Chapter 4

"Crispehere, shynynge as gold so fyn"(D. 304);

"Crispehere, shynynge as gold so fyn"

(D. 304);

and of Fame we are told that

"Her heer was oundie (wavy) andcrips."(HouseofFame, iii. 296.)

"Her heer was oundie (wavy) andcrips."

(HouseofFame, iii. 296.)

Both names may also be short for Crispin, the etymology being the same in any case. Apps is sometimes forasp, the tree now called by the adjectival name aspen (cf. linden). We find Thomasatteapsein the reign of Edward III.

The lettersl,n,ralso tend to disappear from no other cause than rapid or careless pronunciation.

Hence we getHomeforHolme(Chapter XII),FerrisforFerrers, a French local name,Battfor Bartholomew,Gattyfor Gertrude,Dallisonford'Alençon. The loss of -r- after a vowel is also exemplified byFosterforForster,PannellandPennellforParnell(sometimes),GathforGarth(Chapter XIII), andMashforMarsh. To the loss ofnbeforeswe owe such names asPattison,Paterson,etc., son ofPaton, the dim. of Patrick, andRobisonfor Robinson, and also a whole group of names likeJenksandJinksforJenkins(John),WilkesforWilkins,Gilkes,Danks,Perks,Hawkes,JukesforJudkins(Chapter VI), etc. Here I should also includeBiggs, which is not always connected withBigg, for we seldom find adjectival nicknames with -s. It seems to representBiggins, from obsoletebiggin, a building (Chapter XIII).

The French nasalnoften disappeared beforer. Thusdenrée, lit. a pennyworth, appears in Anglo-French asdarree. SimilarlyHenrybecameHarry, except in Scotland, and the English Kings of that name were always called Harry by their subjects. It is to this pronunciation that we owe the popularity ofHarrisandHarrison, and the frequency of WelshParry, ap, Harry, as compared withPenry. A compromise between Henry and Harry is seen inHanrott, from the French dim. Henriot.

The initialh-, which we regard with such veneration, is treated quite arbitrarily in surnames. We find a well-known medieval poet called indifferentlyOccleveandHoccleve.Harnettis the same asArnett, for Arnold,EwensandHeavensare both fromEwan, andHeavenis an imitative form ofEvan. InHoskins, from the medieval Osekin, a dim. of some Anglo-Saxon name such as Oswald (Chapter VII), the aspirate has definitely prevailed. The Devonshire nameHexter isfor Exeter,Arbuckleis a corruption of Harbottle, in Northumberland. The Old French name Ancel appears as bothAnsellandHansell, andEarnshawexists side by side withHearnshaw(Chapter XII).

The loss ofhis especially common when it is the initial letter of a suffix, e.g.Barnumfor Barnham,Haslam, (hazel),Blenkinsopfor Blenkin's hope (see hope, Chapter XII),Newallfor Newhall,Windlefor Wind Hill,Tickellfor Tick Hill, in Yorkshire, etc. ButBarnumandHaslammayalso represent the Anglo-Saxon dative plural of the words barn and hazel. A man who minded sheep was once called aShepard, orSheppard, as he still is, though we spell itshepherd. The letterwdisappears in the same way; thusGreenishis for Greenwich,Horridgefor Horwich,Aspinallfor Aspinwall,MillardforMillward, the mill-keeper,Boxallfor Boxwell,CaudleforCauldwell(cold); and the Anglo-Saxon names in -winare often confused with those in -ing, e.g.Gooding,Goodwin;Golding,Goldwin;Gunning,Gunwin, etc. In this wayHardinghas prevailed over the once equally commonHardwin.

BABY PHONETICS

Finally, we have to consider what may be called baby phonetics, the sound-changes which seem rather to transgress general phonetic laws. Young children habitually confuse dentals and palatals, thus a child may be heard to say that he has "dot a told." This tendency is, however, not confined to children. My own name, which is a very uncommon one, is a stumbling-block to most people, and when I give it in a shop the scribe has generally got as far asWheat- before he can be stopped.

We find bothEstillandAskellfor the medieval Asketil, andThurtlealternating withThurkle, originally Thurketil (Chapter VII).Bertenshaveis found forBirkenshaw, birch wood,Bartley, sometimes from Bartholomew, is more often for Berkeley, and both Lord Bacon and Horace Walpole wrote Twitnam for Twickenham.Jeffcock, dim. of Geoffrey, becomesJeffcott, whileGlascockis for the localGlascott. Here the palatal takes the place of the dental, as inBrangwinfor Anglo-Sax. Brandwine.Middlemanis a dialect form of Michaelmas (Chapter IX). We have the same change intiddlebatforstickleback, a word which exemplifies another point in baby phonetics, viz. the loss of initials-, as in the classic instancetummy. To this loss ofs- we owePickforSpick(Chapter XXIII),PinkforSpink, a dialect word for the chaffinch, and, I think,ToutforStout. The nameStaceyis found asTaceyin old Notts registers. On the other hand, an inorganics- is sometimes prefixed, as inSturgessfor the older Turgis. For the loss ofs- we may compare Shakespeare'sparmaceti(1 HenryIV.i. 3), and for its addition the adjectivespruce, from Pruce,i.e. Prussia.

