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common and ignoble are found, when their origin is adequately 
investigated, to be of high antiquity and unsuspected dignity, 
the reader proceeded to note the distinction between the Christian 
name and Surname. ‘The Christian name denotes the baptismal 
or individual name, and in comparatively modern times, the 
Surname came into existence, being the name added to the 
Christian name, and expressing the person’s relation to a human 
society. The consideration of the two classes of names. could 
not be rigidly separated, for the meaning of the Christian name 
accounts also for a multitude of our Surnames, chiefly of course, 
those which are patronymic. Referring to the origin of many 
of our individual names, it was observed that they were given 
from some circumstances of the birth or from the complexion ; 
from numbers; from some weapon or jewel: from flowers or 
animals; from the qualities desired for the child; or they were 
religious names, dedicating the child, or denoting a time of family 
or national sorrow. Examples of each were given. Religion 
has ever been the most potent influence in name-giving. The 
Church’s Bible and the Church’s Calendar furnished names 
which became a bond of brotherhood from land to land. Sacred 
legends were a prolific source ; and the family feeling is a power- 
ful guide in our nomenclature. The favourite heroes and giant 
minds of the day have had their influence on the Parish register, 
and the different periods of our country’s history, as they have 
been successively marked by chivalry, romance, puritanical 
fanaticism and eccentricities, the passion for the Latin form, 
and the taste for fancy, ornamental names :—have each left a 
distinct impress on our nomenclature. 
The causes of the changes which names experience, and the 
practice prior to the Reformation of curtailing the name, and 
giving pet or diminutive appellations, were next touched upon. 
The subjugation of England by the Normans resulted in a revolu- 
tion of our system of names, just as at a later time, a second 
crisis occurred under the Puritan epoch. The paper then pro- 
ceeded to classify the origin of names according to their different 
sources. 
The following six classes were taken :—Names derived from the 
Persian, Greek, Lutin, Celtic, Teutonic, and Hebrew. The names 
from the Persian are few, but to the classical Greeks we are 
indebted for some of our most beautiful names. The Romans 
who had a complete system of nomenclature have furnished a 
large number of names; whilst the wild and impulsive Celts have 
left but faint indications. To the Teutonic source is attributed 
the origin of the great mass of Huropean names. Under this 
head reference was made to the name William. In the age 
following the Conquest this name decidedly held the supremacy 
amongst baptismal names; and since that time to the present, 
