El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-04
Did YOvrAncestors Have ThreeNames?
In Early Days Many It.
and Titles

! ETTHAT does your name mean? How
| w did family names originate?
| Did your ancestors have three
( names, or even two, to keep their in
! diVIduaIJy distinct These are a few
/ natural questions that most people find
/ II hard to answer.
A rapid glance at the earliest history
l of any country SHOWS that the people
| were content with one name, says
! Charles NJ. McLaury in the Girls own
4 Paper and WOman'S Magazine, London.
+ But as they grew more numerous II be-
( came necessary or desirable to give
some additional name or title as a mark
I OF honor, OF for nickname or other
means OF distinguishing one man from
( his fellows So we have ZenO the Stole,
Saul of Tarsus Peter the Hermit, Rich
4 ard the Lion Hearted
Whence the Surnamess
Whence first came the surnames no
! one may presume to say. Perhaps ali
! 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, OF. its equivalent
( IN oIher dialects. In Celtic the word for
Z son is Mac" or Mic" usually short
ened to Nc or M" So We find the
MacDOnald's (the sons of DOnald), the
McLoughlins, the McCabes and the Nc
From the Irish 90" Cfor "son OFF, we
nave the O'Briens, the OCOnnels and
the OGormans. In Welsh son Of ap-
a IaIher S name changes it so as to be
hardly recognizable; in this list belong
Price CAP Rice, son of Rice), Bowen
ZAP Owen, Pritchard CAP Richard),
Powell Gap HowelD.
From the Norman fills" a Son" came
the modified form Fitz, and then Fitz
w arren as two names Fitzgerald or
FItz Gerald, and Fitzpatrick Closely
allied to these are the endings kin"
ct "ey,n "Ot," and ing" meaning
Wild, Willet, Wiley. Elliott Qittle
MID, Willet, Wiley, Eliot Gtte Elias)
Ellas) and Dunning 0ittle Dun).
NOrmans Bring New Names.
After the battle Of Hastings in 1866
came the NOrmans and with them a
most Of new names. Then we hear of
the Roberts, Richards. Rolands and
Mileses "a sOldier), with various modi-
fled forms So from Robert came Rob-
ertSon, Robins, Robinson, Dobbs Dob
binson and DObson. Richard gave US
Richardson. Richards Kicks Dick Dix
Dixon, Dickens, Dickinson, Hicks. Hfe-
gins, and strangely enough Hitchcock
cock meaning pert -Oung fellow.
one more became prominent about
this time, John, Johnson and the deriV-
ative Jones, son of John, which in its
various forms Of Jenkins, jerks Jen-
nlngS, Jack, Jackson, JacOX the Welsh
Evans, the Flemish Hanson, Hankins,
hancock and Little-JOhn, gives the
Smiths hard race to keep first place.
Divinities Supply Names.
IN IhOSe early days when thee old
nurse Q6illGS were redllLleS we EXPECT
TO flnd some names derived from them.
50 we have Oden. probably from "Odin."
Thor is probably seen in TORY and
surely in ThOrman (ThOr's mani; also
IN Thorburn, where burn" is from an
old word meaning a bear, and animal
sacred to this god. Flint represents
subordinate deity of that name, whose
image Of large size was made Of flint.
Frost likewise recalls a minor divin-
ity, an elf, FROST" who helped to pro-
duce cold; hence our Jack Frost" of
nursery rhymes. The heavenly bodies
were deified and still live as names.
Here we naturally look for Mr.. Sun, but
in vain, although Mr.. Noon is fairly
common. The mystery is solved, how
ever, when We learn that among the
ancient NOrSemen the sun was a fem
mime deity and the moon was her broth
er. Starr we have, and the deities Of
the chief seasons have given US Sum-
mer and Winter, with Snow as the lat
ter's companion.
With the extension of Christianity
came names Of a Biblical stamp, and
in great numbers. Boys were named n
honor of prominent characters or of
saints on whose birthdays the children
We're born or saved from some disaster.
Here we find Adam. Moses. David, Mat
thew, John, Paul or Saul, Philip or
Phelps and Seymour (St. Maur).
If the birth occurred on a holy day or
during a feast, that was recorded, and
our directories contain Christmas, Yule
and. of like meaning through the Nor
man. Noel and NOVEL;, Pask and Pas
cal GEaster). PentecOst, and Tiffany
and Tiffen from the feast Of Epiphany.
Localities Have Great Influence.
Localities must have had a great and
permanent influence on names Even
now we speak of John Doe" at the
Schoolhouse, by the mill, OF elsewhere.
In Saxon ate" latte" or "atten" meant
at the and old records abound with
such entries as Thomas ate Grove"
Andrew at WOde," etc Their descend
ants, Atwood. Atweu and Nash t"Otten
ash.) are Of everyday acquaintance.
Such names as WOodman, Poole (pOOl or
pie. CTOssman. Townsend. Field and
Street show their origin at once.
Poor Roads Give w ssFTerry."
Whan roads were poor and bridges