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>!> ^•' /> 1^ Presented to the LIBRARIES of the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY OF ONTARIO Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Toronto http://www.archive.org/details/familynamesfrdmiOOgent — Family Names ^.MJ FROM THE VlaM<a^ IRISH, ANGLO-SAXON, ANGLO-NORMAN AND SCOTCH Considered in Relation to their Etymology, Brief Remarks on the History and Languages —OF THE Peoples to Whom we are Indebted for their Origin. BY THOMAS G. GENTRY, Author of "Life-Histories of Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania," "The House Spakrow," " Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States," etc. PHILADELPHIA: BURK & McFETRIDGE. 1892. y0^^'' <-. — NOV ) (( u iiouiJI Copyright, 1892, — BY THOMAS G. GENTRY PREFACE. In all ages and localities of the world names, implying some one or more characteristics of person, feature, faith, place or event, were conferred by people, especially by those of defective education and rude, unpolished manners. The nations of antiquity appear to have set the example, for the Hebrews had their "Adam," which meant " red earth," their " Elizabeth," "the oath of God," and the Greeks their " Theophilus," "the friend of God." Scriptural names, and those of a purely classical character, have been studied with less difficulty. Every Hebrew name has been fully discussed and exam- ined by the best scholars, and the Greek have received the same amount of careful consideration. Not so with the Latin. While much of value and interest have been gleaned through patient study and investigation, yet there is a great deal that must forever remain doubtful and inexplicable. Ripe German philologists have given full attention to the numerous race of German appellations, the Scandinavian class having been most ably treated in a series of articles to the Norsk Maandeskrifts from the pen of Prof. Munch, of Chrisiiania. Turner, Kemble, Thierry, and others, have studied, but not comparatively, Anglo- Saxon names, and thrown considerable light upon the subject. Keltic names have presented far greater difficulties. The changes through which the name passes must be considered, and not merely the sound when translated into English. Books of travels, histories, and popular tales, are here indispensable aids to the dictionary, especially when writers have been good enough to give with any- thing like tolerable accuracy the genuine word rather than their Anglicised construction. While surnames and local names have often been discussed, and that very poorly in the large majority of cases, the Christian name has generally been considered too fortuitous to merit notice. Camden did indeed review the current ones of his day, giving many correct explanations, but Verstegen, who followed him up, was more specu- lative, and, consequently, less correct. Since his day, no English author seems to have given any reliable information to the subject. It is true that a few lists of names and meanings have appeared in magazines and popular works, but they have generally been copies of Verstegen, with puerile and incorrect additions. One paper, which was published a long time ago in Chamber's Journal, was the only truly valuable paper on English names en masse that has appeared since he wrote. But little attention has been paid to the history of names. Why one should be popular and another forgotten, why one should flourish till tiiij;lit»ut. Ill I'lilire coimtry. another in one section alone, and another around some petty district, has not, it would seem, been of suHicient imi>ortan(e to invite examination. History has answered some of these iiueslions. ^enealoj^y others, and the paiient tracing of patron saints, tlieir rehcs, and their lej^ends, many others. In this department of investis^ation, philoloji:y owes a lasting debt of gratitude to Charlotte M. Vonge, a well-known luiglish authoress, who has had the time, the patience, the ability, for so herculean a task. A careful perusal of her work, w hilc it shows a few defects, the results of preconceived notions and lalse reasoning, brings to the light of knowledge much that is valuable and important. The writer's interest in the subject began with his study of the Irish language more than two decades ago. That interest has never wavered, but has gathered strength and force with the advancing years. A desire that his fellows .should know something of the etymology and meanings of names, for few people have any other idea than that names, family names especially, are the results of chance, has led to the pul)lication of this work. ' In its preparation he has drawn his facts from primitive sources. Few names, and these originally Christian in character, have been taken at second hand, but in most instances even these have been modified in derivation and meaning to adapt them to his conceptions of what the genius of the languages, from which they were drawn, w^ould require. Bourke's Self- Instruction