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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

WHERE TODAY'S BRITISH SURNAMES COME FROM

What's in a surname? Dictionary reveals how 13th century nicknames about jobs, appearance or religion have become the surnames we use today
  • A Dictionary Of Surnames lists the origins of more than 100,000 names
  • Lexicographers Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges say use of last names became more prevalent as society became more bureaucratic
  • People were identified by a characteristic, a job, or where they lived
  • Swift means 'fast runner', while Blunt referred to someone with blond hair
  • Names handed down from fathers to children as families became more stable

  • Bass - A short man
    Belcher - Someone with a fair or lovely face
    Blunt - Someone with blond hair
    Jim Lovell official 1966 portrait.jpgCannon - Someone living in a clergy house
    Cocker -  A bellicose person
    Cruise - Bold or fierce
    Dolittle - A lazy manHart - A nickname meaning stag
    Fairfax - Someone with beautiful, long hair
    Loach - A nickname from a small fish

    Lovell - A nickname from lou, meaning wolf;
    PHOTO - James Lovell, astronaut

    Newcombe, Newman - A new arrival in a place
    Palmer — Someone who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land
    Read - A person with red hair or a ruddy complexion
    Savage - A wild or uncouth person;
    Swift - A fast runner
    Thewlis - An ill mannered person
    Twigg - A thin person
    Vaisey - A cheerful person (from enveisie, meaning playful, merry)
    Wight - Strong-willed or brave

    Read more -
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2677527/Whats-surname-Dictionary-reveals-13th-century-nicknames-jobs-appearance-religion-names-use-today.html

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