NAMKS 



NAMUR 



In l.'iMi. when Bishop Hatfield made his survey 

 of the same manors, (lie old English names had 

 disappeared. Xo !<>> tlian 40 per ci-m. of llic men 

 are named John, followed by William with ~ per 

 cent, while, if we mid Itobert and Thomas HO per 

 i-.-ni. of all the men's names are accounted tor. 

 In i ! West Killing poll Ixiok of 1370 John also 

 beads the lUt, and more than half the men are called 

 either John, Willi.-uu, Thomas, or Hichard. In the 

 l.'Hh century William is the commonest name, in 

 tlio 14th and following centuries John is first, 

 with William second, till after the Involution of 

 li.^s William resumed, and has ever since retained 

 the first place. This popularity of John, a name 

 hardly to ne found in Domesday, is lelicved to l>e 

 due to the supposed suitability in baptism of the 

 IV-ipti.-t".-. name. So Jordan was a name commonly 

 given to children who were baptised in water which 

 had been brought fmm the Jordan hy pilgrims or 

 crusaders. The prevalence of William is due to 

 William the Conqueror, of Robert to sympathy 

 with the misfortunes of his son. Thomas came in 

 with the murder of the great archbishop; the cru- 

 sading exploits and the imprisonment of Richard I. 

 made the name popular, while to the adventures of 

 the paladins we owe Roland, Roger, and Reginald. 

 In the 14th century Charles, James, and George 

 are almost unknown, and even Henry is unusual. 

 Charles only became popular after the execution 

 of Charles I., and George came in with the Hano- 

 verian dynasty. In the 14th century Mary, Sarah, 

 and Ann, now so common, are scarcely to be found, 

 and Kli/.ahet!i usually appears in the form of 

 Isalxdla, One third of tne women are named 

 either Agnes or Alice. If to these we add Joan, 

 Margaret, Isal>ella, Cecilia, and Matilda, 75 per 

 cent, of the women are accounted for. The great 

 vogue of Agnes and Alice is explained by popular 

 metrical legends. In the time of Charles I. Agnes 

 has descended from the first phice to the tenth, and 

 Alice from the second to the sixth. Ann and 

 ElizaV'th now head the list, followed by Jane, 

 Margaret, Mary, Alice, Isabel, Dorothy, and Ellen, 

 in the <>nler named, while Sarah is seventeenth. It 

 may lie noted that it was not till after the Restora- 

 tion that two baptismal names were given to the 

 same jwrson. 



Surnames were of very gradual introduction. In 

 the case of Ethelrecl the llnready, Edmund Ironside, 

 or Harold liluetooth, we have not surnames, but 

 mere nicknames, which did not descend to the 

 children. Hereditary surnames make their appear- 

 ance in the 12th century, in the 14th they are 

 usual rather than exceptional, and even now in the 

 mining districts of England and in some parts of 

 Wales they are not universally used. It is easy to 

 detect the process hy which surnames were intro- 

 duced. Thus, at the end of the 14th century we 

 have Richard Johnson, son of John Richardson, 

 when' Johnson and Richar Ison are plainly descrip- 

 tions or designations, hut not true surnames. In 

 the next generation Johnson would become the sur- 

 name. In the same century we find families whose 

 members are designated as John Smyth, son of 

 Thomas Wiight, Agnes Smythwyf, and Alice 

 Sinythdogliter. We may detect the origin of 

 such residential surnames as Wood, Green, Lane, 

 Townshend, Yates, and Wells in the descriptive 

 entries John at the Wode, William by the Green, 

 Alice in the Lane, Agnes at the Townend, Richard 

 by the Kirkgate, Thomas attc the Welle. Other 

 names, chiefly those of tradesmen and artisans, 

 indicate rwent migration, such as John of Don- 

 caster, or William of York, while among the 

 franklins and esquires we find territorial sur- 

 names such as John dc Cawood of Cawood. 

 In addition to these residential and territorial 

 BUI names, patronymics, such as Jones, Johnson, 



and Jenkins, are innumerable. There are also 

 nicknames like White. Hogg, and Goodfcllow, 

 which have baeoOM hereditai y ; surnames of ollice, 

 such as William le Mayor and Koliert le Kalcnner ; 

 and a very large cla.-s of name- of ornipation. 

 Thus, the surnames Lister, Walker, Dyer. Fuller, 

 Tozer, Tucker, and Webster all refer to the manu- 

 facture of cloth ; Skinner, Barker, Larimer, and 

 Sadler to that of leather. 



