USE AND ORIGIN OF SURNAMES. 43 
general by surnames as at present, the personal 
distinctions devised were commonly as follows :— 
Jack the Ploughman, Tom the Smith, Dick the 
Groom, Ned of Lincoln, &c. But after a time 
these were modified into the present forms, John 
Plowman, Thomas Smith, Richard Groom, Ed- 
ward Lincoln. 
I observe in confirmation of the remark above 
made, that in perusing some of our old English 
writers the classes of surnames ending in son and 
ton, at the present time the most numerous, 
do not often occur before Henry VII. The 
first time a surname terminating in fon occurred 
to me is in Rich. II. 1387.—Lockton, a sergeant- 
at-law. A few occur in Edward I1V.—Barton, 
Preston, Brampton, Wharton. This was in the 
latter end of the fifteenth century. The first 
surname I observed ending in son is Curson, 
(seemingly a nickname) in Hen. VI. In Edwd. 
IV. occur TVomlynson and Danson. In Sir 
Francis Bacon’s History of Henry VIL. a sur- 
name in son, only once occurs—the notorious 
Empson. 
For some of the names above enumerated I 
avail myself of this opportunity to say, that I am 
