FAMILY NAMES
In the study of family names we come across very much the same phenomena
as in dealing with other words. They are subject to the same phonetic
accidents and to the distortions of folk-etymology, being "altered
strangely to significative words by the common sort, who desire to make
all to be significative" (Camden, _Remains concerning Britain_).
Doublets and homonyms are of frequent occurrence, and the origin of some
names is obscured by the well-meaning efforts of early philologists. It
might be expected that a family name would by its very nature tend to
preserve its original form. This is, however, not the case. In old
parish registers one often finds on one page two or three different
spellings for the same name, and there are said to be a hundred and
thirty variants of _Mainwaring_.[122] The telescoped pronunciation of
long names such as Cholmondeley, Daventry, Marjoribanks, Strachan, is a
familiar phenomenon, and very often the shorter form persists
separately, _e.g._, _Posnett_ and _Poslett_ occur often in Westmoreland
for _Postlethwaite_; _Beecham_ exists by the side of _Beauchamp_; _Saint
Clair_ and _Saint Maur_ are usually reduced to _Sinclair_ and
_Seymour_; _Boon_[123] and _Moon_ disguise the aristocratic _Bohun_ and
_Mohun_. In a story by Mr Wells, _Miss Winchelsea's Heart_, the name
_Snooks_ is gradually improved to _Sevenoaks_, from which in all
probability it originally came, via _Senoaks_; cf. _sennight_ for
_seven-night_, and such names as _Fiveash_, _Twelvetrees_, etc.
Folk-etymology converts _Arblaster_, the cross-bowman, into _Alabaster_,
_Thurgod_ into _Thoroughgood_, and the Cornish _Hannibal_ into
_Honeyball_. _Beaufoy_ is a grammatical monstrosity. Its older form is
_Beaufou_, fine beech (see p. 129), with an ambiguous second syllable.
_Malthus_ looks like Latin, but is identical with _Malthouse_, just as
_Bellows_ is for _Bellhouse_, _Loftus_ for _Lofthouse_, and _Bacchus_,
fined for intoxication, Jan. 5, 1911, for _Bakehouse_. But many odd
names which are often explained as corruptions may also have their
face-value. The first _Gotobed_ was a sluggard, _Godbehere_ was fond of
this pious form of greeting, and _Goodbeer_ purveyed sound liquor. With
_Toogood_, perhaps ironical, we may compare Fr. _Troplong_, and with
_Goodenough_ a lady named _Belle-assez_, often mentioned in the Pipe
Rolls. _Physick_ occurs as a medieval nickname.
Family names fall into four great classes, which are, in descending
order of size, local, baptismal, functional, and nicknames. But we have
a great many homonyms, names capable of two or more explanations. Thus
_Bell_ may be for Fr. _le bel_ or from a shop-sign, _Collet_ a
diminutive of _Nicholas_ or an aphetic form of _acolyte_. _Dennis_ is
usually for _Dionysius_, but sometimes for _le Danois_, the Dane;
_Gillott_, and all family names beginning with _Gill-_, may be from
_Gillian_ (see p. 46), or from Fr. _Guillaume_. A famous member of the
latter family was _Guillotin_, the humanitarian doctor who urged the
abolition of clumsy methods of decapitation. His name is a double
diminutive, like Fr. _diablotin_, goblin. _Leggatt_ is a variant of
_Lidgate_, swing gate, and of _Legate_. _Lovell_ is an affectionate
diminutive or is for Old Fr. _louvel_, little wolf. It was also in Mid.
English a dog's name, hence the force of the rime--
"The Rat (Ratcliffe), the Cat (Catesby), and _Lovell_, our dog, Rule
all England under the Hog." (1484.)
It has a doublet _Lowell_. The name _Turney_, well known in Nottingham,
is from the town of _Tournay_, or is aphetic for _attorney_. In the
following paragraphs I generally give only one source for each name, but
it should be understood that in many cases two or more are possible. The
forms also vary.