We also find the infantile confusion betweenthandfe.g. inSelfe, which appears to represent a personal name Seleth, probably from Anglo-Sax,saelth, bliss. Perhaps also in Fripp for Thripp, a variant ofThrupp, forThorp.Bickerstaffeis the name of a place in Lancashire, of which the older form appears inBickersteth, and the local nameThrogmortonis spelt by Camden Frogmorton, just as Pepys invariably writes Queenhive for Queenhythe.

Such are some of the commoner phenomena to be noticed in connection with the spelling and sound of our names. The student must always bear in mind that our surnames date from a period when nearly the whole population was uneducated. Their modern forms depend on all sorts of circumstances, such as local dialect, time of adoption, successive fashions in pronunciation and the taste and fancy of the speller. They form part of our language, that is, of a living and ever-changing organism. Some of us are old enough to remember the confusion between initialvandwwhich prompted the judge's question to Mr. Weller. The vulgarifora, as in "tikethekike,"has been evolved within comparatively recent times, as well as the loss of final -g,"shootinandhuntin,"in sporting circles. In the wordwarmint—

"What were you brought up to be?""Awarmint, dear boy"(GreatExpectations, ch. xl.),

"What were you brought up to be?""Awarmint, dear boy"

(GreatExpectations, ch. xl.),

we have three phonetic phenomena, all of which have influenced the form and sound of modern surnames, e.g. inWinter, sometimes forVinter,i.e. vintner,ClarkforClerk, andBryantforBryan;and similar changes have been in progress all through the history of our language.

In conclusion it may be remarked that the personal and accidental element, which has so much to do with the development of surnames, releases this branch of philology to some extent from the iron rule of the phonetician. Of this the preceding pages give examples. The name, not being subject as other words are to a normalizing influence, is easily affected by the traditional or accidental spelling. OtherwiseFrywould be pronouncedFree. Theois short inRobinand long inProbyn, and yet the names are the same (Chapter VI).SloperandSmokermean a maker of slops and smocks respectively, andSmaleis an archaic spelling ofSmall, the modern vowel being in each case lengthened by the retention of an archaic spelling. The late Professor Skeat rejects Bardsley's identification ofWaringwith Old Fr. Garin or Warin, because the original vowel and the suffix are both different. ButMainwaring, which is undoubtedly frommesnil-Warin(Chapter XIV), shows Bardsley to be right.

CHAPTER IVBROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON

"Talbotsand Stanleys, St. Maurs and such-like folk, have led armies and made laws time out of mind; but those noblefamilies would be somewhat astonished—if the accounts ever came to be fairly taken—to find how small theirwork for England has been by the side of that of theBrowns."(TomBrown'sSchooldays, ch. i.)

Brown, Jones,andRobinsonhave usurped in popular speech positions properly belonging toSmith, JonesandWilliams. But the high position ofJonesandWilliamsis due to the Welsh, who, replacing a string ofApsby a simple genitive at a comparatively recent date, have given undue prominence to a few very common names; cf.Davies, Evans, etc. If we consider only purely English names, the triumvirate would beSmith, Taylor, andBrown. Thus, of our three commonest names, the first two are occupative and the third is a nickname. French has no regular equivalent, thoughDupontandDurandare sometimes used in this way —

"Si Chateaubriand avait eu nomDurandouDupont, qui sait si sonGénieduChristianismen'eût point passépour une capucinade?"(F. Brunetiére.)

"Si Chateaubriand avait eu nomDurandouDupont, qui sait si sonGénieduChristianismen'eût point passépour une capucinade?"

(F. Brunetiére.)

The Germans speak ofMüller,MeyerandSchulze, all rural names, and it is perhaps characteristic that two of them are official.Meyeris an early loan from Lat.major, and appears to have originally meant something like overseer. Later on it acquired the meaning of farmer, in its proper sense of one who farms,i.e. manages on a profit-sharing system, the property of another. It is etymologically the same as ourMayor,Mair, etc.Schulze, a village magistrate, is cognate with Ger.Schuld, debt, and our verbshall.

OCCUPATIVE NAMES

Taking the different classes of surnames separately, the six commonest occupative names areSmith,Taylor,Clark,Wright,Walker,Turner. If we excludeClark, as being more often a nickname for the man who could read and write, the sixth will beCooper, sometimes speltCowper.

The commanding position ofSmithis due to the fact that it was applied to all workers in every kind of metal. The modern Smiths no doubt include descendants of medieval blacksmiths, whitesmiths, bladesmiths, locksmiths, and many others, but the compounds are not common as surnames. We find, however,Shoosmith,Shearsmith, andNasmyth, the last being more probably for earlier Knysmith,i.e. knife-smith, than for nail-smith, which was supplanted byNaylor.GrossmithIguess to be an accommodated form of the Ger.Grobschmied, blacksmith, lit. rough smith, andGoldsmithis very often a Jewish name for Ger.Goldschmid.

