The Washington herald., 1914-05-24
HOW MANY NAMES
were ORIGINATED
Commonest Is Made Up Of
Father $ Family Word,
Plus Son.
DERIVED FROM LOCALITY
Extension of Christianity and Con-
quest of England Brought Wealth
Of New Appellations.
DERIVED FROM LOCALITY

What does your name mean? How did
family names originate? Did our ances-
tors have three names, or even two. to
keep their individuality distinct7 These
are few natural questions that most
people find Il hard to answer.
A rapid glance at the earliest history Of
any country shows that the people were
content with one name, says Charles NJ
McLaury in the Girls Own Paper and
Woman's Magazine" But as they grew
more numerous II became necessary or
desirable to give some additional name or
title as a mark of honor, or for a nick
name or other means of distinguishing
one man from his fellows. So we have
Zeno the Stole. Saul Of Tarsus, Peter the
Hermit Richard the Lion Hearted.
| Whence first came surnames no one
may presume to say. Perhaps all sources
were used equally. but next to Smith,"
the commonest ones are those made up Of
the fathers name plus the word SON In
Saxon. or its equivalent In other dialects.
\ In Celtic the word for son is Mac" or
Mic" usually shortened to Me or M"
So We find the MacDonalds Cthe sons Of
Donald. the McLoughlins. the McCabes,
and the McGuires.
Fitx Came. from "FfIs."
From the Irish 20" Cfor son or we
have the O'Briens, the o'Connels. and the
oGormans. In Welsh "son or appears
as "Ap," and this placed before a IA
ther's name changes II so as to be hardl;
recognizable: in the list belong Price GAP
Rice son of Rice). Bowen ZAP Owen.
Pritchard ZAP Richard. Powell Gap
HowelD.
From the Norman "fls." son." came
the modified form Fitz. and then Fitz
Warren as two names. Fitzgerald or Fitz
Gerald. and Fitzpatrick. Closely allied to
these are the endings kim" "et," "ey."
'ot." and ing" meaning little" Hence
We get wilkins Qittle Wild, willet. Will
ley. Elliot dittle Elias. and Dunning
Qittle DunD.
After the battle of Hastings in 1850
came the Normans. and with them |
host OF new names. Then We hear OF the |
Roberts. Richards. Rolands, and Mileses !
"a soldier, with various modified forms. !
So from Robert came Robertson. Robins, |
Robinson, Dobbs, DobbInson, and Dob |
son. Richard gave us Richardson. Rich |
ards. Kicks. Dick. Dix. Dixon. Dickens |
Dickinson, Hicks. Higgins, and strangely |
enough Hitchcock ("cock'' meaning a |
pert young fellow.
One more became prominent about this |
time, John, johnson. and the derivative |
Jones, son Of John. which In its various |
forms Of Jenkins. jerks. Jennings, Jack. !
jackson, Jacox. the Welsh Evans. the |
Flemish Hanson. Hankins. Hancock, and !
Lititie-John. gives the Smiths a hard \
race to keep first place.
In those early days when old Morse |
deities were realities We expect TO find |
some names derived from them. So we
have Oden. probably from "Odin." Thor
is probably seen in TORY and surely in
Thorman CThor's mani: also in Thorburn.
where burn" is from an old word mean
ing a bear, and animal sacred to this
Aaif
of that name, whose image Of large size
was made OF flint.
Frost likewise recalls a minor divinity |
an elf, "Frosti," who helped to produce
cold; hence our Jack Frost of nursery
rhymes The heavenly bodies were DEL
fed and still live as names. Here We
look for Mr.. Sun. but in vain
Mr.. Moon is fairly common.
The mystery is solved. however. when We
learn that among the ancient NorsemeS
the sun was a feminine deity. and the
moon was her brother. Starr We have,
and the deities of the chief seasons have
given us Summer and Winter. with Snow
as the latter's companion. .
Names of Biblical stamp.
With the extension of Christianity came
names Of a Biblical stamp, and in great
numbers. Boys were named in honor Of
whose birthdays the children were born
or saved from some disaster. Here we
find Adam, Moses. David. Matthew, John,
Paul or Saul. Philip or Phelps, and Sey-
mour ,St. Maur).
II the birth occurred on a holy day or
turing feast. that was recorded. and
BUR directories contain Christmas, Yule
Ind. Of like meaning through the Nor
nan, Noel and NOVEL;. Pask and Pasca,
Easter). Penecost. and Tiffany and Tiff
en- from the feast OF Epiphany.
n
permanent influence on names. Even now
We speak Of John Doe at the school,
louse. by the mill or elsewhere In Sax
n. ate" 'atte," or "atten' meant "at
he" and old records abound with sucs
ntries as Thomas atte Grove AN
rev ate Wode," etc Their descendants,
atwood. Atwell and Nash C'atten ash")
re of everyday acquaintance. Such
anies as Woodman, Poole Cpool or small
ake). Gate. Cross. Church. Temple.
'rossman, Townsend, Field. and Street
how their origin at once.
When roads were poor and bridges
'ere scarce people had to cross deep
treams by ferry. and the man nearby
'as called Ferry or IL the stream
Tere shallower it was crossed by ford.
nd Mr.. Ford" is common. If the cross
,g were easy the man was called San
ford" or. more simply Sanford" u
lficult, his name was Rockford" But
the place could rise to the dignity Of
aving bridge. there was a keeper, and
Is name was "Bridgeman." or Bridge"
he material of the bridge was indicated
y woodbridge" or "Stonebridee"
From onicial Positions.
Directions are seen in North, East,
outh, West. Eastman and Eastwood. In
lat period of huts the man who could
ford to own a house was Mr.. House.
nd the material was indicated by Wood
ouse of Stonehouse. II II stood by the
oor or marsh II was Moorhouse or
orehouse, and IL the occupant used II
" purposes Of school he was called Mr..
,hoolhouse II he were thrifty enough
have a painted house he was pointed
II as Mr.. whitehouse, Mr.. Greenhouse
even Mr.. Greenhut.
Doubtless some OF the names that tell
official position in early English life
ere given in derision to persons who
sumed the airs of the officials whose
lies they bear, but others we're true
lies of office. In this list We put Lord,
aron. Sheriff. Beadle, who served the
Constable, the Chief Judge in
2 Court of Chivalry: Bailey (bailifD,
Reeve, woodruff Cwood reeve. Judge
I'd Mace. who carried a staff before the
dge
" these connected with the estate we
~ mention Ward (watchman). Park
IN, Forester, Fowler. Messenger. Horn
ower. Piper. Porter, Page, Chamber
m, Cook Carver Spicer Butler Jestar