[Page Heading: BAPTISMAL NAMES]
Baptismal names often give surnames without any suffix. Sometimes these
are slightly disguised, e.g., _Cobbett_ (Cuthbert), _Garrett_ (Gerard),
_Hammond_, Fr. _Hamon_ (Hamo), _Hibbert_ (Hubert), _Jessop_ (Joseph),
_Neil_ (Nigel), _Custance_ (Constance); or they preserve a name no
longer given baptismally, e.g., _Aldridge_ (Alderic), _Bardell_
(Bardolph), _Goodeve_ (Godiva), _Goodlake_ (Guthlac), _Goodrich_
(Goderic), _Harvey_[124] (Hervey, Fr. _Hervé_), _Mayhew_ (Old Fr.
_Mahieu_, Matthew). With the help of diminutive suffixes we get _Atkin_
(Adam), _Bodkin_ (Baldwin), _Larkin_ (Lawrence), _Perkin_, _Parkin_
(Peter), _Hackett_ (Haco), _Huggin_, _Hutchin_, _Hewett_, _Hewlett_,
_Howitt_ (Hugh), _Philpot_ (Philip), _Tibbet_ (Theobald or Isabella),
_Tillet_ (Matilda), _Wilmot_ (William), _Wyatt_ (Guy), _Gilbey_,
_Gibbon_ (Gilbert), etc., with numerous variants and further
derivatives. The changes that can be rung on one favourite name are
bewildering, _e.g._, from _Robert_ we have _Rob_, _Dob_, _Hob_, and
_Bob_; the first three with a numerous progeny, while _Bob_, now the
favourite abbreviation, came into use too late to found a large dynasty.
From _Richard_ we have _Richards_ and _Richardson_, and from its three
abbreviations _Rick_, _Dick_, _Hick_, with their variants _Rich_,
_Digg_, _Hig_, _Hitch_, one of the largest families of surnames in the
language.[125] As the preceding examples show, family names are
frequently derived from the mother. Other examples, which are not quite
obvious, are _Betts_ (Beatrice), _Sisson_ (Cecilia), _Moxon_ and
_Padgett_ (Margaret, Moggy, Madge, Padge), _Parnell_ (Petronilla),
_Ibbotson_ (Ib, Isabella), _Tillotson_ (Matilda). One group of surnames
is derived from baptismal names given according to the season of the
Church. Such are _Pentecost_, _Pascal_, whence Cornish _Pascoe_,
_Nowell_, and _Middlemas_, a corruption of _Michaelmas_.[126] With these
may be grouped _Loveday_, a day appointed for reconciliations.
[Page Heading: LOCAL NAMES]
Surnames derived from place of residence often contain a preposition,
e.g., _Atwood_, _Underhill_, and sometimes the article as well, e.g.,
_Atterbury_, _Bythesea_. In _Surtees_, on the Tees, we have a French
preposition and an English river name. Sometimes they preserve a word
otherwise obsolete. _Barton_, a farmyard, originally a barley-field, has
given its name to about thirty places in England, and thus, directly or
indirectly, to many families. _Bristow_ preserves what was once the
regular pronunciation of _Bristol_. The famous north country name _Peel_
means castle, as still in the Isle of Man. It is Old Fr. _pel_ (_pal_),
stake, and the name was originally given to a wooden hill-fort or
stockade.
Many places which have given family names have themselves disappeared
from the map, while others, now of great importance, are of too recent
growth to have been used in this way. Many of our family names are taken
from those of continental towns, especially French and Flemish. Camden
says, "Neither is there any village in Normandy that gave not
denomination to some family in England." Such are _Bullen_ or _Boleyn_
(Boulogne), _Cullen_ (Cologne), _Challis_ (Calais), _Challen_ (Châlon),
_Chaworth_ (Cahors), _Bridges_[127] (Bruges), _Druce_ (Dreux), _Gaunt_
(_Gand_, Ghent), _Lubbock_ (Lübeck), _Luck_ (_Luick_, Liège), _Mann_ (le
Mans), _Malins_ (_Malines_, Mechlin), _Nugent_ (Nogent), _Hawtrey_
(Hauterive), and _Dampier_ (Dampierre). To decide which is the
particular _Hauterive_ or _Dampierre_ in question is the work of the
genealogist. _Dampierre_ (_Dominus Petrus_) means _Saint Peter_. In some
cases these names have been simplified, _e.g._, Camden notes that
_Conyers_, from _Coigniers_, lit. quince-trees, becomes _Quince_.