Wright, obsolete perhaps as a trade name, has given many compounds, includingArkwright, a maker of bins, orarksas they were once called,Tellwright, a tile maker, and many others which need no interpretation. The high position ofTayloris curious, for there were other names for the trade, such asSeamen,Shapster,Parmenter(Chapter XVIII), and neitherTailleurnorLetailleurare particularly common in French. The explanation is that this name has absorbed the medievalTelerandTeller, weaver, ultimately belonging to Lat.tela, a web; — cf. the very common Fr.TellierandLetellier. In some cases also the Mid. Eng.teygheler,Tyler, has been swallowed up.Walker,i.e. trampler, meant a cloth fuller, but another origin has helped to swell the numbers of the clan—

"Walkersare such as are otherwise called foresters. They are foresters assigned by the King, who are walkers within a certain space of ground assigned to their care" (Cowel's Interpreter).

Cooper, a derivative of Lat.cupaorcuppa, a vessel, is cognate with the famous French nameCuvier, which has given ourCover, though this may also be for coverer,i.e.tiler (Chapter XV).

Of occupative names which have also an official meaning, the three commonest areWard,Bailey, andMarshall.Ward, originally abstract, is the same word as Fr.garde.Bailey, Old Fr.bailif(bailli), ranges from a Scottish magistrate to a man in possession. It is related tobailand tobailey, a ward in a fortress, as in Old Bailey.Baylissmay come from the Old French nominativebailis(Chapter I), or may be formed likeParsons, etc. (Chapter XV).Marshall(Chapter XX) may stand for a great commander or a shoeing-smith, still called farrier-marshal in the army. The first syllable is cognate withmareand the second means servant.Constable, Lat.comesstabuli, stableman, has a similar history.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF NAMES

The commonest local names naturally include none taken from particular places. The three commonest areHall,WoodandGreen, from residence by the great house, the wood, and the village green. Cf. the French namesLasalle,Dubois,Dupré.Hallissometimes forHale(Chapter II), and its Old French translation is one source ofSale. Next to these comeHill,Moore, andShaw(Chapter XII); butLeewould probably come among the first if all its variants were taken into account (Chapter III).

Of baptismal names used unaltered as surnames the six commonest areThomas,Lewis,Martin,James,Morris,Morgan. Here again the Welsh element is strong, and four of these names, ending in -s, belong also to the next group,i.e. the class of surnames formed from the genitive of baptismal names. The frequent occurrence ofLewisis partly due to its being adopted as a kind of translation of the Welsh Llewellyn, but the name is often a disguised Jewish Levi, and has nearly absorbed the localLewes. Next to the above comeAllen,Bennett,Mitchell, all of French introduction.Mitchellmay have been reinforced byMickle, the northern forBigg. It is curious that these particularly common names,Martin,Allen,Bennett(Benedict),Mitchell(Michael), have formed comparatively few derivatives and are generally found in their unaltered form. Three of them are from famous saints' names, whileAllen, a Breton name which came in with the Conquest, has probably absorbed to some extent the Anglo-Saxon nameAlwin(Chapter VII).Martinis in some cases an animal nickname, themarten. Among the genitivesJones,Williams, andDavi(e)slead easily, followed byEvans,Roberts, andHughes, all Welsh in the main. Among the twelve commonest names of this class those that are not preponderantly Welsh areRoberts,Edwards,Harris,Phillips, andRogers. Another Welsh patronymic,Price(Chapter VI), is among the fifty commonest English names.

The classification of names in -sonraises the difficult question as to whetherJackrepresents Fr.Jacques, or whether it comes fromJankin,Jenkin, dim. of John.[Footnote:See E. B. Nicholson,ThePedigreeofJack.]

TakingJohnsonandJacksonas separate names, we get the orderJohnson,Robinson,Wilson,Thompson,Jackson,Harrison. The variants ofThompsonmight put it a place or two higher. Names in -kins(Distribution of names, Chapter IV), though very numerous in some regions, are not so common as those in the above classes. It would be hard to say which English font-name has given the largest number of family names. In Chapter V. will be found some idea of the bewildering and multitudinous forms they assume. It has been calculated, I need hardly say by a German professor, that the possible number of derivatives from one given name is 6, 000, but fortunately most of the seeds are abortive.

Of nicknamesBrown,Clark, andWhiteare by far the commonest. Then comesKing, followed by the two adjectival nicknamesSharpandYoung.

The growth of towns and facility of communication are now bringing about such a general movement that most regions would acceptBrown,JonesandRobinsonas fairly typical names. But this was not always so.Brownis still much commoner in the north than in the south, and at one time the northernJohnsonandRobinsoncontrasted with the southernJonesandRoberts, the latter being of comparatively modern origin in Wales (Chapter IV). Even now, if we take the farmer class, our nomenclature is largely regional, and the directories even of our great manufacturing towns represent to a great extent the medieval population of the rural district around them.[Footnote:SeeGuppy,HomesofFamilyNames.] The namesDaftandTurney, well known in Nottingham, appear in the county in the Hundred Rolls.Cheetham, the name of a place now absorbed in Manchester, is as a surname ten times more numerous there than in London, and the same is true of many characteristic north-country names, such as theBarraclough,Murgatroyd, andSugdenof Charlotte Brontë'sShirley. The transference ofMurgatroyd(Chapter XII) to Cornwall, in Gilbert and Sullivan'sRuddigore, must have been part of the intentional topsy-turvydom in which those two bright spirits delighted.

