WHAT'S IN A NAME?

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3262, 3 February 1931, Page 2

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

HOW SURNAMES EVOLVED.

SMITHS THE MOST COMMON. In the new unemployment forms it has been revealed that the Smiths head the list with a total of 5400. Browns come second with 2700, and Brownes spelt with an "e" number only 200. Most of us are too busy to worry about the names we have used all our -lives. Even the happy band of Smiths may take comfort when they realise that their name is perhaps the oldest invented. Ever since farriers. have been farriers there have been Smiths in the world, our names to-day have been handed down to us not for what we are but as mementoes of the jobs our ancestors did. There must have been Smiths in the days of Boadicea. No doubt her chariot was the work of some smith or other.

"In the early days when Europe was the home, not of nations, but of tribes, there were no surnames. Men took unto themselves certain qualities they admired. Take the name of the British Conservative leader—Baldwin. It comes from two words, "bald," and "wine," meaning "friend." Even in the fourteenth century surnames as we know them were uncommon. Many of our present names indeed originated about those times from nicknames. We see this in such names as Goodfellow, Hogg, Longman, Little, and a host of others. As time went on and people increased, it became necessary to distinguish men with similar names in the same district. "William at the Wolde" took care not to be muddled with "William at the Townsend." "John of

Kirkgate" had to make himself unmistakable from "John in the Lane." In many cases abbreviations followed. William at the Wolde's eldest son became Wood for short.

When England tended to become industrialised a whole host of new names came on the scene. They may be traced to very early industrial efforts. Walker, Fuller, Tozer, Webster and Tucker all derive their names from the weaving of cloth. On the other hand, the Skinners of to-day, the Barkers, the Lorimers, and the Sadlers must look to the leather industries for their origins. There is one man in Norfolk who is still in doubt as to how he ever got his name, for names are not always straightforward. This individual rejoices in the name of Whalebelly. The name comes from the theatrical nom de plume of some actor who played in some forgotten Passion Play of mediaeval days. In a similar manner names such as Farrow (Pharaoh), Asplin (Absalom), and Mildmay all owe their origins to religion. Indeed the name of Carson at one time was a derisive term for a doubter or a heathen. Let the Smith take heart. Theirs is a noble name interwoven in the very structure out of which modern England was born. Remove the Smiths from the social life of ancient, mediaeval and modern Britain, and there would be very little left—except a few Browns spelt with an "e."