Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1906-04-26
WHENCE NAMES COME
THE SURPRISING CHANGES THAT
TIME HAS WROUGHT.
Who WOuld Think, For Instance,
That the Name Thomas Whitehorse
Originally Indicated ssThomas at
the Sign Of the White Horses"

Considering the surprising changes
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 Snooks" to suggest to the
uninitiated that originally it was 'Pe-
ter at the Seven Oaks?' Though
Thomas Whitehorse" suggests the
American Indian custom in names,
originally 1t was Thomas Mt the White
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
of Genoa, Curtis of courteous" Armi-
tage of hermitage" Spark of Sparrow
hawk. Emerson and America had the
same origin--Almeric, an old Norman
name, Amerigo being the Italianized
form.
Names, like things, are not always
what they seem. Beers and Berry are
not beers" and berry" but a corrup-
ton of Borough" often written
"bury" and ''bery."
In the beginning a single personal
name sufficed. For awhile no two per-
sons bore the same name, but as
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-"Si 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 1906, but it re-
quired two or three centuries to estab-
lish the body of our nomenclature on
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, / 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 1t is customary
for the wife to take her husbands
name, but in some European countries
1t is not unusual for the husband TO
append the wife's name, particularly
when 1t 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 ('ern"-eagle),
Albred (now known as Albert and ALI
bright, Almeric, Ingelram, Ebrardus
(Everard), WARM (Guerin, now War
REM, Two, Hamon Hammond), 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 III 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 affixes 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,
''little Hamon'O; the French ION" and
zen" In Marion and Dickens.
Many prefixes were used. The Celtic
"Mac'' or m" of the Scotch; INC" Of
the Irish; snap" "Ap." or 'P" of the
Welsh, and the Norman "Fitz' Latin
fils), signify ''son" or "son Of" and the
Irish co." grandson Of"
A fair knowledge Of English nomen-
clature, declares Miss Payne, gives a
fair knowledge Of English history, so
closely are the two interviewer.