NAMES 



381 



English explorers. Jamestown, Charleston, Car- 

 olina, Albany, New York, and Pennsylvania date 

 from the time of the Stuarts, while Virginia points 

 to an earlier, and Georgia to a later period. 



In attempting to discover the meaning of names 

 it is essential to discover the oldest forms -phonetic 

 corruption, assimilation, and popular etymology 

 having often disguised the modern forms beyond 

 recognition. Thus, in the case of Brighton, the 

 ancient form Brihtelmes-stan shows that Brigh, 

 the first syllable, is the genitive of the proper 

 name Brihthelm, and that the second syllable is 

 not ton but stonr, the name probably referring to a 

 stone house built by an early Saxon settler. So 

 Thornthorpe is shown by its old form to have 

 nothing to do with the thorn-tree, but to be the 

 thorp of Thorgrimr, while Westow is the ' woman's 

 place.' Drypool is Dritpol, the muddy or dirty 

 pool and nut the dry pool ; Thixendale takes its 

 name from the sixteen (tales which form the town- 

 ship; Durham is an assimilated form from Dun- 

 holm, and Stepney from Stebenhithe. 



The old dative or locative suffixes which occur 

 in the early forms of so many English and German 

 names have been either disused or assimilated to 

 other usual suffixes. Thus, the locative Wellon 

 ( ' at the wells ' ) has become Welham, Huson ( ' at 

 the houses') has become Howsham, Colnun ('at 

 the summits') is now Cowlam, Chillon ('at the 

 springs') has become Kilham, Aclun ('at the 

 oaks ) is now Acklam, Fivelac ('five pools') is 

 Filey, and Rodestain (' rood -stone') is now Rud- 

 ston. These instances may suffice to show that it 

 is of little use to guess at the meaning of the name 

 from mere modern forms ; it is only when the 

 ancient form of the name has Iteen recorded that 

 the meaning can be ascertained with certainty. 



Personal tinmen as a rule are less olcure in their 

 origin and meaning than local names, but owing 

 to their tendency to transference and migration 

 they are more liable to degradation and mutilation. 

 Thus, John, Gian, Hans, and Ivan are derived from 

 Joannes ; Sandy and Alec from Alexander ; Jim, 

 lago, James, and Hamish from Jacob ; Bep|K>, 

 Seppi, Kifine, and Joe from Joseph ; Peggy, 

 Gretchen, Maggie, and Madge from Margaret. 

 The origin of most of our names now in common 

 use is either Semitic, Greek, Latin, Teutonic, or 

 Celtic. To these five classes we may therefore 

 direct our chief attention. 



The old Semitic names were frequently com- 

 pounded with the names of deities, as is seen in 

 the names of Babylonian and Assyrian monarchs. 

 The name of Nebuchadnezzar i a prayer, ' Nebo 

 defend the crown ; ' Nebiishasban means ' Nebo 

 gave me;' Merodach-haladan is ' Mardtik gave a 

 son;' Abednego means 'the servant of Nebo;' 

 Monlerai is ' l>elonging to Mnnluk;' Shalmaneser, 

 'Shalman is favourable." The names of the 

 Assyrian kings, Assur-bani-pal, Assur-dan, Assur- 

 natsir-pal, contain the name of the eponymous god 

 of Asnyri.i. Many Hebrew names were formed on 

 the same principle. Thus, Obadiah means ' the 

 servant of the Lord ' (Jehovah); Al>diel, 'the 

 servant of God ' ( Elohirn ) ; Tobias or Tobiah, ' the 

 Lord is good;' Abijah, 'the Lord is a father;' 

 Ahijah, 'the Lord is a brother;' Jehu, 'the Lord 

 is He;' Nehemiah, 'the Lord romfortetli ;' Joel, 

 'the Lord is God;' Elijah, 'God is the Lord.' 

 Many Hebrew names thus cnnijiouniled, such as 

 Elizabeth, Samuel, Daniel, Josiah, Joshua, and 

 John (Jehohanan, 'whom Jehovah gave;' Gr. 

 Joanne*), have become common among ourselves, 

 together with a few, such as Mary, James, Ann, 

 and Thomas, which do not contain the divine 

 names. Modern Arabic names are derived either 

 from those of the Old Testament, as Moussa, 

 Yacoob, Yusuf, Suleiman, and Ayoub (Job); or, 



like AH, Hassan, Fatima, and Mohammed, from 

 the family of the Prophet ; or from bynames of 

 the Prophet, like Achmet (Ahmed), 'the praised.' 

