New Ulm review., 1906-07-18
WHENCE N MES COME
THE SURPRISING CHANGES THAT.
TIME HAS WROUGHT.
Who Would Think, For Instance,
That the Name Thomas Whitehorse
Originally Indicated 1Thomas at
the Sign of the White Horse ~

5 hi
that many names have undergone, says
Miss Laura Alton Payne in the Inde-
pendent, the almost universal lack Of
knowledge concerning their origin is
not to be wondered at. What is there
in Peter Shocks to suggest to the
uninitiated that originally it was tPe-
ter at the Seven Oaks?' Though
Thomas Whitehorse" suggests the
American Indian custom in names,
Horse" or Thomas at the Sign of the
White Horse" "a tavern). Sidney is a
corruption Of ST. Denys, Sinclair Of st.
Clair, Seymour of st. Maur, Janeway
sf Genoa, Curtis of courteous Armi-
tage of hermitage, Spark of Sparrow
hawk Emerson and America had the
same rigin-Almeric, an old Norman
name, Amerigo being the Italianized
form.
f Names, like things, are not always
what they seem. Beers and Berry are
not beers and ''berry," but a eorrup-
ton of borough often written
bury" and 'bery.'
name suffced. For awhile no two per-
sons bore the same name, but as a
stock of names accumulated repeti-
tions became common, and as the pop
ulation Of the world increased distinc-
tive names became necessary; hence
we read Of John the Baptist and John
the Disciple, Darius Hystaspis and Al
exander the Great, Joshua, son Of Nun,
and Simon Barjonas Simon, son of
Jonas
Surnames were first used in France,
becoming general there during the lat
ter part of the tenth or the fore part of
the eleventh century. They were used
hereditarily to some extent however,
prior to that time They were intro
duced into England at the Norman
conquest in the year 1866 but it re-
quired two or three centuries to estab-
lish the body of our nomenclature on
a fixed basis. During that time sur
names became general throughout the
British isles except in Wales, in some
parts of which they are unknown to
this day.
Surnames are now general in all
civilized countries, I believe, except
Turkey. In England alone there are
from 10000 to $4,000 existing sur
names.
Surnames have been drawn from ev-
cry available source-personal names,
location, occupation, deeds of prowess,
mental, moral and physical attributes,
terms of relationship, the human body,
farm and household articles, buildings,
foods and drinks, modes Of travel, ma
tions and laws, customs and religions,
geographical terms, weather and sea-
sons, months and days, measures and
values, the joys and ills of life, the
animal, mineral and vegetable king
dom and even from the kingdom Of
heaven. The use Of nicknames and
compound terms gave an almost in
exhaustible source. Even oaths be-
came embodied, as in Pardoe, from par.
Dieu
In most countries it is customary
for the wife to take her husbands
name, but in some European countries
it is not unusual for the husband to
append the wife's name, particularly
when it is more honorable than his
own. Hyphenated names and the
wife's retention of her maiden name
for middle name are customs grow
| ing in favor in the United States and
Great Britain.
| Among the earliest names introduced
| by the conquest were found Serl, Drew,
Bryce, Harvey, Arnold ('tern'-eagle),
Albred mow known as Albert and ALL
bright, Almeric, Ingelram, Ebrardus
(Everard), WARM (Guerin, now War
REM, Iyo, Hamon HammonO, and
Payn Originally Pagan. After their
adoption as surnames the most of these
became obsolete as personal names.
The most popular personal names
since the Domesday Book recorded
them have been John and William, but
their derivatives are too numerous to
mention here Roger, Robert and Rich
ard took double nickname in ii and
/ D; hence Hodge and Dodge, Hobbs
and Dobbs, Hicks and Dicks, with the
rOugher forms Of the last-Higgs and
Diggs, and even Hitch, giving rise to
| Dickens, Hitchcock and Higginson.
/ Diminutive and other afixes served
an important part in the origin of sur
names from personal names. The An
glo-Saxon "kin" and cock and "ing''
are represented in Jenkins. little
john Hitchcock, little Richard, =
and Browning, .'little Brown the
Norman "ot'' and "et," in Eliot, little
Elias and Emmett, .'little Emma"
!. (sometimes 'lot'' and ''let;" Hamlet,
.slittle Hamon'); the French ION" and
ren'' in Marion and Dickens.
1 Many prefxes were used. The Celtic
'A1ac'' or M of the Scotch; Me- OF
the Irish; MAP" "Ap,' = or 'P'' of the
4 Welsh, and the Norman 'Fitz" Latin
fls), signify "son' or "son Of and the
Irish co. grandson Of
A fair knowledge of English nomen-
clature, declares Miss Payne, gives a
j fair knowledge of English history, SC
closely are the two interviewer.
= j g