30 



old name of the towu of Birmingham was Beorm-inga-ham, i.e. the 

 home of the descendants of Beorm. Modern sire-names of this class 

 are Bering, Browning, and Whiting, meaning dear, dark and fair 

 offspring; and Manning, Harding, and Jenning, the latter equivalent to 

 Janson or Johnson. 



Another Saxon form of the sire name was produced by appending 

 the termination " ock," an affix having the same meaning as " ing." 

 Thus we have Haucocfc equivalent to Jenning and Johnson, Alcock to 

 Harrison, Pollock to Paulson, Pawson, Porson or Polk, and Mattock 

 or Matthew's son. 



A third Saxon ending by wliich a sire-name or patronymic is formed 

 is that of "kin," perhaps allied to the German kind, child. Thus 

 besides Johnson, Jenning, and Hancock, we have also Jenkiu ; for 

 Peterson we have Peterkin and Perkin ; for Davison, Dawkin ; and for 

 Harrison, Hawkin ; and Guillotin (whose sanguinary invention has 

 rendered its owner's name immortal), is but the French for Wilkin or 

 Wilson. 



But by far the most common of the Saxon affixes is the word " son," 

 appended as it is to almost every Christian name we can think of, and 

 to many of these in very different forms. Thus from John we have 

 Johnson, Jackson, Janson, Hanson, Haukinson, and Evanson ; from 

 Robert we have Piobertson, Robinson, and Robson ; and from William. 

 Williamson, Wilson, Wilkinson, &c. 



The termination "son" in its different forms, abounds in many 

 northern countries. The Norwegians use both " son " and "dalter" 

 (daughter) as affixes. In Iceland, Johnson is the most common name ; 

 and because this "son" is likewise a Danish termination, Mr. Worsae 

 in his " Northmen in England'' seems inchned to claim our great British 

 Admiral Nelson as a countryman by descent, remarking that the great 

 man was born in one of the districts early colonized by the Danes. 

 Nelson, however, may belong to the same class of names as Anson, 

 Patti-son, Moxon {i.e. Meggi-son), and other derivatives from the 

 mother's christian name ; or it may, like Nielson, be a contraction of 

 Nicholson. — (See Polt's Person. Nam., p. 115.) The analogy of 

 Swainsou, which is evidently from the Danish King Sweyn, is in favour 

 of Mr. Worsae 's derivation. 



The Normans formed their sire-names by prefixing "fitz," a corruption 



similarly used in patronymics, as in Bartlet, or Bartholomew's son, C'olet or Nicholson, 

 Gillet, Elliot, Willey, Huey, and others; and we may observe, that the terms used to 

 signify " offspring" and " diminutiveness," are constantly connected, as in pu-er, pu-ella, 

 and pu-sillus— (See Polt. Etymol. Torsch., v..l. 1. p. 90.) 