Diminutives in -kin, from the Old Dutch suffix -ken, are still found in greatest number on the east coast that faces Holland, or in Wales, where they were introduced by the Flemish weavers who settled in Pembrokeshire in the reign of Henry I. It is in the border counties, Cheshire, Shropshire, Hereford, and Monmouth, that we find the old Welsh names such asGough,Lloyd,Onion(Enion),Vaughan(Chapter XXII). The local Gape, an opening in the cliffs, is pretty well confined to Norfolk, andPuddifootbelongs to Bucks and the adjacent counties as it did in 1273. The hall changes hands as one conquering race succeeds another—

"Where is Bohun? Where is de Vere? The lawyer, the farmer, the silk mercer, liesperduunder the coronet, and winks to the antiquary to say nothing" (Emerson,EnglishTraits),

but the hut keeps its ancient inhabitants. The descendant of the Anglo-Saxon serf who cringed to Front de Boeuf now makes way respectfully for Isaac of York's motor, perhaps on the very spot where his own fierce ancestor first exchanged the sword for the ploughshare long before Alfred's day.

CHAPTER VTHE ABSORPTION OF FOREIGN NAMES

"I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandize, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual corruption of words in English, we are now called—nay, we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe"(RobinsonCrusoe, ch. i.).

Any student of our family nomenclature must be struck by the fact that the number of foreign names now recognizable in England is out of all proportion to the immense number which must have been introduced at various periods of our history. Even the expert, who is often able to detect the foreign name in its apparently English garb, cannot rectify this disproportion for us. The number of names of which the present form can be traced back to a foreign origin is inconsiderable when compared with the much larger number assimilated and absorbed by the Anglo-Saxon.

THE HUGUENOTS

The great mass of those names of French or Flemish origin which do not date back to the Conquest or to medieval times are due to the immigration of Protestant refugees in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is true that many names for which Huguenot ancestry is claimed were known in England long before the Reformation. Thus,Bulteelisthe name of a refugee family which came from Tournay about the year 1600, but the same name is found in the Hundred Rolls Of 1273. TheGrubbefamily, according to Burke, came from Germany about 1450, after the Hussite persecution; but we find the name in England two centuries earlier, "without the assistance of a foreign persecution to make it respectable" (Bardsley,DictionaryofEnglishSurnames). TheMinetfamily is known to be of Huguenot origin, but the same name also figures in the medieval Rolls. The fact is that there was all through the Middle Ages a steady immigration of foreigners, whether artisans, tradesmen, or adventurers, some of whose names naturally reappear among the Huguenots. On several occasions large bodies of Continental workmen, skilled in special trades, were brought into the country by the wise policy of the Government. Like the Huguenots later on, they were protected by the State and persecuted by the populace, who resented their habits of industry and sobriety.

During the whole period of the religious troubles in France and Flanders, starting from the middle of the sixteenth century, refugees were reaching this country in a steady stream; but after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) they arrived in thousands, and the task of providing for them and helping on their absorption into the population became a serious problem. Among the better class of these immigrants was to be found the flower of French intellect and enterprise, and one has only to look through an Army or Navy list, or to notice the names which are prominent in the Church, at the Bar, and in the higher walks of industry and commerce, to realize the madness of Louis XIV. and the wisdom of the English Government.

Here are a few taken at random from Smiles'sHistoryoftheHuguenots—Bosanquet,Casaubon,ChenevixTrench,ChampiondeCrespigny,Dalbiac,Delane,Dollond,Durand,Fonblanque,Gambier,Garrick,Layard,Lefanu,Lefroy,Ligonier,Luard,Martineau,Palairet,Perowne,Plimsoll,Riou,Romilly—allrespectable and many distinguished, even cricket being represented. These more educated foreigners usually kept their names, sometimes with slight modifications which do not make them unrecognizable. Thus,Bouverie, literally "ox-farm," is generally found in its unaltered form, though theLondonDirectoryhas also examples of the pervertedBuffery. But the majority of the immigrants were of the artisan class and illiterate. This explains the extraordinary disappearance, in the course of two centuries, of the thousands of French names which were introduced between 1550 and 1700.

We have many official lists of these foreigners, and in these lists we catch the foreign name in the very act of transforming itself into English. This happens sometimes by translation, e.g.PoulainbecameColt,Poissonwas reincarnated asFish, and a refugee bearing the somewhat uncommon namePetitoeiltransformed himself intoLittle-eye, which became inafew generationsLidley. But comparatively few surnames were susceptible of such simple treatment, and in the great majority of cases the name underwent a more or less arbitrary perversion which gave it a more English physiognomy. Especially interesting from this pointofview is the list of— "Straungers residing and dwellinge within the city of London and the liberties thereof," drawn up in 1618. The names were probably taken down by the officials of the different wards,who, differing themselves in intelligence and orthography, produced very curious results.

