Suffolk Surnames

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A COLLECTION MADE BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 AND BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY ^»»...- Cornell University Library CS2485 .B78 1861 Suffolk surnames. By N. I. Bowditch 3 1924 029 805 748 olin The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029805748 SUFFOLK SURNAMES. SUFFOLK SURNAMES. N. I. BOWDITCH. " A NAME ! If the party had a voice, " What mortal would be a Bugg by choice ? HOOD. Srijirti EiitiDit. L N D N : TRtiBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. BOSTON, U.S.: T I C K X R A X D FIELDS. ISfil. AS'^F/3^ Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by NATHANIEL INGEESOLL BOWDITCH, In the Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON, U.S.: FKINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SOX, 22, ScHOoi. Steeet. 1)3 TO THE MEMORY A. SHURT, 'THE FATHER OF AMERICAN CONVEYANCING,' WHOSE NAME IS ASSOCIATED ALIKE Pg Jailg Soilet anb mg §ailg (iaupation. — CONTENTS. Chapter. Page, I. ORIGIN OF NAMES 1 11. SPECIMENS OF CHRISTIAN NAMES 5 UI. SURNAMES : THEIR GREAT NUMBER. — REMARKABLE NAMES: FROM LIFE AND DEATH; LOVE AND FEAR. HOGGISH NAMES ; SHORT AND LONG ; ETC 28 IV. OPPOSITE SURNAMES CONTRASTED . 41 V. PECULIAR SURNAMES GROUPED TOGETHER .... 5i VI. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED , 59 VII. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED. — AUTHORS, ETC. 68 VIII. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED. — ENGLISH NAMES . 75 IX. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED. — CIVIL AND MILITARY NAMES. — GRACEFUL NAMES 79 X. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED 86 XI. PECULIAR SURNAMES CONTINUED. — GOOSE, ETC. ... 95 XII. NAMES FROM HEATHEN DEITIES, ETC. ; HEAVEN AND HELL, ETC. MAN, AND PARTS OF A MAN 101 f .... XIII. MALE FEMALE NAMES Ill XIV. NAMES FROM MENTAL QUALITIES 117 XV. NAMES FROM BODILY PECULIARITIES . 143 XVI. NAMES FROM RELATIONSHIP AND AFFECTION | FROM AGE, ETC 165 vm co^t?;nts. Chapter. Page. XVn. NAMES FROM NATIONS, COUNTRIES, TOWNS ; AND NAMES OF PROMISCUOUS OR MULTITUDINOUS SIG- NIFICATIONS 1"2 XVIII. NAMES FROM ARTICLES OF DRESS AND ORNAMENT . 182 XIX. NAMES FROM ANIMALS . 191 XX. NAMES FROM BIRDS . 200 XXI. NAMES FROM FISHES, INSECTS, REPTILES, ETC. ; AND OTHER DISAGREEABLE NAMES . - 209 XXII. NAMES FROM THE FACE OF NATURE ... 221 XXIII. NAMES FROM THE FACE OF NATURE CONTINUED . 241 XXIV. NAMES FROM TREES, FRUITS, AND VEGETATION . 250 XXV. NAMES FROM THE ELEMENTS ; FROM HEAT, COLD, FUEL ; AND FROM POINTS OF THE COMPASS . 267 XXVI. NAMES FROM SEASONS, TIME, NUMERALS, DIMENSIONS, AND SPACE, ETC. 278 XXVII. NAMES FROM MUSIC AND DANCING, AND FROM COLORS 288 XXVIII. NAMES FROM SOCIETY, EDIFICES, PARTS OF EDIFICES, SIGNS OF INNS, BUILDING-MATERIALS, FURNITURE, ETC 299 XXIX. NAMES FROM STREETS, UTENSILS, ETC 318 XXX. NAMES FROM MATHEMATICS, LOGIC, LITERATURE, AND LAW 325 XXXI. NAMES FROM MONEY AND THRIFT, AND THEIR OPPO- SITES 338 XXXII. NAMES FROM CHARITY ; FROM COMMERCE AND NAVI- GATION ; FROM DIGNITIES AND OFFICES .... 346 XXXIII. NAMES FROM TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS 354 XXXIV. NAMES FROM PRODUCTS AND OBJECTS OF TRADE. — NAMES FROM EATABLES 362 XXXV. NAMES FROM HORSEMANSHIP AND LOCOMOTION ; FROM GAMES AND SPORTS 368 XXXVI. NAMES FROM WAR AND FIGHTING . .... 376 CONTENTS. IX Chapter. Page. XXXVII. NAMES FROM DISEASES AND MEDICINES ; DRINKING NAMES 387 XXXVIII. NAMES FROM EJACULATIONS, ETC 397 XXXIX. SURNAMES FROM CHRISTIAN NAMES, OK ENDING IN OLD SAXON WORDS .... 401 XL. NAMES ORIGINATING IN MISTAKE TRANSLATED ; ; CHANGED ; ETC 418 XLI. MISCELLANEOUS NAMES STILL EXTANT IN BOSTON . 424 XLII. MISCELLANEOUS NAMES EXTINCT IN BOSTON . , 456 XLIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS. — WORDS DERIVED FROM NAMES . .... .... 466 XLIV. SUPPLEMENT, CONTAINING NOTES, ADDITIONS, AND CORRECTIONS 473 IXDEX, INCLUDING Foot Notes 497 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. When our forefathers came to this country, they introduced at once a Eegistry of Deeds, or a uni- form system of recording land-conveyances ; and they also established a Probate Office, to contain the entire settlement of the estates of deceased persons, — the original probate of each "wUl being for ever conclusive on all parties, both as to real and personal property. In both these particulars, they weve two centuries in advance of the mother-country, where such registries of conveyances were only locally and partially introduced, and where wills were required to be proved over again in each suit respect- ing real estate. The county of Suffolk consists of the city of Boston, and the small adjoining town of Chelsea and its various subdivisions. It formerly included also the several towns now constituting Norfolk County. Suffolk County, therefore, means