The oldest Celtic names resemble the Teutonic 

 names in their construetion. Tims IMimnorix may 

 be translated 'the world king:' Toutorix, Mho 

 tribe king;' VergobreUw, 'the excellent jini. 

 Cunolielinus (Cymlicline), Mhe war chief ; Boodi- 

 cea, ' the victorious.' At a later time we get 

 names of another description, such as Ruadhri 

 ( Anglicised Rory), 'the red;' Muidhe (Anglicised 

 IJoyd), Mhe yellow;' C'umara, 'the sea-Tiound ' 

 (whence MacNamara); Scolaidhe, now Scully, 

 'the reciter' or 'story-teller ;' lihaird, now Baird, 

 Mhe bard;' Taidhg, now Teague and Tighe, 'the 

 poet;' and Liagh, now Legge, 'the physician' 

 or 'leech.' With the introduction of Christi- 

 anity we get names of another class, as Taggart 

 (a corruption of saccrdot), 'the priest*' Ron 

 at 'ml. 'a tonsured servant," we have such names 

 as Mahme, Malony, and Mulready. Malcolm 

 means 'the tonsured servant of St Columba." 

 From rjiolla ( Anglicised as gillie ), ' a youth ' or 

 'servant,' we obtain Kelly, 'the sen ant ;' Gil- 

 ehrist, 'the servant of Christ;' Gille.spie, 'the 

 servant of the bishop;' Gilfil, 'the servant of St 

 Paul ;' Gilbride, Mhe servant of St Bridget ;' Gil- 

 roy, Mhe reel haired servant.' Maq or Mac, 'son,' 

 which in Welsh IM'COIIICS Map and Ap, has given 

 rise to a host of patronymic surnames. Maclean 

 is Mac-giolla Kan, ' the son of the servant of 

 John." Mackav, Magee, and Kay are corrup- 

 tions of MacAcdha ; Kcgan is MacKgan, i.'uain is 

 Marian (Johnson), Kew is MacIIngh, Keary and 

 Carey are MacCiardha, l^nin is Mac) 'oinn. t^uirk 

 is MacCorc, Kane and ('aim; are MarCathain, 

 Cleg is MacLeagh, Cay ley is MaeCaolaidhe, and 

 Macpherson means Mhe son of the parson.' So in 

 Wales Price and Itryce are Ap Kliys, Powell is Ap 

 llowel, Pngh is Ap Hugh, Parry and Marry are Ap 

 Harry, Bowen is Ap Owen, and Mevan is Ap Evan 

 (Johnson). The Irish UK. 'grand>on ' or descend- 

 ant,' which has become ( )'. has also given rise to in- 

 numerable patronymic surnames, but is not found 

 in Scotland or the Isle of Man. 



It may be mentioned that in England any one 

 may take another surname or as many surnames 

 as he pleases without either an act of parliament or 

 royal license. 



The literature of the subject is very extensive, but for 

 the most part is either obsolete or uncritical. Three 

 painstaking monographs, Forstemann's Altdeutxckct 

 Numcnbuch, Joyce's Origin and History of Irish Name* 

 of Placet, and Moore's Surname* and J'tace-namts of the 

 lilt of Man, may be almost unreservedly commended. 

 The Etfnu>logiieaffteOTafM>cia Liriron of Dr Kgli is 

 f,.irly comprehensive, dealing with more than 17,000 

 names, and, though not invariably accurate, is a useful 

 book of re crence. Dr Taylor's Word* and Placet and 

 Mr Bardsley's Kngluh Surnames are less technical, and 

 cover a wide Beld. Lower's PaiV> < - -. >"i liritanniea, 

 Cocheris' Les Horn* dc Lieu, Buttmann's Die Dent- 

 sflien Orttnamen, Miss Yonge'g Hintory of Christian 

 Names, Miss lilaikie's Dictionary of Place-namei, and 

 two books by Mr Ferguson, Surnames a* a Science and 

 The Teutonic Name System, may also be consulted, 

 always with caution, though usually with advantage. 



\aisnir (Flem. Namen), a city of Belgium, at 

 the confluence of the Sambre with the Mouse, 35 



miles by rail SE. of Brussels. With the exception 

 of the picturesque citadel (1784), the old fortifica- 

 tions have been razed since 1866, their place being- 

 taken by a cordon of seven forts. The town iti 