As a rule the Christian name is translated, while the surname is either assimilated to some English form or perverted according to the taste and fancy of the individual constable. Thus,JohnGarret, a Dutchman, is probablyJanGerard, andJamesFlower, a milliner, born in Rouen, is certainlyJaquesFleur, orLafleur.JohndeCaneandPeterleCaneareJeanDuquesneandPierreLequesne(Normanquêne, oak), though the former may also have come fromCaen.JohnBuck, from Rouen, isJeanBouc, andAbrahamBushell, from Rochelle, was probably aRousselorBoissel.JamesKingandJohnHill, both Dutchmen, are obvious translations of common Dutch names, whileHenryPowell, a German, isHeinrichPaul.MaryPeacock, from Dunkirk, andJohnBonner, a Frenchman, I take to beMariePicotandJeanBonheur, whileNicholasBellowis surelyNicolasBelleau.MichaelLeman, born in Brussels, may be FrenchLemanorLemoine, or perhaps GermanLehmann.

To each alien's name is appended that of the monarch whose subject he calls himself, but a republic is outside the experience of one constable, who leaves an interrogative blank afterCristoferSwitcher, born atSwerick(Zürich) inSwitcherland. The surname so ingeniously created appears to have left no pedagogic descendants. In some cases the harassed Bumble has lost patience, and substituted a plain English name for foreign absurdity. To the brain which christened Oliver Twist we oweHenryPrice, a subject of the King of Poland,LewisJackson, a "Portingall," andAlexanderFaith, a steward to the Venice Ambassador, born in the dukedom of Florence.

PERVERSIONS OF FOREIGN NAMES

In the returns made outside the bounds of the city proper the aliens have added their own signatures, or in some cases made their marks.JacobAlburttsigns himself asJacobElbers, andCroftCastellasKraftKassels.HarmanJamesis the official translation ofHermannJacobs,MaryMillerofMarijaMoliner, andJohnYoungofJanleJeune.GyllyamSpease, forWilbertSpirs, seems to be due to a Welsh constable, andChrystyanWyhelhames, forCristianWelselm, looks like a conscientious attempt at Williams. One registrar, with a phonetic system of his own, has transformed the DutchMollinto the more familiarMaule, and has enriched his list withJannacayYacopesforJantjeJacobs.LoweLuddow, who signs himselfLouijLedou, seems to beLouisLedoux. An alien who writes himselfJannEisankraott(Ger.Eisenkraut? )cannot reasonably complain plain at being transformed intoJohnIsacrocke, but the substitution ofJohnJohnsonforJansenVandrusensuggests that this individual's case was taken at the end of a long day's work.

These examples, taken at random, show how the French and Flemish names of the humbler refugees lost their foreign appearance. In many cases the transformation was etymologically justified. Thus, some of ourDruittsandDrewettsmay be descended fromMartinDruett, the first name on the list. But this is probably the common French nameDrouetorDrouot, assimilated to the EnglishDruitt, which we find in 1273. And both are diminutives of Drogo, which occurs inDomesday Book, and is, through Old French, the origin of ourDrew. But in many cases the name has been so deformed that one can only guess at the continental original. I should conjecture, for instance, that the curious nameShoppeeis a corruption ofChappuis, the Old French for a carpenter, and that

JacobShophousey, registered as a German cutler, came fromSchaffhausen. In this particular region of English nomenclature a little guessing is almost excusable. The law of probabilities makes it mathematically certain that the horde of immigrants included representatives of all the very common French family names, and it would be strange ifChappuiswere absent.

This process of transformation is still going on in a small way, especially in our provincial manufacturing towns, in which most large commercial undertakings have slipped from the nerveless grasp of the Anglo-Saxon into the more capable and prehensile fingers of the foreigner—

"Hilda then learnt that Mrs. Gailey had married a French modeller namedCanonges. . . and that in course of time the modeller had informally changed the name toCannon, because no one in the five towns could pronounce the true name rightly."(Arnold Bennett,HildaLessways, i. 5.)

This occurs most frequently in the case of Jewish names of German origin. Thus,LöwebecomesLoweorLyons,Meyeristransformed intoMyers,GoldschmidintoGoldsmith,KohnintoCowan,LevyintoLeeorLewis,SalamonintoSalmon,HirschorHertzintoHart, and so on. Sometimes a bolder flight is attempted—

"LeopoldNorfolkGordonhad a house in Park Lane, and ever so many people's money to keep it up with. As may be guessed from his name, he was a Jew."

(Morley Roberts,LadyPenelope, ch. ii.)

