DERIVATION OF NAMES

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 7 August 1912, Page 3

DERIVATION OF NAMES

Mr. C. W. Bardsley, in his work on English surnames, contends that every surname in all the countries of Europe has come from one of the following sources—Baptismal or personal names, localities, dignitaries and officers, occupations, nicknames- As examples of surnames coming from baptismal or personal names the followingare some of the most common—a man named John having a son, the son

was dfsTntguished from the father by being called "John's son," and from this came the surname of Johnson; from Richard, James and William we have Richardson, Jameson, Williams, and Williamson. The following are examples of surnames derived from localities in which persons lived—A man living near a brook was known as "John at the Brook," and we have from this the surname Brooke and Brooks. Then "Gilbert at the Wood" gives us the surname Atwood and Wood, and "William at the Water," Atwater and Waters. Examples of surnames from dignitaries and officers —Lord, Cardinal, Bishop, Sheriff, Judge, Justice, Priest. The following surnames came from occupations —Smith, Carpenter, Painter, Beeman, Honeyman, Fisher, Miller, Barber, Wheelwright, Faloner. The following nicknames became surnames— Cruickshanks, Whitehead, Redman, Shortman, Proudfoot, Lightfoot, Prettiman, Whiteman.

Giving is as essential to spiritual life as breathing is to physical life.

As the artist, whose soul images some form of the beautiful, seizes the brush or the chisel to portray it, as the thinker's burning thoughts drive him to utterance, so in the truly moral nature every idea of the good becomes a necessity, every thought of the higher a command, all that we dream of and that seems so far away becomes an end and goal for our action and our life.—W. M. Salter.