xii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Boston and its immediate vicinity. Our registry of deeds now numbers 735 volumes, of which the first 20 contain all the deeds prior to A.D. 1700. The deeds of the next hundred years come down only to Lib. 200. Those of the first quarter of this century years have reach to Lib. 300 ; and the last thirty added more volumes than were made during the whole former period. It is to this collection of Suffolk deeds that I refer by " L." and " f." All the records of Suffolk County were removed to Canada during the Kevolution ; and two volumes — L. 112 and L. lU (for the years 1766, 1768) — were not returned. In these missing volumes, lawyers have presumed to be recorded all conveyances of or before that period which cannot be found, — a convenient hypothesis, which however, it must be confessed, would make these two volumes more bulky than any twenty others. It is an interesting fact, that, though these records have existed among us for two centuries, it is only within the present year that an appropriation of twelve thousand dollars has been made for a new and perfect Index .since A.D. 1800, in which all the various surnames are to he arranged alphabetically. This Index will be of incalculable value, and will supersede for ever a vast amount of irksome labor. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. xiu The existence of these records has produced among us a branch of the legal profession known as conveyancers, and examiners of titles to real estate. On the completion of my law-studies, my tastes led to this me pursuit; and I have y\q>yv fifty-five auto- graph folio volumes, of five hundred pages each, of these abstracts of titles. Beginning my researches in 1827, before the registry had become very volumi- nous, I, in every instance, traced back the estate to the settlement of the town ; whereas, at present, conveyancers scarcely ever extend their investiga- tions back of the present century. I have thus a familiarity with the names of the early owners of real estate among us which my successors have never obtained or sought for. Further, our law permits an attachment of real estate on mesne pro- cess to secure a debt ; and I have an alphabetical list of all those whose estates have been thus en- cumbered since 1831. As it is now provided that record-books of attachments shall be kept by the clerks of the several courts, no such private list exists anywhere else. In connection with these my professional researches, I have now in my possession strictly alphabetical indices, to the extent of three thousand pages, of names of persons who have been parties to ; XIV PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. conveyances from the settlement of the country, or defendants in suits in our courts, or who have taken the benefit of the late Bankrupt Law of the United States, or whose estates have been administered upon in the Probate Office. I also own the original editions of Pope's "Iliad" and " Odyssey," in eleven large quarto volumes (1715-25); Thomson's "Seasons," both the original edition of 1730, and a very rare one illustrated by Bartolozzi, published in 1797 ; and the Macklin Bible, in six large quarto volumes, published in 1800, of which it is believed that only one other copy exists in this country. These works contain long lists of subscribers in England and Scotland. Many of the names embraced in these volumes and in our early records are now unknown among us. " Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse, by Mary Jones," was published at Oxford in 1740, in the first style of typography of the day. This work is dedicated to " The Princess Royal and of Orange ; " and all the nobility and chief gentry are among the subscribers. It is in the possession of Charles Sprague, the poet and has been kindly placed at my disposal as quite a treasury of odd names. It is remarkable that a volume, containing at least one piece which no lady would now read, should have been, only a century PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. XV ago, written by a lady, and universally admired by the most refined and cultivated of the land. Who vras Mary Jones'?* I am indebted to Thomas J. Lee, Esq., of this city, for a printed subscription-list for Chauchard's maps of Germany, Italy, &c., — a work published under the like royal and noble patronage, in London, A.D. 1800. The venerable Charles Lowell, D.D., voluntarily sent to me several pages of names of members of the West Church in Boston during the last century ; all of which, however, I was gratified to find that I had in my own records. There is in the Massachusetts Historical Society a catalogue of the books in the library of Harvard College, selected for the especial use of the under- graduates, printed in 1773. Of this collection, scarcely one book in ten is now seen or heard of.

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