41 



The real name of the celebrated Little John, the favourite com- 

 panion of the still more celebrated Robin Hood, was John Little, as 

 the old ballad tells us : — 



" This infant was called ' John Little,' quoth he, 

 " Which name shall be changed anon ; 

 " The word we'll transpose ; so wherever he goes 

 " His name shall be called Little John." 



Not a few illustrious personages derive their name from some 

 animal. Among our statesmen, poets, and divines, have figured a Fox, 

 a Roebuck, a Hogg, a Lamb, a Bull, and a Hare ; while a Drake, a 

 Wren, a Sparrow, a Peacock, and a Nightingale, are equally well 

 known to us. Names derived from animals perhaps belong properly to 

 the first class I have treated of, and are really nicknames, taldng their 

 rise from some fancied resemblance between the first owner of the name 

 and the animal designated by it. Such names are by no means 

 confined to one nation: for instance, we have Hippias as well as 

 Hengist, Horsa, and Ross ; Verres, Porcius, Leo and Hase, as well as 

 Hogg, Lion, and Hare; Ulphilas, Guelph, and Comeille, as well as 

 Wolf and Crow ; besides Partridge, Rook, Raven, Blackbird, Daw, 

 Heron, Woodcock, Crake, Crane, Hart, Sprat, Crabbe, Herring, <fec. 

 Some are called after trees, such as Ash, Birch, Broom, Ascham, 

 Chesney, Duchesne, Du-fresnoy ; some from minerals, such as Iron, 

 Steele, &c. ; some from articles of diet or beverage, such as Pepper, 

 Salt, Beer, &c. To these we may add the numerous Surnames or 

 rather Sire-names, which are formed out of some Christian name. 

 Thus from John, we have St. John, Jones, Jonsou, Johnson, Janson, 

 Jackson, Jennings, Jenkin, Jason, Hancock, Hanson, Hankinson, 

 Evans, Evanson ; from Nicholas, Nicholson, Nixon, Nicholls, Nelson, 

 Cole, Colet, Colson, Collins, CoUison ; from Henry, Harris, Harrison, 

 Herries, Hawes, Hawkins, Hall, Alcock ; from Gilbert, Gilbertson, 

 Gibbs, Gipps, Gibson, Gibbon, Gubbins, Gell, Gilpin ; from David, 

 Davis, Davy, Davies, Davison, Dawes, Dawkin, Dawson. 



Many surnames have a religious origin. Such are especially common 

 among Eastern nations. Thus we have Abdallah (=:servant of God), 

 Aladdin (=height of religion), Saladin and Sultan, corruptions of 

 Sala-eddin, (=good of religion), Abcd-el Kader, or servant of the 

 Almighty, having much the same signification as our Gilchrist. The 

 Greeks and Romans also had their Theodotus, Theodosius, Dositheus, 

 and Deodatus ; and the Carthagenians their Hannibal and Asdrubal. 

 In the middle ages wo have Amadis, equivalent to the modern German 

 Gottlieb or love-God ; Rene, from the Latin "renatus," or "regenerated;" 

 and later on wo have Sauclio (=sanctus), Bede, (from beda, prayer), 



