English Names -What is the story behind ? Nancy Kao
Top names ranking The history of English names (first names) The history of English surnames (last names) References
Top names: Robert 2.James 3.John 4.William 5.Richard 1.Mary 2.Betty 3.Dorothy 4.Helen 5.Barbara 26.Gloria 27.Nancy 33.Catherine
Top names: Michael 2.Jason 3.Christopher 4.David 5.James 10.Daniel 34.Mark 1.Jennifer 2.Jessica 3.Amanda 4.Melissa 5.Sarah 30.Andrea 34.Katherine
Top names: Jacob 2. Ethan 3. Michael 4. Alexander 5. William 7. Daniel 1. Isabella 2. Emma 3. Olivia 4. Sophia 5. Ava 23. Hannah
History-names People have had names since long time ago Most names have some sort of original meaning, usually descriptive: 1.discriptive names 2.compound names 3.Christian names
History-names Descriptive names 1.from nouns: Irish Gaelic name, Conan => "hound, wolf “, Aed => "fire “ 2.from adjectives: Irish Gaelic name, Fial => "modest, honorable, generous ”, Finn => "fair, bright, white"
History-names Compound names 1.Frankish names: Sigibert => victory+shining, Childeric => battle+powerful. 2.Norse names (+god “ Thor ” ): male- Thorbjorn, Thorgeir, Thorkell female- Thordis, Thorgunna, Thorhalla
History-names 3. English names: Edwin => ead,"prosperity, fortune, riches “ + wine,"friend" Wulfgar => wulf, “ wolf ” + gar,"spear ” Thus … 1.forms a name pool 2.names become unrecognizable
History-names Christian names Christians were encouraged to name their children after saints and martyrs: 1.Jewish - Mary, Martha, Matthew, James, Joseph, John 2.Greco Roman - Anthony, Catherine, Margaret, Mark, Martin, Nicholas, Paul
History-names 3.Native - Alfred, Edward (from Anglo- Saxon) In Fact … 1."early Christian names" changed the least in most name pools 2.English name pool changed radically after the Norman conquest in 1066 => Emma, Matilda, Richard, William
History-surnames Developed from bynames, which used to distinguish two people with the same given name Became inherited from father to son between the 12 th and 16 th century, especially for aristocracy 3 types of surnames: 1. patronymic 2.locative or toponymic 3.epithet, occupation, office or status
History-surnames Patronymic surnames X+son: son of John or John's son => Johnson Richard's son Martin => Martin Richards ( “ son ” can also simplified to “ s ” ) In Welsh: ap X => ap Rhys/Reece => Price In Scotland and Ireland: mac X => MacAndrew, MacDougall, MacGregor
History-surnames Locative or Toponymic names Locative: indicate places that you are from. Typical forms in Old and Middle English are: aet x, atte x, de x, of x => æ t Lintone, atte Homwode, de London, de Ebor. Sometimes the name of the place followed the given name directly: Linton, Homwode, London, York
History-surnames Toponymic: topographic or other local features of the landscape a man dwelling near a beech tree might use "atte Beche", " de Beche" or " de la Beche" as his byname => XXX Beech, XXX Hill, XXX Fen
History-surnames Epithet, Occupation, Office or Status Epithet: refer to some personal characteristics: 1.physical characteristics: Blakloc, the Small, Armstrong, Grenehod 2.mental or moral characteristics: Wastepenny, Slyman, Careless, Bonfaith 3.metaphoric: "Peppercorn" - small person, "Fairweather" - cheerful, sunny person
History-surnames Occupation: Baker/Baxter, Taylor, Smith, Weaver/Webster, Brewer/Brewster, Office: Marshall - a tender of horses, or an office of high state, Steward - a manager of an estate, Abbott - the head of an abbey
Further Readings 1. E. G. Withycombe - The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names 2. P. H. Reaney - Origins of English Surnames 3. Ekwall - Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place names 4. Jan J ö nsjo - Studies on Middle English Nicknames
References Top names: Names and Surnames: amehist.htmlhttp://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/n amehist.html p=232http:// p=232