French provinces have given us _Burgoyne_, _Champain_. _Gascoyne_ or
_Gaskin_, and _Mayne_, and adjectives formed from names of countries,
provinces and towns survive in _Allman_ (_Allemand_), _Brabazon_ (_le
Brabançon_, the Brabanter), _Brett_ (_le Bret_ or _le Breton_[128]),
_Pickard_ (_le Picard_), _Poidevin_[129] (_le Poitevin_), _Mansell_, Old
Fr. _Mancel_ (_le Manceau_, inhabitant of Maine or le Mans), _Hanway_
and _Hannay_ (_le Hannuyer_, the Hainaulter), _Loring_ (_le Lorrain_),
assimilated to _Fleming_, _Champneys_ (_le Champenois_), with which we
may compare _Cornwallis_, from the Old French adjective _cornwaleis_,
man of Cornwall. To these may be added _Pollock_, which occasionally
means the Pole, or _Polack_--
"Why then the _Polack_ never will defend it."
(_Hamlet_, iv. 4.)
_Janaway_, the Genoese, and _Haunce_, from the famous _Hanse_
confederation. _Morris_ means sometimes _Moorish_ (see p. 49), and
_Norris_, besides having the meaning seen in its contracted form
_nurse_, Fr. _nourrice_, may stand for _le Noreis_, the Northerner. We
still have a _Norroy_ king-at-arms, lit. north king, who holds office
north of the Trent.
In some cases the territorial _de_ remains, e.g., _Dolman_ is sometimes
the same as _Dalmain_, _d'Allemagne_, _Daubeney_ is _d'Aubigné_,
_Danvers_ is _d'Anvers_ (Antwerp), _Devereux_ is _d'Évreux_, a town
which takes its name from the _Eburovices_, and _Disney_ is _d'Isigny_.
With these may be mentioned _Dubberley_, Fr. _du Boulay_, of the birch
wood, and _Dawnay_, from Old Fr. _aunai_,[130] a grove of alders. The
last governor of the Bastille was the Marquis de _Launay_ (_l'aunai_).
There is a large group of such words in French, coming from Latin
collectives in _-etum_; _d'Aubray_ is from Lat. _arboretum_, and has
given also the dissimilated form _Darblay_, famous in English
literature. Other examples are _Chesney_, _Chaney_, etc., the
oak-grove,[131] _Pomeroy_, the apple-garden.
Names of French origin are particularly subject to corruption and
folk-etymology. We have the classic example of Tess _Durbeyfield_.[132]
Camden, in his _Remains concerning Britain_, gives, among other curious
instances, _Troublefield_ for _Turberville_. _Greenfield_ is usually
literal (cf. _Whitfield_, _Whittaker_, _Greenacre_, etc.), but
occasionally for _Grenville_. _Summerfield_ is for _Somerville_. The
notorious _Dangerfield_ was of Norman ancestry, from _Angerville_.
_Mullins_ looks a very English name, but it is from Fr. _moulin_, mill,
as _Musters_ is from Old Fr. _moustier_, monastery. _Phillimore_ is a
corruption of _Finnemore_, Fr. _fin amour_.
[Page Heading: OCCUPATIVE NAMES]
When we come to names which indicate office or trade, we have to
distinguish between those that are practically nicknames, such as
_King_, _Duke_, _Bishop_, _Cæsar_[133] (Julius Cæsar was a famous
cricketer of the old school), and those that are to be taken literally.
Many callings now obsolete have left traces in our surnames. The very
common name _Chapman_ reminds us that this was once the general term for
a dealer (see p. 67), one who spends his time in _chaffering_ or
"_chopping_ and changing." The _grocer_, or _engrosser_, _i.e._, the man
who bought wholesale, Fr. _en gros_,[134] came too late to supplant the
family name _Spicer_. _Bailey_, Old Fr. _bailif_ (_bailli_), represents
all sorts of officials from a Scotch magistrate to a man in possession.
_Bayliss_ seems to be formed from it like Williams from William.
_Chaucer_, Old Fr. _chaucier_, now replaced by _chaussetier_, "a
hosier, or hose-maker" (Cotgrave), is probably obsolete as an English
surname. Mr _Homer's_ ancestors made helmets, Fr. _heaume_. _Jenner_ is
for _engenour_, engineer (see _gin_, p. 65). In _Ferrier_ traditional
spelling seems to have triumphed over popular pronunciation (_farrier_),
but the latter appears in _Farrar_. Chaucer's _somonour_ survives as
_Sumner_. _Ark_ was once a general name for a bin, hence the name
_Arkwright_. Nottingham still has a Fletcher Gate, Lister Gate, and
Pilcher Gate. It is not surprising that the trade of _fletcher_, Old Fr.
