_Names Bacon and Fagan_.--The very curious and interesting information
which has come to light in the replies to my Query about the origin of the
patronymic BACON, emboldens me to put another question upon the subject.
I have long suspected, but have been unable to prove, that the names Bacon
and Fagan were originally one and the same. Bacon, it appears, is a Saxon
word, meaning "of the beech tree." Fagan, I presume, is as undoubtedly from
the Latin "de fago," "of the beech tree."
The approximation of sound in these names is sufficiently evident. That the
letters C and G have been commonly convertible between the Latin and Saxon
is without doubt. Query: Have B and F been at all used convertibly? Or can
any of your readers, by any other means, strengthen the probability, or
prove the truth, of my conjecture?