The San Francisco call., 1908-12-20
RISE OF SURNAME
HABIT IN ENGLAND
Time Not Long Ago When Fam
lily Names Came Into Gem
eral Use
Research Gives Some Odd Facis
Regarding AppeIIations Of
the People

So much Of modern life is built up
around the surname that it Is almost
impossible to imagine an England in
which men were known not by their
, family names but by their own personal
appellations. And yet it is not so very
long go that the surname became COM
mon in England. certainly not until the
fifteenth century. when Toms son and
Wits son became crystallized into
family names, and the youth was no
longer called by his fathers name. but
given an appeIation of his own to pre-
nix TO what had now become common
to all his brothers and sisters. The
Romans had family names. as they had
most things except steam and cleo
tricity; but the barbarian invasions
swept away Roman culture and Roman
names. and left every man to be nick
named as conveniently as might be
by his neighbors.
Probably the first people to acquire
family names were the great mobiles.
who called themselves after the land
they owned. but lessea people also felt
the necessity of a name. and It does not
follow that all place names imply own
ership of the land. To the man of the
middle ages the dweller in the next VII
Tom or Dick Of that place IL he ven-
tured to travel and go among new
neighbors.
NAMED AFTER TRADES
Another fruitful source of surnames
were trades and occupations, and the
Smith who was the most important
worker in the village when pack horses
did the work has seen his family
spread ali over the world and occupy
the seats OF the mighty. So likewise
Butcher. Fletcher Baker. Gardener be-
came family names, and even at the
present day in the country districxs
men are known as Jack Butcher or Tom
Hedger, to the exclusion of the family
names they rightfully possess. After
trades and cailings, personal peculiari-
ties and cOlOring were most fertile in
names, and such names as Long and
Short, Black and White. Stout. Grey,
and so on were introduced Almost
every title from King. Pope. Duke and i.
Bishop is represented in the list. ex-
cept Viscount. and most beasts. birds
and fishes many from the use of ar
mortal bearings, but more. perhaps.
from some fancied resemblance to the
animal in question
MANS REAL NAME
The mans real name is that by
which he was christened; the family.
or surname. is a nickname given hlm
for convenience. and to distinguish him
from the many hundred other Williams
and Roberts and Henrys. The corpora
tion Of the city OF London has Just
published a volume containing the list
of the aldermen from the earliest times
on record. and the names IN the iists
show very clearly how the surname
grew up In the Aldgate ward the
first name given is John Of Northamp-
ton in 1876, and he is followed by Viii
liam of Hereford. In other lists we
find Richard of Gloucester and John OF
Lincoln among place names; and Philip
le Taillour, John le Blund. otherwise
John White. and Solomon lie CoteleT
among names taken from trades or
personal peculiarities. In the four
teenth century the "de" and the "le'
grow rarer, and by the fifteenth CEN
tury have almost entirely disappeared
There is curious instance OF the
process of change in 1884. when Adam
Changeour Is noted as being generally
called Adam de ST. Ives, showing that
he had abandoned the name OF the
place whence he came for the name OF
his calling. 1t is a curious point that
even In those days London was led by
the country, for nearly all the alder
men are called after some place outside
the city, and but few are known by
their trades or personal peculiarities-
Whereas, IN the country ulStElCtSs II
was just the opposite. and men We're
called, as a rule, by such surnames as
Strong. Farmer and Billson. 1t Will.
perhaps, please the suffragettes to note
that women have given rise to family
names, such as Allison and Margerison-
INFLUENCE OF THE NORMANS
That Norman names were nearly all
territorial is not surprising. The fol-
lowers of William the COnqueror were
a very mixed lot, and while some OF
them kept the names Of their castles or
villages in Normandy, and were men
of Importance, many OF them were the
merest adventures attracted to VIII
liam's standard by the hope of plunder.
and possessing no family or territorial
names of their own. Those of them
who acquired lands in England Initiated
their fellows and called themselves
after their manors, while others took
the names OF the Offices they held or
the military titles given to them The
Saxons. who were kept under a rough
hand, the mailed fist OF those days had
to be content with humber appella-
tions. though here and there may still
be found a name OF undoubted Saxon
or Danish origin. held by families
which survived the Norman deluge and
made terms with the conquerors. But
as a rule the surname is simply a nick
name which was given by his neighbOrs
TO one man and was afterward handed
on to his descendants as a matter OF
convenience. How little Ii was thought
of originally is shown by the careless
ness ard ease. with which 1t was
changed in the middle ages. and the
fact that in the majority of cases it
came about by accident and not by de-
sign.-London Globe.