_fleschier_ (_Fléchier_), arrow-maker, should be obsolete. The
_Fletchers_ have absorbed also the _fleshers_, _i.e._ butchers, which
explains why they so greatly outnumber the _Bowyers_ (see p. 178),
_Boyers_, etc. _Lister_, earlier _littester_, gave way to _dighester_,
whence the name _Dexter_, well known in Nottingham, and this is now
replaced by _dyer_. A _Pilcher_ made _pilches_, or mantles; _cf._ the
cognate Fr. name _Pelissier_, a maker of _pelisses_.[135] _Kiddier_ was
once equivalent to pedlar, from _kid_, a basket. Sailors still speak of
the bread-_kid_. For the name _Wait_, see p. 76. The ancestor of the
_Poyser_ family made scales (_poises_), or was in charge of a public
balance. _Faulkner_, falconer, _Foster_, _Forster_, forester, and
_Warner_, warrener, go together. With the contraction of _Warner_ we may
compare _Marner_, mariner. _Crowther_ means fiddler. The obsolete
_crowd_, a fiddle, is of Celtic origin. It gave Old Fr. _rote_, the name
of the instrument played by the medieval minstrels--
"Saxon minstrels and Welsh bards were extracting mistuned dirges
from their harps, _crowds_, and _rotes_."
(_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 41.)
_Kemp_ is an old English word for warrior, champion. It represents,
like Ger. _kämpfen_, to fight, a very early loan from Lat. _campus_, in
the sense of battle-field.
[Page Heading: OBSOLETE CALLINGS]
_Pinder_, the man in charge of the pound or pinfold, was the name of a
famous wicket-keeper of the last century. The still more famous
cricketing name of _Trumper_ means one who blows the trump. Cf. _Horner_
and _Corner_, which have, however, alternative origins, a maker of horn
cups and a _coroner_[136] respectively. A dealer in _shalloon_ (see p.
47) was a _Chaloner_ or _Chawner_. _Parminter_, a tailor, is as obsolete
as its Old French original _parmentier_, a maker of _parements_,
deckings, from _parer_, Lat. _parare_, to prepare. A member of the
_Parmentier_ family popularised the cultivation of the potato in France
just before the Revolution, hence _potage Parmentier_, potato soup. The
_white tawer_ still plies his trade, but is hardly recognisable in
_Whittier_. _Massinger_ is a corruption of _messenger_. The _Todhunter_,
or fox-hunter, used to get twelve pence per fox-head from the parish
warden. _Coltman_ is simple, but _Runciman_, the man in charge of the
_runcies_ or _rouncies_, is less obvious. _Rouncy_, a nag, is a common
word in Mid. English. It comes from Old Fr. _roncin_ (_roussin_), and is
probably a derivative of Ger. _Ross_, horse. The Spanish form is
_rocin_, "a horse or jade" (Minsheu, 1623), whence Don Quixote's charger
_Rocin-ante_, "a jade formerly."
A park keeper is no longer called a _Parker_, nor a maker of palings and
palisades a _Palliser_. An English sea-king has immortalised the trade
of the _Frobisher_, or furbisher, and a famous bishop bore the
appropriate name of _Latimer_, for _Latiner_. With this we may compare
_Lorimer_, for _loriner_, harness-maker, a derivative, through Old
French, of Lat. _lorum_, "a thong of leather; a coller or other thing,
wherewith beastes are bounden or tyed; the reyne of a brydle" (Cooper).
The _Loriners_ still figure among the London City Livery Companies, as
do also the _Bowyers_, _Broderers_, _Fletchers_ (see p. 176), _Horners_
(see p. 177), _Pattenmakers_, _Poulters_ and _Upholders_ (see p. 63).
_Scriven_, Old Fr. _escrivain_ (_écrivain_), is now usually extended to
_Scrivener_. For _Cator_ see p. 63. In some of the above cases the name
may have descended from a female, as we have not usually a separate word
for women carrying on trades generally practised by men. In French there
is a feminine form for nearly every occupation, hence such names as
_Labouchère_, the lady butcher, or the butcher's wife.
