24 USE AND ORIGIN OF SURNAMES. 
nations had modes peculiar to themselves; but 
though I may presently advert to some of these, 
the space to which this essay is limited, makes it 
necessary to confine my remarks to the methods 
adopted in this country since the Saxon times. 
The principal of these was by surnames. The 
surnames originated in various circumstances ; 
and they may accordingly be divided into seve- 
ral classes. 
The etymological meaning of the word sur- 
name is additional name: a name added to a 
primary name. It is then by means of a surname 
—added to what we call the christian name—that 
we distinguish every particular person from the 
mass of individuals with whom he is surrounded. 
This method also serves to distinguish families : 
it marks the course of descent from father to son, 
and enables families to trace their genealogy. 
I shall now proceed to point out the sources, 
from which most of the various surnames now in 
use originated ; and I shall distribute them into 
several classes—an order, as I think, into which 
they naturally divide themselves. Many indeed 
are in use which I am not able to explain; and 
I cannot find how they originated, though in the 
