NAMES. PROPER. 



NAMES, PROPER. 



remarkable class, who (till exist in no Terr small number, who have 

 mk* of the old Saxon appellative* in the place of the surname, such 

 as TkanU, Sttaine, Aldred, Thonnyhffood (Turgot), tiodvin, and the 

 like. 



But we find in Domesday Book that several of the Normans and 

 other people from the Continent, who became lettled in England at 

 the Conquert, and soon after that event, are distinguished by name* of 

 addition, which are not merely penonal, but name* which wen borne 

 by thenuelve* and their posterity after them. Such are Darcy, A rundel, 

 Drrernx, Balliol, Iinrun, lad, Perci, and others, people just below the 

 rank of the comite*, and who, gaining great possessions and frreat 

 power, were afterward* very conspicuous in English history. These 

 are the persona, we conceive, who first set the example of the practice 

 which has since beome all but universal among us. 



The disposition which always more or leu exists to imitate what is 

 done by a superior, is probably the principle to which we are to refer 

 the change in this point which we find to have token place by the 

 middle of the 14th century. , 



By that time the present system may be laid to have been pretty 

 generally MrtaHisliH in all the well -settled portions of the island. The 

 statute of additions of the 1st Henry V., by requiring that the name 

 and description of the party should be exactly set forth in any writ or 

 indenture, would do something to consolidate the system ; and when it 

 was required that in all parishes a register should be kept of b.i 

 marriage*, and burial*, which was one of the acts of the Reformers, 

 there waa a new check presented to any attempt* at relaxation in the 

 practice. 



But even at the beginning of the 1 5th century there was much that 

 was unsettled in the personal nomenclature of England, even in families 

 to whom pertained portion* of the soil. Thus in 1 406 a person describes 

 himself a* WHlielmat flint Ada Kmrnotton, who in 1416 is WilMmut 

 Emmotson ; and more remarkably about the same time, a person who 

 i* described a* Jukannet flint Willi,lnii jilii Johanna de Jlunthelf 

 appears soon after a* Johanna Wilfm. About the same time we had 

 n'ltlitlmiti Johnson Wilkintou, Willielmut Adamion Sfagotmn, and 

 Tk'jmat i/enion Stayol, showing the present system then in its rudi- 

 ment*. 



As the system at present existing made its way by degrees, and with 

 much of casualty, so there seems to have been much also of accident in 

 reepect of the name of addition which marked the distinction of the 

 stirpes. There are some of the surnames in common use among us for 

 the adoption of which it U difficult now to assign any satisfactory 

 reason. This is partly to be attributed to the corruption which many 

 name* have undergone, and partly to the strange additions which we 

 find in the place of surnames in early document* of undoubted authen- 

 ticity. One of these is Adam- that God made, whose addition, if he 

 lived at the period when hi* race first began to conform themselves to 

 the system, would appear now in some form which would probably 

 foil the sagacity of the most skilful inquirer. Sometimes there is a 

 difficulty arising out of a wrong apprehension of the origin. Thus we 

 have the name* Spring, Summer, Winter; there is no Autumn. It is 

 difficult to conceive how the name* of the seasons should become the 

 name* of familie* ; but in fact it U not so, Spring being a word denoting 

 a small grove of tree*, so that the name classes with Wood, Holt, and 

 other* concerning which there i* no difficulty; while Summer and 

 Winter are $* mourner and Vintner, name* derived from occupations. 



But the great mass of our surnames may be easily explained. We 

 cannot enter here at Urge into the subject ; but it may be useful to 

 those who an inclined to prosecute it, to say that nearly the whole of 

 them may be referred to one of the five following nlmn* : 



1. Foreign name* brought in by settlers from other countries, 

 including the Scotch and Irish name*. These designate a very large 

 section of the whole population ; and there i* a constant accession 

 being made to them by the tide of population letting towards England. 

 Very few of the name* of this class introduced in the early periods 

 remain : the great majority being of familie* who have become settled 

 in KngJMiil in the course of the last century and a half. 



2. Name* of locality. These are divisible into two great portion* : 

 those which are derived from place* of generic name* only, such a* 

 //.//, Half, Cliff, Slack, Combe, Grow, Shaw, Frith, and many other*, 

 mostly monosyllabic, which would originally appear a* John de In II, i', 

 Ac ; and those which are derived from some specific place, a* Alherton, 

 Burton, Ittntrf, and thousands of others, there being scarcely a town, 

 village, or hamlet which ha* not given it* name to come English 

 family. 



3. Name* of occupation. Of thi* class the number is very great. 

 We have Brewer, Barber, Smith, Mason, in short every trade and 

 every other occupation in which men engage. Lo*t trade* or trade* 

 which have changed their name* are preserved in the name* of families 

 whoa* attestor was engaged in them at the time when his family fell 

 into the system. Thu* we have Fleieher, (lirrffT, Farbitker, String- 

 frllor. Litter. WaUtrr, Paryilrr, Webber, Taremer, and the like. We 

 have also Palliter. lander, Potter, Palfreyma*, Page, Woodruffe, Rent, 

 Homier, which were evidently at the beginning name* of occupation. 

