The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-10
HOW YOUR REMOTE ANCESTORS GOT THE
NAME YOU BEAR

w OAx2AA
, When the ancient Greeks spoke Of ''xeno-
phon the Of Gryllos," the word son was
naturally thought of and supplied after
the article the" just as once Jack Will
liams naturally meant Jack, Williams
son; but the word son, being so obvious,
was often dropped.
| This gave rise to new surname along
side Of the older and fuller one. So there
are Roberts and Robertson, Williams and
| Williamson, johnson and Johns. This
last name does not look familiar; but
change it to the oft-heard Jones and it
becomes plain at once why there are so
many people of that name. John being
the commonest Christian name, makes
the commonest patronymic, Jones. So
Willis and Harris are for Willie's (son)
and Harrie's (son), the latter co-existing
with Harrison.
| There Is an enormous number of patro-
nymics that few would suspect Of being
such-names like Fitzgerald, Mcbride,
O'Brien and Price. This list includes
practically all the Fits. all the Mes and
Macs, all the O's and many common
names beginning with P. Fitz is a Nor
man word, corruption of fills, son, and
is used as prefix. Roger, fills de Gull
laume became Roger F1tzwilliam; Rob-
ert. fills de Simon, is doubtless the old
fighting Norman ancestor. of Bob Fttz-
simmons
Mac and o are prefxes from the Celtic,
meaning respectively "son of and de
scendant Of" McGresor means the son
of Gregor; Mcdowell, the son Of Dowell,
etc. So with O'Brien, O'Rourke, O'Toole
and all the other O's. -
In names like Price, the etymology is
somewhat obscured, but the real origin is
very evident to the student. APP was a
Welsh prefix, meaning 'son Of" but the
A was lost, and the P joined onto the fol-
lowing name. Thus David ap-Rhys be-
came David Price, that is David the son
of Rhys; Owen ap-Howell became Owen
| Powell; Even ap-Richard became Evan
Pritchard, and so on.
Another large class Of surnames comes
from personal peculiarities, chiefly the
| complexion.
| 1t is amusing how many colors are OFTEN
mustered together In q list Of names, and
the practice was very common in ancient
times. Niger meaning black, was a, COM
mon surname among the Romans; VIII
liam Rufus. the Red king in English his
tory, Is well known. How often in mod
ern society Mr.. Brown is presented to
Mrs. White, or Green grasps the hand OF
Black, or the English Gray meets his Ger
man descended friends, Schwarz and
Roth. All these names with the probable
exception of Green came originally from,
the complexion or color Of the hair.
another large class of names arising from
locality. denoting either the mans native
country or city Or the special kind Of
place in which he lived. Green is prob
ably like Hill. Field Lea Or Lee, Wood OF
! Woods, Forest, Tree, Lake and Rivers
John Green was doubtless originally Johr
J O. the green; and this was shortened t
plain John Green. The first James Hi
no doubt lived on or near a hill, and was
SO called to distinguish him from another
James who lived in a field and was called
> James Of the field or Jim Field.
Common surnalnes indicating a man.
nationality are English, Irish, Welsh
, French and many others.
All surnames were originally nickname
Of a certain kind, but the typical hickman
, as we think Of It arose from a sobriquc
representing some personal peculiarit
E or defect. The ancient Romans in spit
Of their stern dignity, had their jokes an
e nicknames Of Freddy" skinny" Fat
0 ty, Badly" and the like find their Roma
8 parallels In Rufus. Macer Crassus an
. Calvus, respectively, which latter came t
i be common family names .
9 This same tendency is seen in the mid
: die ages IN the nicknames added to Ger
t tain well-known kings, such as Pepin
: Brief, Charles the Bald, and Louis tn
!; Child. To-day there are many names Xix
4 these which were once applicable, but ar
: no longer SO. Among a few that may b
a mentioned are Short. Long, Large. Littl,
Gross, Rioh, Poor, Swift, Lightfoot an
q many similar pnes. .r-e
a Finally, a very large number Of name
= come from natural objects of everyda
life, such as animals, birds, fishes, flow
. ers, fruits, etc.
There are four chief sources for these
:, In the case of animals the. name Of tn
animal was supposed to represent tn
qualities Of the animal: or the name of tn
natural object was given in allusion
some episode in the bearers history or
= was borrowed from the device on tn
mans shield, or. at last. and this prime
= pie Is responsible for vast number
!, surnames, it was taken from the sign {
the tavern or inn that its bearer KEEP
One might start a zoo with the name
:. of animals taken from any city director,
- There would be found the Lyon" lyin
= down with the Lamb and the ''Wolf
consorting with the Fox" Martin, Bes
yer, Seal, Bear, Kid Hare and man
:. others roam at large thru the pages of tt
:. = directory.
Many names from natural objects mief
= be cited; unnecessarily, however, for or
= such would represent the class. In fact
- may be said that there Is no surnam
II representing some ordinary natural objec
:, that may not once have been used as a
- inn sign.