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—

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.

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.

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—

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.

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—

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.

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—

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:—

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.

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.

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—

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."

A curious feature in nomenclature is the local character of some nicknames. We have an instance of this in the Notts name Daft[141]—

The only occurrence of the name in the Hundred Rolls for the year 1273 is in the county of Notts.