JEWISH NAMES

The Jewish names of German origin which are now so common in England mostly date from the beginning of the nineteenth century, when laws were passed in Austria, Prussia and Bavaria to compel all Jewish families to adopt a fixed surname. Many of them chose personal names, e.g.Jakobs,Levy,Moses, for this purpose, while others named themselves from their place of residence, e.g.Cassel,Speyer(Spires),Hamburg, often with the addition of the syllable -er, e.g.Darmesteter,Homburger. Some families preferred descriptive names such asSelig(Chapter XXII),Sonnenschein,Goldmann, or invented poetic and gorgeous place-names such asRosenberg,Blumenthal,Goldberg,Lilienfeld. The oriental fancy also showed itself in such names asEdelstein, jewel,Glueckstein, luck stone,Rubinstein, ruby,Goldenkranz, golden wreath, etc.[Footnote:OurTouchstonewould seem also to be a nickname. The obituary of a Mr. Touchstone appeared in theManchesterGuardian, December 12, 1912.]It is owing to the existence of the last two groups that our fashionable intelligence is now often so suggestive of a wine-list. Among animal names adopted the favourites wereAdler, eagle,Hirsch, hart,Löwe, lion, andWolf, each of which is used with symbolic significance in the Old Testament.

CHAPTER VITOM, DICK AND HARRY

"Wattevocat, cui Thomme venit, neque Symme retardat,Betteque,Gibbesimul,Hykkevenire jubent;Collefurit, quemGeffejuvat nocumenta parantes,Cum quibus ad dampnumWillecoire vovet.Griggerapit, dumDawestrepit, comes est quibusHobbe,Lorkynetin medio non minor esse putat:Huddeferit, quemJuddeterit, dumTebbeminatur,Jakkedomosque viros vellit et ense necat."

(GOWER,OnWatTyler'sRebellion.)

Gower's lines on the peasant rebels give us some idea of the names which were most popular in the fourteenth century, and which have consequently impressed themselves most strongly on our modern surnames. It will be noticed that one member of the modern triumvirate, Harry, or Hal, is absent.[Footnote:The three names were not definitely established till the nineteenth century. Before that period they had rivals. French saysPierreetPaul, and GermanHeinzandKunz,i.e. Heinrich and Conrad.]The great popularity of this name probably dates from a rather later period and is connected with the exploits of Henry V. Moreover, all the names, with the possible exception of Hud, are of French introduction and occur rarely before the Conquest. The old Anglo-Saxon names did survive, especially in the remoter parts of the country, and have given us many surnames (see ch. vii.), but even in the Middle Ages people had a preference for anything that came over with the Conqueror. French names are nearly all of German origin, the Celtic names and the Latin names which encroached on them having been swept away by the Frankish invasion, a parallel to the wholesale adoption of Norman names in England. Thus our nameHarvey, no longer usual as a font-name, is Fr. Herod, which represents the heroic German name Herewig, to the second syllable of which belongs such an apparently insignificant name asWigg.

MEDIEVAL FONT-NAMES

The disappearance of Latin names is not to be regretted, for the Latin nomenclature was of the most unimaginative description, while the Old German names are more like those of Greece; e.g. Ger. Ludwig, which has passed into most of the European languages (Louis, Lewis, Ludovico, etc), is from Old High Ger.hlut-wig, renowned in fight, equivalent to the Greek Clytomachus, with one-half of which it is etymologically cognate.

Some of the names in Gower's list, e.g.Watte(Chapter I),Thomme,Symme,Geffe(Chapter VI),Wille,Jakke, are easily recognized.Betteis forBat, Bartholomew, a name, which has givenBatty,Batten,Bates,Bartle(cf. Bartlemas),Bartlett,Badcock,Batcock. But this group of names belongs also to the Bert- or -bent, which is so common in Teutonic names, such as Bertrand, Bertram, Herbert, Hubert, many of which reached us in an Old French form. For the loss of the -r-, cf. Matty from Martha.Gibeis for Gilbert.Hickis rimed on Dick: (Chapter VI).Colleis for Nicolas.Grigis for Gregory, whenceGregsonand ScottishGrier.Dawe, for David, alternated withDayandDow, which appear as first element in many surnames, thoughDayhas another origin (Chapter XIX) andDowsonsometimes belongs to the female nameDouce, sweet.Hobbeis a rimed form from Robert.Lorkyn, orLarkin,isfor Lawrence, for which we also findLaw,Lay, andLow, whenceLawson,Lakin,Lowson,Locock, etc. ForHuddesee Chapters I, VII.Judde, from the very popularJordan, has givenJudson,Judkins, and the contractedJukes.Jordan(Fr. Jourdain, Ital. Giordano) seems to have been adopted as a personal name in honour of John the Baptist.Tebbeisfor Theobald (Chapter I).

THE COMMONEST FONT-NAMES

Many people, in addressing a small boy with whom they are unacquainted, are in the habit of using Tommy as a name to which any small boy should naturally answer. In some parts of Polynesia the natives speak of a white Mary or a black Mary,i.e. woman, just as the Walloons round Mons speak of Marie bon bec, a shrew, Marie grognon, a Mrs. Gummidge, Marie quatre langues, a chatterbox, and several other Maries still less politely described. We have the modern silly Johnny for the older silly Billy, while Jack Pudding is in German Hans Wurst, John Sausage. Only the very commonest names are used in this way, and, if we had no further evidence, the rustic Dicky bird, Robin redbreast, Hob goblin, Tom tit, Will o' the Wisp, Jack o' lantern, etc., would tell us which have been in the past the most popular English font-names. During the Middle Ages there was a kind of race among half a dozen favourite names, the prevailing order being John, William, Thomas, Richard, Robert, with perhaps Hugh as sixth.

