Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-02-18
UNIVERSITY Letter
University Mississippi. Feorua-s
i3. Ioi5
HOW We GET CTR NAMES.
By David H. 8sshcp.

The names xe bear today come
10 Us without our seeking. and
the process By which ~ gets them
seems -1osf natural Keep. N
such instances a. The multiplied
John Smiths OF every eonn1nity
they s1flcielEly i5eaiify - Ho<-
ever there Ezs a tine when in
Givsd1zis we're not - clearly dis
ti1-ui>hed bv Names In Eng-
land. an in modern EaroPe gen
orally. sornanes take origin and
become hxei between the eis-
renfh and thirteenth centuries
Il Is not possible in the limits Of
eais paper 10 eBuze-zse even the
VARIOUS sources OF -the-a- nor i
Il actually possible To deierniEs
the source OF = name IN every in
stance Merely asserting that
every mare kzs an exp4A1zfon-
whether re End IL o< not. we az
dersake ID indicate The nos. ire
Quent sources Of Cur sarnzzes
Frun CEr5~fizn names = ia---
aurrber Of snraames are derived
either directly or by ne addition
Of aEzxes- Thus re have VIZ
hanson johnson, m2niEes.ly
sons Of William. John, etc The
prefix FITS (fro1a the Norman lls1
- n FIzhueh. indicates the
sane relationships II this sane
group bes0ng names ending II
e. o. and Am. suisxes meaning
little.
May place names gave Gsslg-
nation to people and thus be
came sarnanes- Hence our
L=nes. Hills. Heath, Middleton
{ Ni1die-townl. ard 50 on end
lessly- Originally. prep sIiiOns
CONNECTED in the given name with
the place name, a. John-ink tae)
Lane. Thonas of Middleton. etc
These connecting particles Eere
soon weakened 10 a (John-z-
Lane and then we're dropped
entirely
Probably Offices AID occupation
have given names 70 the Earges-
number OF individuals 20 the list
OF separate names woui1 ro- Dc
% large - IL soze osae< --oars
In this list are such names ~
Reeve. ChzmbeS lain. Fzlkner
{ Falconer,) cheers 0f the king
Bot the largest number are from
names Of occup4zl0zs quite
familiar ID rs Here are our
Smiths, ciarxs. Ozark. sui pro-
n0unced Clark IN EagI2ndS
Cooks. We6s1=rs. (e4rly E1zhsh
for Weaver) }. Painters, and 30 On
through the Isl
Many names are ooSso1sly c1-
to certain personal pe-alzrlres
or 6ls-lncf traits OF character
s-e hsvs Longs and SnAlis and
Shorts and SsozEs and White
heads and Blaekt0eks that have
TIER manifest orzez1 n phys5exl
features Tne Gays, Ire Starts,
the Moodys- the WHk3s. and tire
Saxagez bear tessnony 10 dis
singulshzng mental or tsnpsr-
ueaszl traits CT fzr-zw2Y an
cest0rs- These nszaes whsn frs.
applied had the character Of NICK
nArn@- and these w0Rid them
selves uake large list. including
many that VIC coEad net 2scrabe
ID personal traits Or features
Many Of these ara l1dicrozs IN
suggestion They we're 1nGb-less
more 50 II their first application
u Ternips@ed is not a corruption
Of some foreign name. IL must
have originated in > joke
II i quite clear thai identity Of
names Is hy I'd means an in1ic2-
ton Of common descent since by
the processes above given the
game names would originate in
dependentiy II different localities
IL short the large nanber Of
Smiths i not 10 be artrit uted .
the prolific tendencies OF past
generaEz0ns xho bore that name.
bur u the szcs thar sxery locality
had its Smiths.