What’s in a name?
let's take Smith for example, its an old English family name, in fact, its the most common surname in the United Kingdom, as well as Australia and the United States
Its also the second most common name in Canada.
Locksmith
The name derives from smið or smiþ, the Old English term meaning one who works in metal, but nowadays its more recognized as a worker, as in shoe-smith, someone who works with shoes, Gold-smith, Copper and Silversmith are self explanatory likewise Metal-smith, there are others including Gunsmith, locksmith and so on. People who worked with tin was a Tin-smith, there’s also a White-smith, a Wheel-smith and Green-smith, (These were those who worked with copper after it oxidised) the name Six-smith has nothing to do with six smiths but it is deviation of a sickle or scythe-smith.
But why Blacksmith?
But I got to thinking how come a person who makes objects from wrought iron or steel is called a Blacksmith? And no,a Blacksmith its not a man who shoes horses, he’s called a farrier.
So why Black? It appears its because he smites (hence Smith) Iron (Black metal) this is the colour metal goes when its heated, so there you have it a Blacksmith is someone who Smites black metal.
There’s a mountain called Smith as well as a Volcano, a fort and a chart, a trick in skateboarding is call a “Smith Grind” and part of weight training equipment is called a Smith Machine.
It goes on, there is a Smith Center, a County, a Tower, a river, a Collage even a Valley can all be found in America, one of the craters on the moon has the name smith , In Britain one of the biggest and most well known book shops is W.H.Smith and Smiths Crisps have been nibbled for many years.
The oldest record of the name dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, in those days, inherited names were still virtually unknown, in 975 Ecceard Smith was recorded in County Durham, North East England.
If you want to keep yourself anonymous
The name is so common that people who wish to remain anonymous will call themselves Smith, an Englishman is often referred to as John Smith, John was at one time the most common given name in England which is where the name originates.
Germanic, Romance, Celtic and Slavic languages all have there own variation of the name Smith. In my next "What's in a name" I will be looking at colours and how we came to be called after them.
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English family names are derived from many sources, I have already dealt with the surname “Smith” lets look now look at surnames that come from the names of colours. One of the oldest name deriving from a colour name is. Black
This is a very old and illustrious name, the native Celts and Britons (who were predominately dark haired) were given the name black, by the invading Angles and Saxons who were on the whole light haired and had a lighter skin tone, there is an old tale, that a certain Wulfricus Niger, otherwise known as Wulfric the Black circa 980 blackened his face to intermingle with the Saxons allowing him to go freely among them to learn of there war plans. It could be a deviation from the name blacksmith.
White
The Dying Gaul, a Roman white marble copy o
So given that the name black was given to the Celts and Britons by the Saxons, it is pretty clear the name White would have been given to the Saxons by the Celts and Britons. The name is recorded as White, Wight, Whyte, and Whight
In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the pre 9th century a.d. As well as the name given to the Saxons it was also the name for a baby who was born without any blemishes or marks, this was quite unusual in those days. People from an island off the south coast of England called the Isle of White where often referred to as white.
Brown
This is the forth most common name in the United Kingdom and is one of the most common family names in English-speaking countries, this too refers to hair colour, the name is also known as
Bruin in Holland, Le Brun, Le Brune or Le Brunne in France, Braun in Germany, the Italians, use Bruno, Bruni, Moro, Mori, Mora or Moretti, in Norway its Brun and in Russia its Brunetov as well as Brunetev, finally in Spain we have a collection including Castaño, Castaña, Moreno, Morreno, Morena and Morrena. Brown is yet another name of Norman origin dated from the 11th century.
Green
Once again another very common name and as you can imagine this time its not because of the colour of the hair, but rather someone who often dresses in Green, (sometimes spelt as grene) or was the one who plays the “Green man” in the May Day celebrations (See my article on this) it is also quite common in Sweden spelt Gren which comes from the Swedish word for tree.
It is even possible to register colours as trademarks, BP oil registered green as part of their identity, with both Marks and Spencer and Heineken using green as their corporate colour
It could well have come from someone who lived by the village green, don’t forget surnames were mostly nick-names, surnames were not needed until the introduction of a tax called “the poll tax” or head tax introduced in the 14th Century by John of Gaunt, poll means head, it was then written in law that all men should have a surname. But then you knew that didn’t you?
Gray
Sometimes spelt Grey, This time the name stems from Scottish or Irish origin from a Gaelic source, when translated into English its McGrath meaning son of grace, or to be more correct the direct translation is Mac Giolla Riabhaigh, Mac Riabhaigh, or Ó Riabhaigh, meaning Son/grandson of the gray.
Silver
This is a pre 7th century origin name with roots from English, Scottish, German, and Hebrew, silversmith seems to be one of the favourite sources but a rich man was often known as Silver also someone who lived by water was frequently called Silver and takes the name from their village such as Silverley in Cumbria or Silverdale in Lancashire.
Most surname names have a meaning of some sort, including colours in my next article I will look at the professional names, I do so hope you have enjoyed this look at names, who knows your name might just tell you more about your past than you think
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The Professions
There are literally hundreds of these types of surnames, before it was law to have a surname people were often called after their profession, a lot of them are pretty obvious, names such as.
Butcher, Baker, Thatcher, Alderman, Arkwright, Barber, Miller, Tiler, Cobbler, Taylor, Vicker, Driver, Carter, Singer, Cryer, Miller, Carpenter, Brewer, Crumbs I could go on and on.
Most, if not all of the unmistakable names are still in use today, but some of them are not quite so self-explanatory, here are a few of those names that are still used today.
Walker
The 12th-most common surname in the United Kingdom was Walker.