in Irish ^ O'Reilly's Irish-Enolish Dictionary^ Foley's Ens^lish- Irish Dictionary^ and The Irish Echo, a monthly paper published in Boston, and devoted to Irish history and genealogies, are the sources from which have been obtained the facts for the Irish names. March's Comparative Gramviar of the Anglo- Saxon Language, March's Anglo-Saxon Reader, and Bosworth's Anglo- Saxon and English Dictionary have been invaluable so far as the Anglo- Saxon are concerned, and for the Anglo-Norman and Scotch consider- able information has been gleaned from the writings of Chaucer, edited by Wright, from Percy's Rtliques of Ancient English Poetry, and from scores of other sources. It is not pretended that the list of names herein given is anything like complete. Hundreds of others could have been included, but they would only have augmented the size of the book beyond the author's intention. He has endeavored to select names presumably familiar to English-speaking people, and to give their probable derivation and significance. The keen eye of the critic may detect some faults, for a work of this kind cannot necessarily be free from errors, either of judg- ment or wisdom, but it is to be hoped that the value of the work, as a vehicle of truth and information, may not materially be affected by reason of them. THOMAS G. GENTRY. Philadelphia, June i, 1892. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface 3 From the Irish 7 History—The Celts 9 Lessons in Irish 13 Names—Their Derivation 18 From the Anglo-Saxon . — 51 History Jutes, Saxons, Angles . ; -53 Lessons in Anglo-Saxon 57 Names—Their Derivation 65 From THE Anglo-Norman 171 History—Norman Conquest 173 Anglo-Norman Language 175 Names—Their Derivation 180 From the Scotch 189 History—The Scot 191 Scotch—as it now Exists 195 Names—Their Derivation 197 Addenda et Corrigienda ....... 208 From the Irish. HISTORY—THE CELTS. Careful study and research have enabled philologists to establish a system of linguistic classification. They have given us such families as the Chinese, the Polynesian, the Scythian, the Semitic, and others ; and above them all the great Indo-European Family, which comprehends ten members—three Asiatic and seven European. Seven of these ten families have long been recognized, namely: Iranian, or Ancient and Modern Persian; Indian, or Sanskrit, used in Hindostan ; Hellenic—Ancient and Modern Greek ; Italic, that is, the Latin and its descendants — Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Provencal, Rheto- Romanic, and Wallachian ; Slavonic, preeminently the Russian; Celtic, or Keltic, made up of the Cymric and the Gaelic ; Teutonic, subdivided into Gothic, Scandinavian, High German, and Low German. Into the Low German the English falls. Recent scholars have added to these seven the Lithuanian, Armenian, and Albanian, making ten in all. So unlike are these languages now, that it was not sus- pected until this century that they were once the same speech spoken by a people dwelling together long enough to build . up a respectable vocabulary and a common language. The home of this mother-tribe is involved in obscurity. Con- jecture, at one time, placed it upon the high table-land of Eastern Persia. Recent surmise, principally German, locates it in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Russia just north of the Caucasus mountains. When, and in what order, the migra- tions took place is also conjectural. That great migrations did occur, and that each migrating horde carried along with it lO the [Kiront speech, is no longer questioned. Strong authorities nKike it credible that the Celtic tribes were the first to abandon the old homestead and seek their fortunes in new and strange lands. Of this people, the Celts, when first they appear upon the historical horizon, some prefatory remarks are needed. They occupied the Spanish Peninsula, Gaul when conquered by Caisar, and Britain, when visited by him in 55 and 54 B. C. In Ikitain, they were divided into many tribes, and were seldom known to unite in a common cause. They lived in houses hollowed out of the hills, built with low stone walls, thatched with reeds and straw, and lighted only by the door. Their dress consisted of the tunic and short trousers. Fruits, milk, flesh, and grain bruised and baked, constituted their food. They manufactured earthenware, war chariots, arrows, the sword, the spear, the battle-axe, and the shield, burned or buried their dead, tattooed their bodies, and were largely controlled by their priests. The latter — the druids — mo- nopolized the learning, took to themselves supreme authority, settled all disputes, civil and criminal, and were exempt from taxation and all public duties. No determined resistance was offered by the Celts to Roman occupancy of Britain, for, under Agricola, the Romans had by 84 A. D., conquered as far north as the Firth of Forth, which they joined to the river Clyde by the wall of Antoninus.

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