The meaning of occupative names is not always on the surface. It would,
for instance, be rash to form hasty conclusions as to the pursuits of
Richard _Kisser_, whose name occurs in medieval London records. He
probably made _cuisses_,[137] thigh armour, Fr. _cuisse_, thigh, Lat.
_coxa_. A _Barker_ employed bark for tanning purposes. _Booker_ is a
doublet of _Butcher_. A _Cleaver_ was, in most cases, a mace-bearer, Old
Fr. _clavier_ (_Clavier_ is a common family name in France) from Lat.
_clava_, a club. He may, however, have sometimes been a porter, as Old
Fr. _clavier_ also means key-bearer, Lat. _clavis_, a key. A _Croker_,
or _Crocker_, sold _crocks_, _i.e._, pottery. A _Lander_, or _Launder_,
was a washer-man, Fr. _lavandier_. A _Sloper_ made "slops," _i.e._,
loose upper garments, overalls. A _Reeder_ or _Reader_ thatched with
reeds. A _Walker_ walked, but within a circumscribed space. He was also
called a _Fuller_, Fr. _fouler_, to trample, or a _Tucker_, from a verb
which perhaps meant once to "tug" or "twitch." In the following passage
some manuscripts have _toukere_ for _walkere_--
"And his clothis ben maad schyninge and white ful moche as snow, and
which maner clothis a _fullere_, or _walkere_ of cloth, may not make
white on erthe."
(WYCLIF, _Mark_, ix. 2.)
The fuller is still called _Walker_ in Germany. _Banister_ is a
corruption of _balestier_, a cross-bow man; cf. _banister_ for
_baluster_ (p. 60).
Some of the occupative names in _-ward_ and _-herd_ are rather
deceptive. _Hayward_ means hedge[138] guard. _Howard_ is phonetically
the Old French name Huard, but also often represents Hayward, Hereward,
and the local Haworth, Howarth. For the social elevation of the
_sty-ward_, see p. 90. _Durward_ is door-ward. The simple _Ward_,
replaced in its general sense by _warden_, _warder_, etc., is one of our
commonest surnames. Similarly _Herd_, replaced by _herdsman_, is borne
as a surname by one who, if he attains not to the first three, is
usually held more honourable than the thirty. The hog-herd survives as
_Hoggart_; _Seward_ is sometimes for sow-herd; _Calvert_ represents
calf-herd, and _Stoddart_ stot-herd, _i.e._, bullock-herd:--
"'Shentlemans!' cried Andie, 'Shentlemans, ye hielant _stot_! If God
would give ye the grace to see yersel' the way that ithers see ye,
ye would throw your denner up.'"
(_Catriona_, Ch. 15.)
_Lambert_ is in some cases lamb-herd, and _Nutter_ is in all probability
a perversion of neat-herd, through the North Country and Scot.
_nowt-herd_. It is a common surname in Lancashire, and Alice Nutter was
one of the Lancashire Witches.
[Page Heading: NICKNAMES]
In a sense all personal names are nicknames (see p. 114), since they all
give that additional information which enables us to distinguish one
person from another. The practice of giving nicknames suggested by
appearance, physique, or habits is common to the European languages;
but, on the whole, our nicknames compare very unfavourably with those of
savage nations. We cannot imagine an English swain calling his
lady-love "Laughing Water." From Roman times onward, European nicknames
are in their general character obvious and prosaic, and very many of
them are the reverse of complimentary. The most objectionable have
either disappeared,[139] or the original meaning has become so obscured
as to cease to give offence to the possessor. When a man had any choice
in the matter, he naturally preferred not to perpetuate a grotesque name
conferred on some ancestor. Medieval names were conferred on the
individual, and did not become definitely hereditary till the
Reformation. In later times names could only be changed by form of law.
It is thus that _Bugg_ became _Norfolk Howard_, a considerable
transformation inspired by a natural instinct to "avoid the opinion of
baseness," as Camden puts it. We no longer connect _Gosse_ with _goose_,
nor _Pennefather_ with a miser. Cotgrave has _pinse-maille_
(_pince-maille_), "a pinch peny, scrape-good, nigard, miser,
_penie-father_." In _Purcell_ we lose Old Fr. _pourcel_ (_pourceau_),
little pig, _Fitch_ no longer means a pole-cat, nor _Brock_ a badger. On
the other hand, we generally regard _Gosling_ as a nickname, while it is
more often a variant of _Jocelyn_.