 It i* difficult to account fur such name* a* Hiiknp, Baron, Earl, Lard, 

 



4. A large portion of our penonal nomenclature is made up of 



wo which are formed upon thow which we call Christian natu 



Nearly all the** appeared originally in the form of Filiiu, 4c., a* John 

 son of William. This mode of designation has taken various form*. 

 Thu* on this name of William, there are founded Willianu, Williamson, 

 With, Wiltm, Wiltt, WMint, n'ilkintan. Will it, WiUuon, Bill, Biiton, 

 WilUl, W.llimot, WiUmot, Till, Tilly, TiUot, Tilson, Tillotton, 

 each of which, if written by a scribe of the middle ages in Latin, 

 would be expressed by the same phrase Filiui HV/iWmi. Other name* 

 have an equally numerous progeny. To thi* class may be referred 

 /Ml and Ittton which are Pitiut Judei ; Clarlaon, Gookson, \\'ri<iktrm, 

 which are name* formed not indeed on the name, but the profession of 

 the parent*. 



It would however be to extend thi* article to an inordinate length, 

 even to touch upon the subordinate classes to the five great claase*. 



5. The fifth and last is that of names which indicate something 

 peculiar in the penonal appearance or mental qualities of the person to 

 whom they are first given. Such art) Swift, Lang, White, Blatk, 

 Crump, Route, Wiie, Hood, to. 



The nama of the ancient Saxon population of England were nearly 

 all descriptive of some quality of mind or body. Thus Edward U 

 truth-keeper; Winfred, win-peace ; Alfred, all-peace; Kdmund, truth- 

 mouth; Ailwia, of all beloved; I'lf, wolf. Hut a great change took 

 place soon after the Conquest. We see in the names of the Norman* 

 who became settled in England many which continued for age* 

 favourite names of the English nation ; Roger, U . llui,i,.hr<n, 



Jeffrey, Gilbert. To them also we owe the introduction amongst us 

 of names of religion. If these names existed at all in England before 

 the Conquest, they were exceedingly rare. In the catalogues of Saxon 

 bishops, not one occur*. Even amongst the first race of Normans they 

 did not abound. We find Adam, J Peter, Mat- 



thew, and perhaps a few other*. But in the century and a half after 

 that event, names of this class began to prevail in a great degree. It 

 was a period of extraordinary Christian devotion : the exertions in 

 founding monasteries, building churches, and maint lining the war 

 against the infidels show it. In this state of the public mind the new 

 system of taking names of religion spread and strengthened. The 

 names of religion were almost wholly from the Old and New Testa- 

 ment, a few only being taken from the name* of persons who have been 

 eminent in later times for their Christian virtue*. 



Since then little change has taken place. A few name* once common 

 have lost their popularity ; a few others have been introduced. There 

 have been periods when names somewhat fantastic have hod a 

 popularity ; such as the names of the virtues, as Patimre, Truth, 

 Prudence, faith, by which women have been named; Thankful, Fniih- 

 ful, Sabbath, and others more extraordinary, have been given to men. 

 Some went for a time into another extreme, and we had Hannibal, 

 Scipio, C<ttar, Hercules. 



We have however not been sufficiently attentive to the importance 

 of keeping up a stock of what we coll Christian names. Our popula- 

 tion has increased to a very great extent, while our surnames have 

 rather diminished than the contrary. We should therefore, if we 

 wish that name* should be what they are intended to be, \niumina, 

 increase the number of those names out of which we have the power 

 ourselves of selection. As it is, with a population of SO millions, 

 we have but 53 names of men which can be used without gome appear- 

 ance of singularity. Of these 12 are in more frequent use than the 

 rests- 



John 

 1 | I 



William 

 Fnncl* 



Henry 



i :i a .' 



George James 



Robert 



tai Ml 



Of these, 4 are names of religion ; 4 are names introduced at the 

 Conquest ; 8 names introduced at a later period from the nomenclature 

 of other countries ; 1 is pure Saxon. Of the 41 names of secondary 

 frequency, 28 are names of religion ; so that of the 53 names of men in 

 ordinary use, 32 are names of religion, or considerably more than 

 one-half, and they are all taken from the Scriptures. 



Again, looking at the 53 names in respect of the languages from 

 which they are derived, it appears that 



25 are of Hebrew origin, 



1 II from the varloua dialects of Wot tern Europe, 



9 from the Greek, and 



4 from (he Latin. 



There are a multitude of names, once in use in England, which 

 might easily be revived, and it would be a matter of some public con- 

 venience to do so. Few persons have not found inconvenience In 

 some form or other from the wont of sufficient distinctness in the 

 name he bear*. Thus a little time ago there were two antiquarian 

 Chalmers' ; two Parkes upon the bench ; two Whitakcrs, both clergy- 

 men, and both writers on Lancashire topography : some time ago 

 there were two Dr. John Thomas'*, both chaplains to the king, and 

 both buhops ; and two l)r. Orays, both divines, both writers in their 

 own profession, both connected with historic literature and poetry, and 

 both engaged in controvenrie* with Worburton. Thi* occasion* 

 confusion. To change a surname is a difficult and expensive process ; 

 the cheapest and simplest remedy is to give a name at baptism which 

 will be marked and remembered, a* Batil ////. Of m-glected names 

 there are, Avitin, Allan, Aubrey, Arnold, Baldwin, Blate, Barnard, 