Now, for each of these there is a reason. John, a favourite name in so many languages (Jean, Johann, Giovanni, Juan, Ian, Ivan, etc.), as the name of the Baptist and of the favoured disciple, defied even the unpopularity of our one King of that name. The special circumstances attending the birth and naming of the Baptist probably supplied the chief factor in its triumph.

For some time after the Conquest William led easily. We usually adopted theW- form from the north-east of France, but Guillaume has also supplied a large number of surnames inGil-, which have got inextricably mixed up with those derived from Gilbert, Gillian (Juliana), and Giles.Gilmanrepresents the French dim. Guillemin, the local-lookingGilliamissimply Guillaume, andWilmotcorresponds to Fr. Guillemot.

The doubting disciple held a very insignificant place until the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury became one of the holy places of Christendom. To Thomas belongMacey,Massie, andMasson, dims. of French aphetic forms, but the first two are also from Old French forms of Matthew, andMassonissometimes an alternative form ofMason.

Robert and Richard were both popular Norman names. The first was greatly helped by Robin Hood and the second by the Lion-Heart.

The name Hugh was borne by several saints, the most famous of whom in England was the child-martyr, St. Hugh of Lincoln, said to have been murdered by the Jews C. 1250. It had a dim.Hugginand also the formsHewandHow, whenceHewett,Hewlett,Howitt,Howlett, etc., while from the French dim. Huchon we getHutchinand its derivatives, and alsoHouchin. Hugh also appears in the rather small class of names represented byLittlejohn,Meiklejohn, etc.[Footnote:This formation seems to be much commoner in French. In the "Bottin" I find Grandblaise, Grandcollot (Nicolas), Grandgeorge, Grandgérard, Grandguillaume, Grandguillot, Grandjacques, Grand-jean, Grandperrin (Pierre), Grandpierre, Grandremy, Grandvincent, and Petitcolin, Petitdemange (Dominique), Petitdidier (Desiderius), Petit-Durand, Petit-Etienne (Stephen), Petit-Gérard,Petit-Huguenin, Petitjean, Petitperrin, Petit-Richard.]We findGoodhew,Goodhue. Cf.Gaukroger,i.e. awkward Roger, andGoodwillie. But the more usual origin ofGoodhew,Goodhueisfrom Middle Eng.heave, servant, hind. Cf.Goodhind.

Most of the other names in Gower's list have been prolific. We might add to them Roger, whenceHodgeandDodge,Humfrey, which did not lend itself to many variations, and Peter, from the French form of which we have many derivatives (Chapter III), including perhaps the HuguenotPerowne, Fr. Perron, but this can also be local, du Perron, the etymology, Lat.Petra, rock, remaining the same.

The absence of the great names Alfred[Footnote:The nameAluredis due to misreading of the olderAlvred,vbeing writtenuin old MSS.Allfreyis from the Old French form of the name.]and Edward is not surprising, as they belonged to the conquered race. Though Edward was revived as the name of a long line of Kings, its contribution to surnames has been small, most names inEd-,Ead-, e.g.Ede,Eden,Edison,Edkins,Eady,etc., belonging rather to the once popular female name Eda or to Edith, though in some cases they are from Edward or other Anglo-Saxon names having the same initial syllable. James is a rare name in medieval rolls, being represented by Jacob, and no doubt partly by Jack (Chapter IV). It is—

"Wrested from Jacob, the same as Jago[Footnote:Jagoisfound, with other Spanish names, in Cornwall; cf.BastianorBaste, for Sebastian.]in Spanish, Jaques in French; which some Frenchified English, to their disgrace, have too much affected" (Camden).

It appears inGimson,Jemmett, and the odd-lookingGem, while its French form is somewhat disguised inJeakesandJex.

FASHIONS IN FONT-NAMES

The force of royal example is seen in the popularity under the Angevin kings of Henry, or Harry, Geoffrey and Fulk, the three favourite names in that family. For Harry see Chapter III. Geoffrey, from Ger. Gottfried, Godfrey, has given us a large number of names inGeff-,Jeff-, andGiff-,Jiff-, and probably alsoJebb,GeppandJepson, while toFulkwe oweFewkes,Foakes,Fowkes,Vokes, etc., and perhaps in some casesFox. But it is impossible to catalogue all the popular medieval font-names. Many others will be found scattered through this book as occasion or association suggests them.

