May 1. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



425 



LowEE (p. 326), make use of the word surname 

 to signify "the permanent appellative of particular 

 families." 



Now, I have always considered that the English 

 language, in this as in many other instances, pos- 

 sessed two words which, though alike in sound, were 

 very different both in origin and meaning: — sur- 

 name, i.e. sur-nom, the name added to the common 

 appellation, for the purpose of distinguishing an 

 individual ; as Rufus, Cceur de Lion, Lackland, in 

 the case of our early kings : and sir-name, or sire- 

 name, being that which in recent times, and in 

 most countries, every one born in wedlock has in- 

 herited from his sire, and which is the subject of 

 the articles in " N. & Q." 



As I do not suppose that your correspondents, 

 the last of whom is of considerable authority on 

 this subject, have used the term unadvisedly, I 

 am anxious to know the grounds on which they 

 would disallow my theory. E. H. Y. 



I am glad to perceive that Mr. Lower has 

 on the stocks a systematic Dictionary of Sur- 

 names. For the reason stated by him, it is neither 

 desirable nor possible that it should include all 

 English ■ surnames. The majority derive their 

 origin from places or districts of limited dimen- 

 sions, and to enumerate them would be an inter- 

 minable and very thankless task. Mr. L. has 

 therefore judiciously determined to exercise his 

 discretion on this class of cases. Nor are the 

 names derived from Christian names generally 

 worth insertion, for every Christian name has, in 

 some form, been converted into a surname, either 

 with or without alteration. Those which originate 

 in extinct or provincial employments and trades 

 will supply an instructive and interesting collec- 

 tion, such as Tucker, Challoner, Tozer, Crowder, 

 Berner, &c. ; and will also afford scope for glos- 

 sarial illustration. 



I also trust that his etymological research will 

 be successfully exercised on such names as — 



Nettleship Calcraft 



Moneypenny Lammercraft, and other 



Peabody crafts (crofts?) 



Sidebottom Pennefather 



Sheepshanks Ocock 



Snodgrass Pocock 



Wiggins Locock, and omne quod 



I^'iggins exit in cock, of which 



Higgins some forty or fifty are 



Wigglesworth in use. 



Let me also bring under his notice the singu- 

 larly unattractive name of Suckbitch. It is used 

 by more than one branch of a respectable and 

 ancient family in the West of England, and I have 

 traced its existence for at least five centuries. 

 Instead of availing themselves of the recent opi- 

 nions of some great lawyers, that a surname may 

 be changed at will, this family rather pride them- 



selves on a name that can boast an antiquity pro- 

 bably not surpassed by that of any family in Eng- 

 land. The shape of it has, however, deviated 

 from the ancient form, so as to become more sig- 

 nificant, but certainly less graceful than it was ; 

 and the change is probably an illustration of a 

 familiar fact : viz. that we are not generally the 

 authors of our own surnames, but receive them 

 from our neighbours, and that, to a certain extent, 

 they continue to have the same character of in- 

 stability which they originally possessed. The 

 earliest form of it known to me is Sokespic, — a 

 word which seems to indicate a Saxon origin. 

 The spic, or bacon end of it has now generally 

 become spitch in the names of places ; as in Spitch- 

 wiek, a well-known seat in Devonshire. Whether 

 the soke or suck end of it be from sucan, and the 

 whole name equivalent to the modern Chawbacon, 

 is a matter which I leave for the investigation of 

 Mr. Lower. At all events, the old form will be 

 a warning to the etymologist not to search for the 

 origin of the name in any legend like that which 

 ascribes the nutrition of the infant founders of 

 Rome to a she-wolf. 



I have met with many modern instances of the 

 mutability of surnames among labouring people, 

 and even in a class above them. In 1841 a person 

 named Duke was on the list of voters for Penryn, 

 in Cornwall. His original name was Rapson; but 

 the name being very common in his neighbour- 

 hood, people long distinguished him by the name 

 of Duke, because he kept the " Duke of York's 

 Arms : " and this last name has since become the 

 permanent recognised family name. This is a fact 

 which I have had satisfactory means of verifying. 



E.S. 



DysonHs Collection of Proclamations (Vol. v., 

 p. 371.). — Dr. RiMBAULT will find, in the Gren- 

 ville Collection in the British Museum, an extra- 

 ordinary volume of proclamations published during 

 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, " collected together 

 by the industry of Humfrey Dyson, of the City of 

 London, Publique Notary. London, 1618." The 

 volume is fully described in Bibliotheca Grenvil- 

 liana, Part the Second, 1848, pp.368 — 373. 



H.F. 



" Up, Guards, and at them!" (Vol. v., p. 396.). — 

 I know not what your correspondent A. A. D. 

 may mean by asking " whether the battle of Wa- 

 terloo was not a myth !" but I am glad to be able 

 to state, from the very best authority, the circum- 

 stance of the celebrated order to the Guards on 

 that day. It was at all times the Duke of Wel- 

 lington's habit to cover as much as possible troops 

 exposed to the fire of cannon, by taking advantage 

 of any irregularity of ground, and making them 



