This companion volume to The Romance of Words is no less diverting. It is just one branch of the hunt, and perhaps the most interesting one to start with. We find mythical etymologies like that of the Napiers of Merchiston who took the motto n'a pier ("has no equal"), whereas their ancestors were the servants who looked after the napery. Not all the Seymours are St Maurs. Some of them were once Seamers—i.e. tailors.

The ff in ffrench and ffoulkes is sheer affectation, as the ff is merely the method of indicating the capital letter in early documents. The telescoping of long names leads to trouble among the ignorant. Auchinleck, Affleck; Postlethwaite, Posnett; Wolstenholme, Woosnam are good examples of this.

It is well to be reminded, for the sake of those who bear "hideous names," of the following facts. Matthew Arnold in his essay on the Function of Criticism at the Present Time is moved by the case of Wragg to this:

"What a touch of grossness in our race, what an original shortcoming in the more delicate spiritual perceptions, is shown by the natural growth amongst us of such hideous names—Higginbottom, Stiggins, Bugg."

As a matter of fact, Wragg is the first element in the heroic Ragnar; Bugg is the Anglo-Saxon Bucga; Stiggins is the illustrious Stigand, and Higginbottom is purely geographical.

We owe a great many of our names in disguise to the paladins and of course to the Bible. Pankhurst is Pentecost, Chubb and Jupp are derived from Job, Cradock from Caradoc (Caractacus), Maddox from Madoc, Izzard from Isolt, Rome from Roland.

Metronymics, as Professor Weekley hastens to assure us, are not always a sign of moral depravity: in mediÆval times the children of a widow often assumed the mother's name.

From Matilda we get Tillotson, from Beatrice Betts, from Isabel Ibbotson, from Avice Haweis.

With regard to local surnames we have to accustom ourselves to the idea that the name of a county, town or village was acquired when the locality was left. Scott is an English name, English or Inglis is Scottish; Cornish and Cornwallis first became common in Devonshire, French and Francis are English ... for the same reason Cutler is a rare name in Sheffield. The great exception Curnow in Cornwall may stand for those who could only speak the old Cornish language.

Morris (Moorish) is probably a nickname due to complexion.

It is true that we owe many names to "spots." It is curious how Field, Lake, Pool, Spring, Street and Marsh persist in the singular, while Meadows, Rivers, Mears, Wells, Rhodes and Myers hang on to the plural. So we get Nokes, but Nash: monosyllables tend to the plural. There are certain Celtic words connected with scenery—Lynn, Carrick, Craig are common examples.

Beerbohm Tree is pleonastic, meaning pear-tree tree. Thackeray means the corner where the thatch was stored. Kellogg is derived from kill hog. Cazenove and Newbolt have the same meaning. Rothschild means red shield, Hawtrey comes from Hauterive, but Norman ancestry is not always to be assumed because we find French spot-names so common in England (Neville, Villiers, etc.). Boyes and Boyce may spring from a man of pure English descent who happened to be described del bois instead of atte wood, but this is rare. Roach is not a fish-name, but corresponds to Delaroche. Pew, if not Ap Hugh, was a Dupuy.

Occupative names become a natural surname, but Knight is not always knightly, for Anglo-Saxon cuiht means servant; LabouchÈre was the lady butcher, Cordner the worker in Cordovan leather; Muir was le muur, who had charge of the mews in which the hawks were kept while moulting. Reader and Booker have nothing to do with literature: the former thatched, the latter was a butcher.

Professor Weekley devotes one whole chapter to show the difficulties that beset the etymologist in his search to derive one single word accurately. The specimen name he takes is Rutter, which he eventually traces to fiddler.

From the lower orders of the church we get Lister, a reader; Bennet, an exorcist; and Collet, an acolyte.

In trades we get Fuller in the south, Tucker (toucher) in the west, and Walker in the north. Secker means sackmaker, Parmenter a parchmenter, Pargater a dauber, Straker a maker of tires. Grieve, Graves and Greaves was a land agent, Coster dealt in costards—i.e. apples; Jagger worked draught-horses for hire; Stewart was the sty-ward; Todhunter hunted the fox; Toller collected the tolls.

Among nicknames Earnes means uncle, and Neave nephew. Who would recognise Halfpenny in MacAlpine? Coffin means bald, Lloyd grey, and Russell red; Oliphant elephant; Hinks, from Hengst, a stallion; Stott, a bullock; Luttrell, an otter; Talbot, a hound; Colfox, a black fox; Fitch, a polecat.

Fish-names are usually not genuine.