Names descriptive of appearance or habits often correspond pretty
closely with those that are found in French. In some cases they are
probably mere translations. Examples are: _Merryweather_ (_Bontemps_),
_Drinkwater_ (_Boileau_[140]), _Armstrong_ (_Fortinbras_), _Lilywhite_
(_Blanchefleur_). Among colour names we have _Black_, _Brown_, _White_,
and _Grey_, but seem to miss _red_. The explanation is that for this
colour we have adopted the Northern form _Reid_ (_Read_, _Reed_), or
such French names as _Rudge_ (_rouge_), _Rouse_ (_roux_), _Russell_
(_Rousseau_). With the last of these, Old Fr. _roussel_, cf. _Brunel_
and _Morel_. Fr. _blond_ has given _Blount_, _Blunt_, and the diminutive
_Blundell_, which exist by the side of the fine old English name
_Fairfax_, from Mid. Eng. _fax_, hair. Several other French adjectives
has given us surnames, e.g., _Boon_ (_bon_), _Bonner_ (_débonnaire_),
_Grant_ (_grand_), _Curtis_ (_courtois_), _Power_ (_pauvre_), etc.
_Payn_ is the French adjective _païen_, pagan, Lat. _paganus_, in early
use as a personal name.
[Page Heading: FOLK-ETYMOLOGY]
But many apparent nicknames are products of folk-etymology. _Coward_ is
for _cowherd_, _Salmon_ for _Salomon_, _Bone_ for _Boon_ (v.s.),
_Dedman_ is a corruption of _Debenham_. _Playfair_ means play-fellow,
from an old word connected with the verb to _fare_, to journey. _Patch_
may sometimes have meant a jester, from his parti-coloured garments, but
is more often a variant of _Pash_, _Pask_, a baptismal name given to
children christened at Easter, Old Fr. _Pasque_ (_Pâque_). Easter eggs
are still called _pash_, _pace_, or _paste_ eggs in the north of
England. _Blood_ is a Welsh name, son of _Lud_; cf. _Bevan_, _Bowen_,
etc. _Coffin_ is Fr. _Chauvin_, a derivative of Lat. _calvus_, bald. It
has a variant _Caffyn_, the name of a famous cricketer. _Dance_, for
Dans, is related to Daniel as Wills is to William. In the same way
_Pearce_ comes from Peter or Pierre. The older form of the name _Pearce_
was borne by the most famous of ploughmen, as it still is by the most
famous of soapmakers. Names such as _Bull_, _Peacock_, _Greenman_, are
sometimes from shop or tavern signs. It is noteworthy that, as a
surname, we often find the old form _Pocock_. The _Green Man_, still a
common tavern sign, represented a kind of "wild man of the woods"; _cf._
the Ger. sign _Zum wilden Mann_.
In these remarks on surnames I have only tried to show in general terms
how they come into existence, "hoping to incur no offence herein with
any person, when I protest in all sincerity, that I purpose nothing less
than to wrong any whosoever" (Camden). Many names are susceptible of
alternative explanations, and it requires a genealogist, and generally
some imagination, to decide to which particular source a given family
can be traced. The two arguments sometimes drawn from armorial bearings
and medieval Latin forms are worthless. Names existed before escutcheons
and devices, and these are often mere puns, _e.g._, the _Onslow_ family,
of local origin, from Onslow in Shropshire, has adopted the excellent
motto _festina lente_, "on slow." The famous name _Sacheverell_ is
latinised as _De Saltu Capellæ_, of the kid's leap. This agrees with the
oldest form _Sau-cheverell_, which is probably from a French place
called Sault-Chevreuil du Tronchet (Manche). The fact that _Napier_ of
Merchiston had for his device _n'a pier_, no equal, does not make it any
the less true that his ancestors were, like Perkin Warbeck's parents,
"really, respectable people" (see p. 57).
Dr Brewer, in his _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, says of his own
name--
"This name, which exists in France as Bruhière and Brugière, is not
derived from the Saxon _briwan_ (to brew), but the French _bruyère_
(heath), and is about tantamount to the German _Plantagenet_ (broom
plant)."
