Butler — Personal Names. 479 



patriarch at first seized his brother by the heel (Gen., 25, 26), 

 and afterward tripped him up ; and Favill in old English was 

 a liar or at least a fabulist. Says Chancer : 



"Looke on the luft-hond, and see wher he stondeth 

 Both fals and fauvel, and all his hole meyne." 



Barnes suggested by temperament are frequent. Thus, a 

 sanguineous daughter was called Ella — that is, sunny ; Allen, if 

 it was not at first a hound, All-ivin, as if he had won all, meant 

 cheerful ; \^^2.c meant laughter, for he was the cause of it; 

 Mary — in Latin, Maria — was tearful, and so was well named 

 hitter. The same sense I find assigned to the first Hervelin 

 who was born blind, and so to a hitter life. 



Other characteristic appellations allude to some exploit his- 

 toric, or prophetic, or hoped for. Thus, Daniel is divine judge; 

 Uriah, light of God ; Joseph, augmentation; Jairus, enlight- 

 ener; Alexander, helper of men; William, helmet of many; 

 Louis^ hold ivarrior; Pringle, pilgrim. Oliver — so called from 

 complexion, or as living by an olivet — long meant peaceful, 

 with a reference to the olive branch of Noah's dove. But be- 

 coming confused with Olaf, the old Norse fighter, it came to 

 mean a champion whom no one but Roland could match. 

 Hence the phrase. Give a Roland for an Oliver. Henry means 

 home-ruler ; Hanks, Haskins, and Hendrick are some of its 

 variants, though Lower says Hanks means house-iuolf (p. 146). 

 Frederick is peace-ruler; Richard, great heart; Willard, strong 

 will; Sarah is mistress. l^oble explains itself, and also Eu- 

 gene, which is Greek for lu ell-horn. Freeman describes a man 

 who first among a crowd of serfs broke his birth's invidious bar, 

 and so was known by way of distinction as the freeman. 



Another class of personal names denotes location — the place 

 of origin or abode. 



Jastrow comes from a Polish to^vn so called in the present 

 province of Posen. Brandenburger is a name given to one who 

 originated in that German region of which Berlin is the cap- 

 ital, and Frankenburger denoted one who^ came from an impe- 

 rial circle now in Bavaria. The name Lincoln showed that a 

 man had to do with the English county of that name. Orville 