Three names whose poor representation is surprising areArthur,CharlesandGeorge, the two great Kings of medieval romance and the patron saint of Merrie England. All three are fairly common in their unaltered form, and we find alsoArterforArthur. But they have given few derivatives, thoughAtkins, generally fromAd-,i.e. Adam, may sometimes be from Arthur (cf. Bat for Bart, Matty for Martha, etc.). Arthur is a rare medieval font-name, a fact no doubt due to the sad fate of King John's nephew. Its modern popularity dates from the Duke of Wellington, while Charles and George were raised from obscurity by the Stuarts and the Brunswicks. To these might be added the German name Frederick, the spread of which was due to the fame of Frederick the Great. It gave, however, in French the dissimilatedFerry, one source of our surnamesFerry,Ferris, though the former is generally local.[Footnote:"For Frideric, the English have commonly used Frery and Fery, which hath been now a long time a Christian name in the ancient family of Tilney, and lucky to their house, as they report." (Camden.)]

If, on the other hand, we take from Gower's list a name which is to-day comparatively rare, e.g. Gilbert, we find it represented by a whole string of surnames, e.g.Gilbart,Gibbs,Gibson,Gibbon,Gibbins,Gipps,Gipson, to mention only the most familiar. From the French dim. Gibelot we get the rather rareGiblett;cf.Hewlettfor Hew-el-et,Hamletfor Ham-el-et (Hamo), etc.

DERIVATIVES OF FONT-NAMES

In forming patronymics from personal names, it is not always the first syllable that is selected. InToll,Tolley,Tollett, from Bartholomew, the second has survived, whilePhilpot, dim. of Philip, has givenPotts. From Alexander we getSandersandSaunders. But, taking, for simplicity, two instances in which the first syllable has survived, we shall find plenty of instruction in those two pretty men Robert and Richard. We have seen (Chapter VI) that Roger gaveHodgeandDodge, which, in the derivativesHodsonandDodson, have coalesced with names derived from Odo and the Anglo-Sax. Dodda (Chapter VII). Similarly Robert gaveRob,HobandDob, and Richard gaveRick,HickandDick.[Footnote:I believe, however, that Hob is in some cases from Hubert, whenceHubbard,Hibbert,Hobart, etc.]Hob, whenceHobbs, was sharpened into Hop, whence Hopps. The diminutiveHopkin, passing into Wales, gavePopkin, just as ap-Robin becameProbyn, ap-HughPugh, ap-OwenBowen, etc. In the northDobbsbecameDabbs(p. A. Hob also developed another rimed form Nob cf. to "hob-nob" with anyone), whenceNobbsandNabbs, the latter, of course, being sometimes rimed onAbbs, from Abel or Abraham. Bob is the latest variant and has not formed many surnames. Richard has a larger family than Robert, for, besidesRick,Hickand Dick, we haveRichandHitch,HiggandDigg. The reader will be able to continue this genealogical tree for himself.

The full or the shortened name can become a surname, either without change, or with the addition of the genitive -sor the word -son, the former more usual in the south, the latter in the north. To take a simple case, we find as surnamesWilliam,Will,Williams,Wills,Williamson,Wilson.[Footnote:This suffix has squeezed out all the others, though Alice Johnsonis theoretically absurd. In Mid. English we find daughter, father, mother, brother and other terms of relationship used in this way, e.g. in 1379, AgnesDyconwyfdowson, the wife of Dow's son Dick. Dawbarn, child of David, is still found. See also Chapter XXI]

From the short form we get diminutives by means of the English suffixes -ieor -y(these especially in the north), -kin(Chapter IV), and the French suffixes -et, -ot(often becoming -atin English), -in, -on(often becoming -enin English). ThusWilly,Wilkie,Willett. I give a few examples of surnames formed from each class

Ritchie (Richard),Oddy(Odo, whence alsoOates),Lambie(Lambert),Jelley(Julian);[Footnote:Lambis also, of course, a nickname cf.Agnew, Fr.agneau]

Dawkins,Dawkes(David),Hawkins,Hawkes(Hal),Gilkins(Geoffrey),Perkins,Perks(Peter),Rankin(Randolf);

Gillett(Gil, Chapter VI),Collett(Nicholas),Bartlett(Bartholomew),Ricketts(Richard),Marriott,Marryat(Mary),Elliott(Elias, see Chapter IX),Wyatt(Guy),Perrott(Peter);

Collins(Nicholas),Jennings(John, see Chapter X),Copping(Jacob, see Chapter I),Rawlin(Raoul, the French form of Radolf, whenceRoll,Ralph,Relf),Paton(Patrick),Sisson(Sirs,i.e. Cecilia),Gibbons(Gilbert),Beaton(Beatrice).

In addition to the suffixes and diminutives already mentioned, we have the two rather puzzling endings -manand -cock.Manoccurs as an ending in several Germanic names which are older than the Conquest, e.g.Ashman,Harman,Coleman;and the simpleMannis also an Anglo-Saxon personal name. It is sometimes to be taken literally, e.g. inGoodman,i.e. master of the house (Matt. xx. ii),Longman,Youngman,etc. InHickman,Homan(How, Hugh), etc., it may mean servant of, as inLadyman,Priestman, or may be merely an augmentative suffix. InColtman,Runciman, it is occupative, the man in charge of the colts, rouncies or nags. Chaucer's Shipman—

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