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The
history of names is so ancient that no one knows the beginning
of the story. Since written history began, and as far back as
oral history reaches, people have had names. It is therefore
impossible to do more than guess at how the earliest given names
were chosen. Most names appear to have had some sort of original
meaning, usually descriptive, rather than being simply a
pleasing collection of sounds.
These
descriptive names developed both from nouns and adjectives.
Examples of name descended from nouns are the Irish Gaelic names
Conan "hound, wolf" and Aed "fire." Irish Gaelic names derived
from adjectives are such names as Fial "modest, honorable,
generous" and Finn "fair, bright, white." A more elaborate
descriptive naming practice is exemplified in the Bible, when
Rachel names her last son Benoni or "son of my sorrow" and his
father Jacob renames him Benjamin "son of the right hand"
(Genesis 35:18).
Many
early names were compounds. For example, the following Frankish
names are compounds: Sigibert (victoryshining), Childeric (battlepowerful),
Fredegund (peacebattle) and Radegund (counselbattle). Sometimes
such compounds in pagan societies referred to their gods. For
instance, the ancient Norse had many names which were compounds
containing the name of the god Thor. Among the male names were
Thorbjorn, Thorgeir, Thorkell, Thorsteinn and Thorvald, and
among the feminine names were Thordis, Thorgunna, Thorhalla,
Thorkatla and Thorunn.
Early in prehistory
some descriptive names began to be used again and again until
they formed a name pool for that particular culture. Parents
would choose names from the pool of existing names rather than
invent new ones for their children. As time went on the language
changed and in many cases the words that formed the original
name passed out of use, leaving the fossilized form in the name.
This is why we do not recognize the meanings of many names
today. Their origins are in ancient languages from words that
have passed out of use. For instance, the name Edwin was
originally composed of the Old English words ead, which means
"prosperity, fortune, riches" and wine, which means "friend."
Both of these words have passed out of the language in the
intervening thousand or so years. On the other hand, a word
which has not radically changed forms the first part of the Old
English name Wulfgar. The word may have changed spelling
somewhat, but the word wolf is still recognizable. (The second
element gar means "spear.")
With
the rise of Christianity, certain trends in naming practices
manifested. Christians were encouraged to name their children
after saints and martyrs of the church. The oldest of these
names were Jewish and GrecoRoman names. The names of the
apostles and other prominent early Christians mentioned in the
New Testament were often Jewish, such as Mary, Martha, Matthew,
James, Joseph and John. The early Christians lived in the Roman
empire, and it is among the other peoples of the empire that
they first began to convert non-Jews. As a result of the
persecutions in the early centuries, many GrecoRoman names
entered the Christian name pool in commemoration of the martyrs
and saints, such as Anthony, Catherine, Margaret, Mark, Martin,
Nicholas and Paul.
These
early Christian names can be found in many cultures today, in
various forms. These were spread by early missionaries
throughout the Mediterranean basin and Europe. At the same time
pagan nations newly converted to Christianity did not abandon
their original name pool. Native martyrs and saints soon arose
in every culture and their names would be added to the pool of
Christian names available to Christian parents. The Christian
name pool sometimes preserved names that would have otherwise
fallen out of use. For example, most AngloSaxon names fell out
of use within two centuries of the Norman Conquest of England.
One that did not, because it was the name of a famous saint, is
the name Edward, which is still in use today.
By the
Middle Ages, the Christian influence on naming practices was
pervasive. Each culture had its pool of names, which were a
combination of native names and early Christian names that had
been in the language long enough to be considered native. The
naming pools did continue to evolve, so that a selection of
ninth century Frankish names bears little resemblance to a
selection of twelfth century French names. The interesting thing
is that the "early Christian names" changed the least in most
name pools.
The
pool of names in use in England changed radically with the
Norman conquest in 1066. Previous to this, dithematic (compound
names with two elements) such as Bealdwine, Cuthbert, Eadgyth,
Ethelwine, Etheldreda, Wilfrith and Wulfgar predominated. With
the political ascendancy of the Normans, French names of
Germanic origin became prevalent within two or three generations
of the Conquest. As a result names like Emma, Matilda, Richard,
and William, became constants in English nomenclature. At the
same time a few Old English names, like Edward and Alfred, were
preserved because they were names of saints or prominent kings;
others were preserved because they were reinforced and modified
by Germanic names from the Normans like Robert.
