The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1906-04-25
WHENCE NAMES COME
THE SURPRISING CHANGES THAT
TIME HAS WROUGHT.
Who Would Think, FOR Instance,
That the Name Thomas Whitehorue
Originally Indicated ':Thomna MT
the Sign og the white Horsefn

M
the Sign oE the white Horsew
Considering tho surprising changes
that many names have undergone, says
Miss Laura Alton Payne in the 1h;!e.
pendent. the almost universal lnck of
knowledge concerning their origin Is
cot to be wondered ut. What is there
in peter Shocks" to suggest to tho
uninitiateI that originally it was "Pe-
ter Mt tl,2 Seven Ouksf" Though
"Thomus Whitehorse" suggests the
American Indian custom in names,
originally 1t was "IlIomas Mt the White
l1orsr,' Or "Tholnas ut the Sign Of the
White Horse" (a taverm. Sidney Is q
corruption Of st. Dcnys. Sinclair Of ST.
Clair. Seymour Of st. Mnur, Jnnewuy
OF Genoa, Curtis OF :'courtcous," Arlni-
tage Of "helmitagc." Spark OF Sparrow
hawk. Emerson and America had the
same origin-Almoric, III old Norman
ilnme, Amerigo being the ItalianiZed
form.
Names. like things, arc not always
what they seem. Beers and Berry are
not "brcrs' and BERRY" but corrup-
tion Of borough" often written
"bury" and "bery."
In tho beginning n single personal
name sufliccd. For awhile no two per.
sons bore the sume name, but as n
stock Of names accumulated repeti-
tions became common, and us the pop
| ulation Of tho world Increased dlstlnc-
tive names became necessary: hence
we read Of John the Baptist and John
the Disciple, Darius IIystaspis and AL
| eXander the Great, Joshua, son of Nun,
| and Simon Barjonas-"Slmon. son Of
Jonas"
Surnames were first used In France,
becoming general there during the lat
ter part Of the tenth or the fore pnrt Of
tho eleventh century. They were used
hereditarlly to some extent, however,
prior to that time. They were intro
duced into England ut the Norman
conquest in tho year 100G, but it re-
quired two or three centuries to cstab-
lish the body of our nomenclature on
| fixed bnsis. 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 NIL
| civilized countries, I believe, except
Turkey. In England alone there are
from 10000 to $4,000 existing sur
nnmes.
Surnames have been drawn from ey-
cry availab 'rce-personnl namesp
location, ocCl n, deeds Of prowess.
mental, morn I'd physical attributes,
terms of relat Zip, the human body,
farm and ho'l,, DID articles, buildings,
foods and drinks, modes Of travel, na-
ttons and laws, customs and religions.
geographical ter.ns, weather dnd 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 nse of n!ciks:ssasi MES und
compound terms gave an almost in.
exhnustible source. Even oaths be-
came embodied, as In Pardoe, from par
Dleu. .& ,''..
In most countries it is customary
for the wife to take her husbands
sa1ur, nut in r3me European countries
1t Is not unusual for the husband to
append the. wife's name. particularly
when It is more honorable than his
own. Hyphennted names and the
wife's retention Of her. maiden name
for o middle name are customs grow
Ing in favor in the United States aud
Great Britain. -. - -
Among the earliest names introduced
by the conquest were found serl, Drew,
Bryce. Harvey. Arnold ("ern''-eagle),
Aibred lnow known aH Albert and All.
fsys{cx l,kS
(Everard). Warm (Guerin, now War
REM, IYo, Hamon CHnmmond), and
Payn Originally Pagnn). After their
adoption rs surnnmes the most of these
became obsolete as personal names. K.
= The most popular personal names
since the Domesday Book recorded
them have been John and William. but
| their derivatives urs too numerous to
mention here. Roger, Robert and Rich.
ord 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.
I =Diminutive and other afhxes served
an important part In the origin Of sur.
AtkAAaSo LAVAL QCAGoA4uA NAnAAC6s AAS <AAs
g1o- Saxon ."kin" and "cock" and ling"
i are, represented In jenkins. little
Johns Hitchcock, ''little Richard" =.
a1d Browning, .'clittle Brown" the
Norman "ot'' and "et,"" in Eliot, 'Iittls
Elias. and Emnnet, ''little: Emma"
| (soInetlmes s'loe''. and "let;" Hamlet,
".little .Hamon''); the French ION" and
Pen" In Marion and Dickens. -.
! Many prefxes were used. The Celtic
'"Afac" or I'M, Of the Scotch: "Mc'' OF
the Irish; sMap," cap" or Up" Of the
, Welsh, and the Norman ''Fitz" (Latin
flls), signify "son'' or '.son Of" and the
) Irish 90" grandson off,, ...... !.
( A fair knowledge Of English nomen.
clature, declares Miss Payne. gives q
fair knowledge Of English history, 80
closely are the two interviewer.
:. >1> Called the BLUR.