A "German" Plantagenet should overawe even a Norfolk Howard. A more
interesting identification, and a true one, is that of the name of the
great engineer _Telford_, a corruption of _Telfer_, with _Taillefer_,
the "iron cleaver."
[Page Heading: DAFT]
A curious feature in nomenclature is the local character of some
nicknames. We have an instance of this in the Notts name _Daft_[141]--
"A _Daft_ might have played in the Notts County Eleven in 1273 as
well as in 1886."
(BARDSLEY.)
The only occurrence of the name in the Hundred Rolls for the year 1273
is in the county of Notts.
FOOTNOTES:
[122] This is probably the record for a proper name, but does not by any
means equal that of the word _cushion_, of the plural of which about
four hundred variants are found in old wills and inventories.
[123] Another origin of this name is Fr. _le bon_.
[124] "The last two centuries have seen the practice made popular of
using surnames for baptismal names. Thus the late Bishop of Carlisle was
Harvey Goodwin, although for several centuries Harvey has been obsolete
as a personal name" (Bardsley). Camden already complains that "surnames
of honourable and worshipful families are given now to mean men's
children for christian names." Forty years ago there was hardly a more
popular name than _Percy_, while at the present day the admonition,
"Be'ave yerself, _'Oward_," is familiar to the attentive ear.
[125] It is even possible that _Hood_, _Hudson_, sometimes belong here,
as _Hud_ appears to have been used as a North Country alternative for
Richard, though it is hard to see why. For proofs see BARDSLEY, _Dict.
of English Surnames_, s.v. _Hudd_.
[126] Such a corruption, though difficult to explain phonetically, is
not without example in uneducated or childish speech. Cf. _tiddlebat_ or
_tittlebat_, for _stickleback_. In _stickler_ (p. 76) we have the
opposite change.
[127] Of course also of English origin.
[128] Hence also the name _Britton_.
[129] Whence the perversion _Portwine_, examples of which occur in the
_London Directory_.
[130] Old Fr. _vernai_, whence our _Verney_, _Varney_, has the same
meaning; cf. _Duverney_, the name of a famous dancer. Old Fr. _verne_,
alder, is of Celtic origin.
[131] Cf. _Chenevix_, old oak, a name introduced by the Huguenots.
[132] Other examples quoted by Mr Hardy are _Priddle_, from _Paridelle_,
and _Debbyhouse_--"The _Debbyhouses_ who now be carters were once the
_de Bayeux_ family" (_Tess of the d'Urbervilles_, v. 35).
[133] These names are supposed to have been generally conferred in
consequence of characters represented in public performances and
processions. In some cases they imply that the bearer was in the
employment of the dignitary. We find them in other languages, _e.g._,
Fr. _Leroy_, _Leduc_, _Lévêque_; Ger. _König_, _Herzog_, _Bischof_.
_Lévêque_ has given Eng. _Levick_, _Vick_, and (Trotty) _Veck_.
[134] _Gross_, twelve dozen, seems to be of Germanic origin, the
duodecimal hundred, Ger. _Grosshundert_, being Norse or Gothic. But Ger.
_Grosshundert_ means 120 only.
[135] _Surplice_, Old Fr. _surpelis_, is a compound of the same word. It
was worn "over fur" in unheated medieval churches.
[136] Another, and commoner, source of the name is from residence at a
"corner."
[137] See quotation from _Henry IV._ (p. 155).
[138] The obsolete _hay_, hedge, is also a common surname, _Hay_,
_Haig_, _Haigh_, etc.
[139] The following occur in the index to Bardsley's _English
Surnames_:--Blackinthemouth, Blubber, Calvesmawe, Cleanhog, Crookbone,
Damned-Barebones, Drunkard, Felon, Greenhorn, Halfpenny, Hatechrist,
Hogsflesh, Killhog, Leper, Mad, Measle, Milksop, Outlaw, Peckcheese,
Peppercorn, Poorfish, Pudding, Ragman, Scorchbeef, Sourale, Sparewater,
Sweatinbed, Twopenny, Widehose. Some of these are still found.
[140] Cf. also Ital. _Bevilacqua_.
[141] This word has degenerated. It is a doublet of _deft_.