,iuiD 1-,,, ,,,ao,,h+.a1.r !.
| clover Of horses" or was intended to be
such. But how many people to-day give
! this name g. thought to its meaning
and, worse yet, how many men bear this
name without knowing that it means any
| thing at all.
That a young man should know nothing
Of the meaning Of his own name seems
ridiculous. Yet this is true Of the major
| ity. OF course, In many cases it is 1mpos-
sible to get at any meaning. This Is es-
| sentially true Of surnames, for often this
| form has been altered or they have come
from other languages Of which their own
ers have no knowledge, or their origin is
shrouded In the nlists Of obscure antiquity.
But the great general truth still holds that
every name was originally significant.
In the case Of modern first names, or So
called Christian names, there are very
few indeed Of which we do not know the
meaning and the origin.
But what a vast number Of our comm on
surnames, like. Smith, JONES' Johnson
Williams Harris, Brown, the many Macs
the various O's, like 'Brien, and many
similar ones2 These are all easy enough
to explain. .~:, g.
The commonest Of all last names Is
Smith. Why Is this the commonest sur
name? The answer Is simple enough
The word smith originally meant work
er in rough materials. There were many
different kinds Of smith-goldsmith, tin.
smith. silversm1th. blacksmith, etc. Later
when a more developed social condition
created demand for distinctive names
certain men of this profession took from
| It the surname OF Smith.
Here Is the principle Of taking a name
: from an occupation, one Of the cornmones
, origins of surnames. And as there wer.
. SO many different workers, or smiths
. goldsmith, silversmith, etc., were merged
into the common class Of plain smith. Th,
; result Of all this Is that to-day "alth,
: all smiths are not Smiths, the Smiths
= are even more numerous than the smiths.
y Occupations, as long ago as Greek an,
= Roman times, furnished an extra nam
. by which to distinguish men. Most Ro
n man gentlemen had three names, the frs
4 ! generally some common name, CORE
- spending to our ordinary Christian namss
:. then the clan name, and, finally, a thir
= name generally acquired In later life, in
4
event in the mans life. =.
= One Of the earliest Roman historian
was named Quintus Tabius Pictor. TIL
last name he acquired from his occupa
ton Of writer or word-painter. He is
In fact, the first Mr.. Painter.
Thousands Of our names have thi
origin. It would be easy to make lon
list but a few occupation names natural
ly suggest Observation-Disclosures, Carpen
ter. Driver, Potter. Sailor. Tailor or Tay
lor. Weaver, and like names from othe
languages, such rs Zimmerman. -..
Americans are not as curious about tn
! origin Of their names as people in oldel
times. The Romans, when they coul
not get at the etymology OF a proper nam
generally tried to account for it by max
Ing up story about the man who frs
bore it. A good example Of this Is tn
name Scaevola, which means '1eft-hand
ed" This was the name Of an aristo
cratic family in Rome, and to account 70
. | its origin somebody, probably to hatte
the family, made up the following stor
familiar to all who have ever read Roma.
history. When Porsenna, King Of tn
Etruscans. was besiegtng Rome, a nobl
youth named C.Marcius entered the Etru
can camp in disguise in order to XII
.. Porsenna- He was captured, and whe
led before the king, to show his contemr
! Of pain and death, he held his right han
,, in the fire until 1t was burned away. I
this way he got the name Of scaevola, c
i, the Left-handed.
; One Of the commomest, as we'll as one
the Oldest kinds Of names used to-day 8
. surname is the patronymic-that is
! new name made up Of the fathers fir:
name with prefix or suff1x meaning "son.
AS early as Bible times, there Is this &C
: dition for the sake Of greater definitenes
in the case Of Joshua, the son Of tt
9 Nun"
The Greeks Of the earliest litera1
!, period used the same system. Hon,
!. name Is the patronymic, meaning ''son
!. Peleus," but the part meaning ''son Of
: speaks Of Achilles Pelides The Ia
e is put at the end, Just like the nan
e Johnson, Johns son. The English pa
| ronymics Of this kind are innumerab
e and form one Of the largest classes Of SUI
/ names to-day.
E Their name Is legion-Johnson Robi,
e son, Jackson, Williamson, Robertso
!, Thompson, for Toms son, Peterson a,
many others. These names are very pla
. and simple. But there are other pair
I nymics which are not quite so obvior
3 some of which come from other language
To the first class belong those names
3o1, {e<