Not so obvious this one, although it does have something to do with walking, walker was so called because his or her job was to walk over the cloth after it had been woven, this tended to strengthen and thicken the cloth.
The Fuller (This was their correct name) would sit at the edge of the woven cloth pounding it with their feet, the fullers soon picked up the nickname walker.
The cloth would be stretched across a large frame called a Tenter and fastened by tenterhooks, we get the saying “Being on Tenterhooks” as being held in suspense.
Arkwright
Lets split this name in two, a Wright was a worker as in wheelwright it had the same meaning as Smith, so a worker was either called Smith or Wright, an ark is a chest or box mostly made of wood so there you have it, an Arkwright was a maker of wooden boxes.
Baxter
Baxter is name in common use today, but his name gives us no clue to what he did, Bakster, bakstere or in the the Old English form bæcere, was originally a feminine name for someone who made bread the male version being Baker, in time the name Baker took over the name Baxter.
Chapman
The name Chapman is derived from céapmann a pre 5th century name céap meant to trade or swap goods a céapmann would therefore be someone who was a trader who would buy goods and such like in the big towns, and then sell or trade to the folks and countrymen in the many settlements and villages around.
The word cheep (A bargain) has the same orgins.
Copper
A Cooper made and repaired wooden casks and barrels
Dempster was a Judge
Dexter would work as a dyer.
Jagger
No not a pop star a lot more boring than that, In the 18th Century the Jagger would transport ore to smelters, by road and then later on barges, he would also be called carter or peddler, Carter later would be used more just for the driver of carts, ( you got two for the price of one this time, Jagger and Carter)
And talking about “two for the (price) of one” Price was not what you might think but rather a Welsh name Rhys, over time the name in England took on a more easy to pronounce name Price.
Could be a shepherd but often was the attendant to a knight, in days of old when knights were bold. we have to go back to the Viking days for this one, Sveinn a very popular name in Norway means a young man or young male servant.
Shakespeare mentions Swain in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"
"who is Sylvia, what is she that all our Swains commend her"
A young man in charge of a boat was called and still is, a Coxswain, don't get sailors annoyed,by miss-pronouncing it, its pronounce "Coxson"
Badger
Now here’s an interesting one, a badger was a licensed pauper, he would have a large “P” stitched to his coat, and as he was licensed, this allowed him to work in definite areas and nowhere else, if he did try to find work elsewhere he was quickly set upon and made to keep just to his area, interestingly this is where the phrase “To Badger or Badgering” comes from.
Bandsman
I have included this one because although not a very common name, the meaning could well be misleading, a bandsman worked in a pit working on the ropes and pulleys (Also known as bands) nothing to do with music.
Barker
Baker is a tanner of leather, he was also a Fairground crier, they still call the guys on the London stalls and fish markets who shout (Bark) out the goods a Barker.
Bloodman
And last but by no means least, as there are many many more, we have the gruesome name of Bloodman
He was not quite a doctor but specialized in leeches to let blood, after this went out of fashion it was looked down on, as a primitive cure for all sorts of ailments, funny enough this practice is being considered once again.
Many last names give us clues to how our distant ancestors got their last name, whether it was through their work and the standing they had in the community, for example a Smith or Wright these were skilled workers in their field, or the colour of the skin or hair often led to last names depicting this trait.
A lot have either gone out of fashion or have simply taken on other more modern names, its nice to know that a lot of last names have survived to the present day, in the last three chapters of this series I have looked at Smiths and Wrights, Most of the colours including Browns Greys and Whites, We then took a look at the professions such as Thatcher, Butcher and Baker .
Royalty and Religion
To end this look into the origin of names I will delve into how royalty, the nobility and religion came to have the names they have, once again not always as obvious as you might think, lets take royalty and their titles.
King
This name was attributed long before you might think, when man first started to form groups or tribes, in the British Isles, the tribal leader were called the old English name “Cyning” or the Celt name Cun or Cwn, as in a lot of instants the original name changed to suit the county, and over time in England the name Cun changed to King.
Knight
A knight was a serving lad, later it would be used by man sworn to serve his lord, usually mounted, as well as serving his lord he would represent him at pageants and often be rewarded by having lands or property’s given to him, or in Sir Lancelot’s case (he spent most of his time rescuing Queen Guinevere, from evil Barons or fire breathing dragons) He was the king's champion, or Knight, and ended up not having lands or property’s given to him, but having an adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere, you win some, you loose some, as she might say “Once A King Always A King, Once a Knight Is enough"
Lord
This name came from the title often given to those that were a superior holder of an otherwise generic title for example “Lord Mayor” or “Land Lord” the title coud be given by a King or Tribal Leader to a leading dignitary to deal with other matters, for example to make sure the people were housed or fed.
The title has lost most of its royal connections and now is often mocked as someone who thinks he better than others, often call “Lord Muck” of course its not just a name with the Nobility but it also has a religious connection, as in a description of gods or deities
Other last names that came with a royal connection were, Duke, Nobel, Prince, Earl and Baron, not to be left out, we have the religious groups, with names such as Bishop, Priest, and Vicar.
Pope
Pope was a name given to a confident or haughty person the name can be traced back to the 7th century, it can be argued that the Latin papa and Greek pappas both translated as father could well be the origin of the word.
Dean
Could well be used for both a first and last name, it was in old English the name for a place or valley and later we given to a religious person who held that area. Monk and Abbott have also the same connections.
Chaplain
Last but by no means the least we have Chaplain, a name with French origins , a Chaplain, Caplain or chapelain. A rough translation would be “charity priest” a man blessed to sing mass on behalf of the souls of the dead.