Show ORIGIN OF OUR NAMES up to a certain point in the worlds world Is Iri bis story toTy the number of people was sufficiently small and communities were tar far enough apart to avoid confusion ot of single names but as the population increased and d communication became more frequent and practicable the supply oi names was not sufficient to h meet the de masid and the result was that toms dicks dicke and harrys were in danger of becoming coming mixed up with one another it was this condition of affairs which gave the rise to the adoption of surnames not paly only as a means of obviating the embar rass ments occasioned by a multiplicity of similar names dames but for the purpose of distinguishing families many years belore surnames were sere finally adopted the nee of sobriquets had become custom ary thatis that is names given to individuals as a special mark of 0 these names were generally founded upon on some personal trait or some incident 7 ext in the life of the person or referred to the place of his nativity tati bati vity as It richard ichord the lionhearted lion hearted edward long sharks john lackland judas iscariot but these sobriquets applied only imly to the individuals and died with them and did not therefore serve the purpose of family names it is impossible to determine definitely when surnames first came into existence lor for like nearly all human vu customs the adoption of family names wad wasa the result of circumstances and was ot of slow and grac grachal ual growth but it was probably somewhere in the neighborhood ot of the year one thousand that they were first officially recognized and used to any extent the term surname is supposed some acme to be derived from the french surnce meaning over name because a persons family name was tor for gaerla erly written above instead oi of alter the baptismal name it is just as likely however that the term was originally surname or sire name as the first family names were those these derived from the name of the father instead of referring to a man as john the sen oi of jacob 0 b tin in order to distinguish him fram taic jphn 11 the son oi of david or william or robert ob ert as had bad long been custo customary maryl die appellation was shortened to john jacobs sen and this in turn became imply john jacobson and all of the children and descendants of this particular jacob thereafter bore the name of JK jacobson in the same manner the family names of 0 johnson Johns cn davidson williamson amson robertson thomson peterson duncanson stephenson Step benson betson and others of a like kind come came into existence many mandof of the scotch and irish surnames originated d in the same way the word mac son of being prefixed to the name of the father and irom from this source we have the mcarthurs Mc Arthurs mac donalds Henrys Mc chatIs and many more mere that will occur to the reader the old norms ns prefixed to the pater fial ael name the word fitz 11 probably a corruption of the french fils meaning son sim and irom from them we have the names of fitzhugh fitzpatrick fitzgerald fitzsimmons son of simon until within a comparatively recent time the W welsh eba people people adhered to the primi primitive primitiva tivi custom of distinguishing a person on is as the son of his father by the use of of the word ap 11 thus david the son of howell howel was known as david ap howell very frequently however this was not a sufficient distinction and it became necessary to add the names of the grandfather and great grandfather and seme sometimes times several ancestors beyond so that an individual carried his pedigree in his name it was therefore not unusual to hear such combinations as evan ap rice ap david ap adam a ap roger and so on to the seventh an and eighth gene generation rafton back A story is related of an englishman who riding among the mountains one dark night heard cries ot of distress lassu issuing M g from a deep ravine help master help came a voice from below who are you asked the traveler peering peeling in to the darkness jenkin ap john ap robert ap william ap richard av au owen replied the voice lazy lel fel lows that ye be cried the englishman setting spurs to his horse I 1 to lie atoll ai a i oiling in that ditch half a dozen of yel ye why in the name ot of common sense dont ye help one another out to this curious custom however we are indebted lor for the names of ugh augh pritchard powell and price which are simply modifications of ap hugh ap richard ap howell and ap rice v w hen the welsh finally adopted a simpler system of patronymics they made use of the paternal name came in the possessive case thus griffith the son of robert instead ol of being called griffith robertson was known as griffith roberts the son being understood the possessive form was soon abandoned however and the surname became reduced to 01 i many of our most familiar names are derived from this source and we are at once rf reminded minded of williams hughes richards andrews harris harrys adams phillips owens rogers howells daniels reynolds matthews jenkins edwards and our old friend jones which is merely a modification of bohns in times gone eone by nearly every name bad its corresponding nickname or diminutive just as today we still have our dick jack billy frank and harry many of anese nicknames