Stories That Words Tell Us

not always the case. Every Christian from the earliest days of Christianity must have had a Christian name given to him at baptism. And before the days of

as the populations of the different countries became larger, it became necessary for peopl

the children afterwards do not like their own names at all.) The Christian names of the children of European countries come to us from many differen

, whether they were from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, or Slavonic, were soon spread throughout all the countries of Europe, so that now French, German, English

lm in German, and so on. John is Jean in French,

he Hebrew word for "hairy," because he was already covered by the thick growth of hair on his body which made him so different from Jacob. The old Roman names Flavius and Fulvius merely meant "yellow," and the Fr

iting. Joseph means "addition," and Rachel chose this name because she hoped another child would yet be a

son Joseph, and this, and the fact that Napoleon's first wife was named Josephine, made these two names as a boy's and a girl's name very popular. We have both Joseph and Josephine in English, and the French have Fifine and Finette as well as Josephi

The Greek Lycos, the Latin Lupus, the Teutonic Ulf, from which came the Latin Ulphilas and the Slavonic Vuk, all mean "wolf." The wolf was the most common and the most treacherous of all the wild animals against which early peoples had to fight,

arite, a Greek name meaning "pearl," and which is the origin of all the Mar

lizabeth, or the "oath of God;" John, or the "grace of the Lord." The Romans had the name Jovian

n from flowers, like the Greek Rhode, or "rose," the E

ns "sorrow;" Ichabod, or "the glory is departed;" Mary, "bitter." The Jews, as we can see from the Bible, suffered the greatest misfortunes, and their writers knew how to tell

meant in Greek merely a messenger, but it began to be used by the early Christian writers both in Latin and Greek to mean a messenger from heaven, or an angel. The Greeks gave it first as a surname, and then as a Christian name. In the thirt

a church to St. Michael in Constantinople. The name is so much used in Russia that it is quite common to speak of a Russian peasant as a "Michael," just as people rather vulgarly speak of an Irish peasant as a "Paddy." Michael can hardly be called an Eng

ord for God, was sometimes so used by the Greeks. A Greek name formed from this, Theophilos,

the early martyrs, a virgin of noble Roman birth, who died for her religion, was St. Christina. In Denmark the name became a man's name, Christiern. Another English name which is like Christina is Christabel. The great p

y people across a stream which had no bridge over it. One day a little boy suddenly appeared, and asked him to carry him across. The kind saint did so, and found, as he got farther into the stream, that the child gr

or "rock." The name Peter became a favourite in honour of St. Peter, whose name was first Simon, but who was cal

n France names made from the Latin word amo ("I love") were quite common. We hear of Amabilis ("lovable"), Amadeus ("loving God"), Amandus, which has now become a surname in France as St. Amand. In England, Am

it since the seventeenth century. Beatrix and Beatrice also come from this. The name Benedict, which sometimes became in English Bennet, came from another word like this, Benignus ("kind"). Boniface, from the Latin Bonifaciu

es from this, and, as well as Natalie, is used as a Christian name. No?l is found, too, both as a Christian name and surname in England. At one ti

n in the seventeenth century. Often they gave them whole texts of Scripture as names, so that at least one small boy was called "Bind t

liar surname, but was also blessed with the "Christian" name of Praise-God. Cromwell grew impatient at last, and Praise-God Barebones and the other talkers suddenly found Parliament dissolved.

s. As we have seen, there was a time when early peoples had only first names. The Ro

land had, however, nearly all got them by the fourteenth century; but in Scotland many people were still without surnames in the time of James I., an

ways people got their surnames. Sometimes this

rcy") came in; and many of these names, which are considered very aristocratic, still remain. We have de Corbet, de Beauchamp, de Colevilles, and so on. Sometimes the de has been dropped. Sometimes, again, people took their names in the same way from places in England

fond of giving nicknames, especially names referring to people's personal appearance. We get the best examples of this in the nicknames ap

nicknames that we get surnames like White, Black, Long, Young, Short, and so on. All these are, of course, well-known surnames to-day, and though many men named Long may be small, and

ort or Little in English. The name Goodheart was Bun-Couer in Norman-French, and from this came Bunker, which, if we knew nothing of its history, would not seem to mean Goodheart at all. So the name Tait came from Tête, or Head; and we may guess tha

grey"), all came from nicknames referring to people's complexions. Reed and Reid come from

olours, being very much liked in the Middle Ages. So we hear of the name Curtmantle, or "short cloak," and Curthose, which was later changed to Shorthose, which is still a well-known name in Derbyshire. The

Makepeace, Sweet, etc. The people who have these names may well believe that the first of their ancestors who bore them was of a gentle and amiable disposition. Name

and was probably first given to some one very large, and perhaps a little ungraceful. Bullock as a surname probably had the same sort of origin. The names Falcon, Hawk, Buzzard, must have been first given to people whose

n who handed on the name Wilson (or Willson, as it is still sometimes spelt) was himself the "son of Will." Any one can think of many names of this kind-Williamson, Davidson, Adamson, etc. Sometimes t

en the "son of Stephen," and so on. The Irish prefix O' has the same meaning. The ancestor of all the O'Neills was himself the son of Neill. The Scandina

the founder of the family. Perhaps the commonest of English surnames is Smith. And the word f

e of the most important of all the workers in the early days when surnames were being made. There were many smiths, and Jo

," from which we get the well-known surname Goldsmith, the name of a great English writer. Then there was the "nail smith," from whi

nd other great houses, was the chief industry of the nation. This trade of wool-weaving has given us many surnames, such as Woolmer, Woolma

al names which have come in this way fro

Fletcher comes from the almost forgotten word flechier, "an arrowmaker." Coltman came from the name of the man who had charge of the colts. Runciman was the man who had charge of horses too, and comes from another Old English word, rouncy, "a horse." The Parkers are descended from a park-ke

nce, every person named Smith is not descended from a smith, for the name also comes

kind. Sometimes they were prefixed by the Old English atte ("at") or the French de la ("of the"), but thes

a shaw was a shelter for fowls and animals. The chief thing about a man who got the surname of H

tic animals. So we have Horsley, Cowley, Hartley, Shipley (from "sheep"). Sometimes the name was taken

ns had Hugon, and from this we get the rather commonplace names of Huggins, Hutchins, Hutchinson, and several others. So St. Cl

for servant was giollo, or giolla. It was in this way that names like Gilchrist, Gilpatrick, first came to be used. Th

are Newman, Newcome, Cumming (from cumma, "a stranger"). Sometimes the nationality to which the stranger belonged is shown by the name. The ancestors

mon names Pardoe, Pardie, etc., come from the older name Pardieu, or "By God," a solemn form of oath. We have, too, the English for

of names. This chapter shows only some of the ways