Surnames developed
from bynames, which are additional identifiers used to
distinguish two people with the same given name. These bynames
tend to fall into particular patterns. These usually started out
as specific to a person and became inherited from father to son
between the twelfth and sixteenth century. The aristocracy
usually adopted inherited surnames early on and the peasants did
so later. Some of the specific types are: the patronymic
(referring to the father or mother), a locative or toponymic
(indicating where a person is from), an epithet (which describes
a person in some way) or a name derived from occupation, office
or status. Most cultures use surnames developed from one or more
of these types of bynames.
Patronymics are common in almost all European cultures. These
are usually formations that mean "x son of y" or "x daughter of
y". The parent indicated is usually the father, but the mother's
name may also occur in some cases. Patronymics were formed in
various ways in English; Johnson, Richards and Henry are
representative. Johnson shows the full development; it obviously
means son of John or John's son. The "son" could also be
understood, by the position in the name, so Richard's son Martin
might be called Martin Richards instead of Martin Richardson. At
the same time, Henry's son Martin might be known as Martin
Henry, because to the medieval mind the position of the name
Henry would imply that Martin was Henry's son. Other cultures
used different ways of indicating patronymics. In Welsh, the
usual form was ap X. If the father's name (X) was Rhys, it would
form ap Rhys. Over the centuries this form yielded the names
Reese and Price. In Scotland and Ireland the typical patronymic
form was mac X, yield names such as MacAndrew, MacDougall,
MacGregor and MacLeod.
Locative and toponymic bynames are another common form of
byname. Locatives are very typical of the aristocracy in England
and France. A locative byname indicates that you are from some
named place. Typical forms in Old and Middle English are: aet,
atte, de, of. For example æt Lintone, atte Homwode, de London,
de Ebor. Sometimes the name of the place followed the given name
directly, without a preposition, thus forming the bynames
Linton, Homwode, London and York.
Toponymic bynames are derived from topographic or other local
features of the landscape. For example, a man dwelling near a
prominent beech tree might use "atte Beche", " de Beche" or " de
la Beche" as his byname. A man dwelling on or near a hill might
use "del Hill," "atte Hil" or "of the Hill." A man dwelling
near marshy ground might use "atte Fen" or "del Fen." Names of
this type are quite common in England. Eventually, of course,
these usually wore down to Beech, Hill and Fen.
Epithets are bynames that refer to some personal characteristic
of the bearer. In the Middle Ages, a person acquired this from
friends and acquaintances. An appellation of this sort can be
complimentary, uncomplimentary or simply descriptive. Nicknames
can take various forms: descriptive of physical characteristics
of some kind like Blakloc, the Small, Armstrong or Grenehod, or
descriptive of character or mental or moral characteristics,
such as Wastepenny, Slyman, Careless, Bonfaith, Longhand, The
Short, Wrymouth (crooked), Longshanks (tall), The Stammerer, The
Younger, The Fair, The Fat, The Lame, The Bald, Forkbeard,
Bluetooth, The Blind. Sometimes a nickname can be metaphoric
(i.e. "John
is like a ") yielding names like "Peppercorn" for a small person
and "Fairweather" for a cheerful, sunny person. Color and
complexion are responsible for some names such as Fairchild,
Liliwhite, Whitelock. Military prowess created some names and
nicknames like Longespee (longsword), The Fearless,
Skull-Cleaver, The Victorious, The Bold, The Lion. Some,
however, are misleading. Crouchback was not an indication of a
deformity but rather that the bearer wore a cross on the back of
his tunic. Personalities are reflected in nicknames such as The
Pious, The Chaste, The Great, The Dark, Hotspur, The Gracious,
The Outlaw, The Catholic, The Wise.
Occupational names are often the most obvious in origin. Baker,
Brewer, Weaver, Taylor and Smith are fairly obvious in meaning.
Some of these occupational bynames also have feminine versions
which became hereditary surnames. For example, the feminine of
Baker is Baxter, the feminine of Brewer is Brewster and the
feminine of Weaver is Webster. However, more than half of the
recorded people with these feminine surnames are male.
Occupational surnames as a class are considered to also contain
office names. Examples of office names are those such as
Marshall (a tender of horses, or an office of high state) and
Steward (a manager of an estate) and Abbott (the head of an
abbey).
So,
what’s in a name? Much.
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