and nursery bolms were also drawn upon for sur names so that a single name was olt off times the source ot of halt hall a dozen different cognomens omens thus from john we not only have jones and johnson but jenkins jenkin jencia jennings jackson janson and hanson from arthur we have mcarty akins and atkinson aiom robert we have roberts robertson robinson robson dobson hobbs and hobbison Hobb son dennis is responsible for dennison and tennyson hawkins harris and harrison come irom from henry richaad bichai d has given us in in addition to richards and richardson dick dickens dixon and dickinson anderson and henderson are derivatives ot of andrews and to william we are indebted for wilson wills willis alkes bilson wilkins wilkinson wilcox willett willard and billings besides A illiams and williamson in a great many instances the christian name was retained unaltered as the surname and there is probably not one of the more common early names name that is not now borne by some family in addition to the many familiar ones which will at once come to the mind of the reader as thomas geor george e james owen henry francisi francis char charles f es lewis there are several oters which may perhaps not be recognized as baptismal names by reason of the fact that their use as such has to a large extent been abandoned and they are now generally regarded as family names only among these are reynold ellis godwin goodwin n randal rice sampson morgan martin giles cuthbert baldwin bry ant barnard howell arnold cupert and meredith meredith in addition to thus immortalizing immortal izing their christian names our ancestors have left to the world an undying record of their trades and occupations in the shape of another class ot of family names the foremost among which is the aban dant one of smith some of the members of this numerous family have however sought lor for a different and more ancient origin than that represented by a village smithy and to this end they have convinced themselves that they are the direct descendants of shem the son ot of noah and the father of the She mites whose progeny through the exercise of some graceful orthographical jugglery became transformed into smith in the following manner shem SU smith 1 th at the time of the adoption 0 ot surnames every artisan whose work required the striking of blows on metat was known as a smither or smith and the co therefore had its blacksmith whitesmith goldsmith silversmith arrowsmith and several others of the same character the number of smiths atthe at the present day may therefore be readily accounted for when we remember that each of the different kinds of smiths was as much entitled to the use of his trade name for aco a gromen as any other artisan john the blacksmith and john the coppersmith were both known as john the smith an appellation which naturally resolved itself into the te family name ot of john smith in the same way peter the carpenter became peter carpenter and john the miller was the founder of the family of miller jn in this manner the various trades and callings became the source of surnames and are to this day represented in those of baker shoemaker tyler chandler mason cutler carter sadler slater butcher draper thatcher fletcher arrow maker hooper cheeseman turner joiner cooper gilder mercer skinner coleman sawyer tanner spicer cook sutor shoemaker miner driver weaver gardner merchant porter wainwright taylor shepherd glover and a number ber of others such names as hall stair Gar garret Xi kitchen chambers also record the occupations of our forefathers lore fathers who is ia these cases were engaged in the households of the nobility and had charge of such apartments as the names suggest others again held higher offices and I 1 from them we have the surnames page butler proctor forester steward and its modified forms of stewart and stuart bailey fowler and woodward and hayward the keepers respectively of the forest and cattle while it is very evident that our fathers preempted the honor of establishing family names there are three or four surna surnames mes which are derived from the maternal si side de of the house and are therefore there fore worthy wi of special notice such arre are brewster webster e b st er and baxter which are the anglo saxon feminine forms ot of brewer weaver and baker for a long time it had been usual to desiga designate desi enate aate an individual by the place ot of his na nativity or residence a custom which resulted in the adoption of such family names as french scott welsh english dane burgoyne from bur undy cornish and cornwallis from n dy cornwall cornwall and a number of others Z am among the familiar family names that borit respond with those of english towns and parishes are kent york C hi cheter lincol TUn coln a carlisle huntingdon wells washington ri ton putnam hurst buchanan preston and bancroft A great in many any of this character and they are numbered by bv the score were originally the names ot ol baronial estates which names the barons adopted as surnames and every one who owned land followed their example those who were not ian landowners downers were obliged to content them belv delves es with less aristocratic titles hence who lived by the brook became john known as john ot of the brook which was eventually reduced to the