 Many are compounded with divine titles, like Abd- 

 el-Kader, ' the servant of the Holy One ;' or Abd- 

 el-Raman, 'the servant of the Exalted One.' 



A Greek, like a Hebrew, bore only one name, 

 though he might be described, for distinction, by 

 the name of his father or of his birthplace, as 

 Thucydides the Athenian, or Alcibiades the son of 

 Clinias. The name of the eldest son was fre- 

 quently the name or a variation of the name of that 

 of the paternal grandfather. The usage of bearing 

 only a single name led to the great variety of Greek 

 names, in the invention of which much'ingenuity 

 was displayed. Such are Aristarchus, ' the best 

 governor ; ' Agathocles, ' pood fame ; ' Alexander, 

 ' the helper of men ; ' Phihppus, ' the horse lover ; ' 

 Philemon, ' the lover of thought ; ' Aristobulus, 

 'best counsel.' Of similar construction are 

 Demosthenes, Plutarch, Calibrates, Archimedes, 

 Archimaclms, Anaxander. There are also patro- 

 nymics in -ides, as Aristides and Anaxandrides. 



The Romans seem at first to have borne only 

 one name, but at a very early period they adopted 

 the Sabine practice, using a prenomen or personal 

 name, such as Titus, Quintus, or Marcus, followed 

 by a gentile or tribe name, ending in -ins, such as 

 Julius, Claudius, or Tullius. This, in the case of 

 patricians, was followed by a cognomen, usually 

 derived from some personal peculiarity, such as 

 Cji'sur, Cicero, Naso, Torquatus. Thus, in the 

 case of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus is the pre- 

 nomen, Tiillins the nomen, and Cicero the cog- 

 nomen. Occasionally, in the case of distinguished 

 personages, an honorific agnomen, or second cogno- 

 men, was added, such as Africamis or Germanicus. 

 A man might be called by the prenomen or the 

 cognomen, or by the prenomen and nomen, or by 

 the prenomen and cognomen. Thus, Cains Julius 

 C;i-sar might be called either Caius, or Cftsar, or 

 Caius Julius, or Cains Cn-sar, but our modern 

 appellation Julius Csesar would have been contrary 

 to Roman usage. 



The old Teutonic names were compounded of 

 two elements, a sulistantive and an adjective, 

 usually expressing the characteristics most prized 

 by a fierce and warlike race. The commonest com- 

 ponents are bern, ' bear ; ' iculfor u/f, ' wolf ; ' am, 

 ' eagle ; ' her or hart, ' warrior ; ' helm, ' helmet ; ' 

 gnr, ' spear ; ' stan, ' stone ; ' wine, ' friend ; ' wold, 

 ' power ; ' mitnd, ' protection ; ' rath or red, ' coun- 

 sel ; ' grim, ' fierce ; ' hard, ' stern ; ' bald, ' l>old ;' 

 lulal or ethel, ' noble ; ' hrod or rod, ' glorious ; ' 

 bert, 'bright.' Thus, Bernard is 'the stern bear;' 

 Arnold, ' eagle strength ; ' Roger, ' glorious spear ; ' 

 Richard, 'stern might;' Robert, 'glorious bright- 

 ness;' Albert, 'noble brightness ;' Alfred, 'noble 

 peace ; ' Athelstan, ' noble stone ; ' Edmund, ' noble 

 protection;' Ethelred, ' noble counsel.' 



The Teutonic name system prevailed among the 

 Franks, Burgundiaiis, " and Normans in France, 

 the Goths and Lombards in Italy and Spain, as 

 well as in England, Germany, and Scandinavia. 

 Hence we get such French names as Louis 

 (Hlodwig) and Lothair (Hlodochar), with Italian 

 names, such as Humberto and Garibaldi, and 

 Spanish names, such as Gonzalo and Fernando. 

 In England a complete change came in with the 

 Norman conquest. In the early entries in the 

 Durham Liber Viite we find only such Anglian names 

 as Herebald, Cynbert, Edwin, Arkel, and Beniulf. 

 In the Durham Jioldon book, compiled about a 

 hundred years after the Conquest, Norman names, 

 such as William, Rotiert, Walter, and Ralph, are 

 usual among tenants, but the fathers of these men, 

 when their names are recorded, are mostly of the 

 old English type, such as Osbert and Turkil. 