farm of john brook so also richard who lived at the end of town became richard Townsen dand some individual who had his bis home at the bottom of the mil hill became beganie the founder of the ta mily family 0 of f underhill besides those which will nam rally sugg suggest est themselves as hill hid street v ch church lane stone field wood marsh Moore Underwood there we are many ot of our surnames which have come from the same source but their significance would not now be apparent bv bri reason of the fact that the names as common nouns have become generally ab obsolete solete some of the best known ones are ape cobb meaning originally a harbor chase a bunting ground beck a little brook cross one who dwelt by the crossroads cross croma roads oads fleet a small creek foote the bottom of a hill bill hallowell a holy wen fossa ditch hursta wood knapp the top of a hill lynch a small hanging banging thicket shaw a small copse slade a valley hatch a floodgate hyde as MUC much b land d as could be cultivated with 0 one plow low holmes a flat island hope a vadee vale alt holta a small for forest estLee lee or leigh a pasture pasi ure peno pena the summit of a hill peel a pool pollard a chopped tree ross a morass thorpe a village weller a gulf worth a foi t or farm sometimes the word man or the suffix der er aj meaning the same thing was added to nouns of this kind as is seen in such names as parkman parker Bri bridger elger becker the origin of the names of places or towns from which surnames have been adopted is aa also 0 of interest as showing the initial derivation of such family names it will be noticed that a number of names of this class end inton this was the old anglo saxon word for place and was frequently used in conjunction with a qualifying noun for the purpose ot of giving a name to an estate or residence thus us it if a place had a clayey soil it was named clayton if it were stony it was cued called stanton if it had never before bien been occupied it was given the name ot of newton if it were remarkable for its pastures it became leighton at the time family names came into we use the shops of the merchants and storekeepers vers were not numbered as they are at alt ipa we present day but were known and distinguished by their signs which were suspended at the front doors and bore all ail manner of devices the subjects embracing brac ingall all the known species of animals vegetables birds flowers fishes and insects it was therefore customary ry to refer to a shoo shopkeeper keeper as john of the bear or dick ef cf the swan or tom of the lily and as may be imagined these appellations appel lations were readily converted into family names which have come down to us as bear hogg hog buck hart bull fox wolf colt hare todd a fox ox beaver lyon and others of zoological character among those derived from signs bearing figures of birds are swan peacock sparrow nightingale wren bird heron dove partridge cock finch hawk howlett hewlett corbet raven crane and drake those coming from fish are not so numerous but are nevertheless in evidence the most familiar one being that offish itself and its ancient form of fisk besides which we have burt chubb haddock herring pike perch and whiting and no doubt others which will occur to the reader grubb and emmet with several more are named after insects from the vegetables trees fruits and flowers we have in addition to many others bean broome clover birch ash haw thorn hazel plum cherry apple Lemmon Pear peach flower nettle we weed ed tree bush vine plant budd branch and root these shop signs bore other devices besides the kinds recited and from those of a miscellaneous character we have the names of bell hammer coates jewel potts polls pipes and others easily I 1 A great many sobriquets remained fixed as family names the most important perhaps being those which referred to the color of the hair or complexion pl exion from which we get our well known names of brown black gray white reed red motley fairfax light and blount fair others again were those given out ot compliment or derision tor for some personal attainment or cr characteristic as armstrong mitchell great singer whistler eatwell strong strone weak small longfellow crookshanks Crooks banks longman whitehead whitebead broadhead swift sober noble harcy doolittle goodman badman snell agile darling long short bachelor savage wise sweet moody and so on to this list should be added those of king queen pope bishop knight prior Abbot Squire earl oa uke baron lord prince ana others of a similar im kind which were original y imposed upon individuals because of their supposed resemblance to the dignitaries represented by these names or because ot of services aney may have rendered them then there are those which do not come within any particular category but owe their origin to some circumstance or event which the name no doubt appropriately suggests but which has been lot lot to po prosperity pos penty joy bliss morrow winter march may weeks and so on A large number of the family names ananies of this country are derived from the french and gei man and other languages and do not of course suggest any atan mi aning to an english speaking person but a translation efthem of them will show that they have a similar origin and have been formed on the same |