America's First Families
The Origin of the Forename

CHRISTIAN names are so called from having originally been given to converts at baptism as substitutes for their former pagan appellatives, many of which were borrowed from the names of their gods, and therefore rejected as profane. After the general introduction of Christianity, the epithet was still retained, because the imposition of names was ever connected with the earliest of its sacred rites. It is, nevertheless, most incorrect; since the majority of the personal names of modern times are borrowed from sources unconnected with Christianity. With what propriety can we can Hercules and Diana, Augustus and Julia, or even Henry and Caroline, Christian names? They should be called forenames (that is first names), a term much more preferable to the other. Perhaps the word name, without any adjunct, would be better still. We should then use the name and surname as distinctive words; whereas we now often regard them synonyms.

From the earliest times. names to distinguish one person from another have been in use. The names in the Old Testament are mostly original and generally given at the birth, in accordance with some circumstance connected with that event, or from some pious sentiment of the father or mother. The Jewish child received his name at the time of circumcision. This practice is still adopted amongst the Jews, and has been followed by the Christian Church giving a name at baptism.

The ancient Greeks used only one name, which was given on the ninth day after birth, and was chosen by the father, who also possessed the right of altering it. These names generally expressed some great quality as bravery, wisdom, or skill. Thus Callienachus means excellent fighter; and Sophron means wise. In later times many names were derived from those of their gods-as Apollodorus, the Gift of Apollo. The eldest son usually bore the name of his paternal grandfather, to which was sometimes added the father's name, or the occupation, place of birth, or a nickname.

The Romans at a very early date used two names, and later on each Roman citizen had three. The praenomen was, like our Christian name, personal to the individual; as Caius and Marcus; in writing, the initials only were generally used. In early times it was given at puberty, but afterwards on the ninth day after birth. Women took no praenomen until marriage, when they adopted the feminine form of their husband's name. Every Roman citizen belonged to a gens and to a familia included in it. The nomen gentilicum (the second name) usually ended in ius, dus, or aius. The third name was the hereditary cognomen borne by the family, to which was sometimes a second cognomen called agnomen, was added. The cognomen was often de- rived from some event in the family history, or from some personal defect. In common intercourse the praenomen and cognomen only were used, as C. Caesar, for C. Julius Caesar. Many of the Roman names were of a much less dignified origin than the Greek, as Cicero (Vetchgrower), Crassus (Fat), Naso (Longnosed).

The Celtic and Teutonic names were originally very significant. Many were derived from "God," as Gottfried, Godwin, and others from genii or elves, as Alfred Elfric (Elf King). Personal prowess, wisdom, and nobility of birth, were the origin of many names still in use, as Hilderbrand (the War Brand), Arnold (Valiant Eagle) Osborn (God bear). After the introduction of Christianity many of the old names were superseded by those taken from the Scriptures. These names in course of time became much altered; as for example, Owen, Evan, and Eoghan are different forms of Johann or John. A change of name was sometimes made at confirmation, and amongst Roman Catholics an additional name is given at the first communion. Sir Edward Coke tells us: "If a man be baptized by the name of Thomas, and after at his confirmation by the bishop he is named John, he may purchase by the name of his confirmation. And this was the case of Sir Francis Gawdye, late Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, whose name of baptism was Thomas, and his name of confirmation Francis; and that the name of Francis by the advice of all the judges in anno 36, Henry VIII, he did bear, and often used in all his purchases and grants." Another instance is that of Henry III of France, who, being the godson of Edward VI of England, was named Edward Alexander at his baptism in 1551; but at his confirmation in 1565 these names were changed to Henri.

In Germany the names are mostly of Teutonic origin, or connected with the early history of Christianity.

Double Christian names were not much in vogue before the nineteenth century. A very early instance is that of "John Thomas Jones," a runaway thief, mentioned in a collection of autograph letters from Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and his son (1601); Charles George Cook, Judge of the Admiralty in 1665; and Henry Frederick Thynne, brother to Lord Weymouth, 1682, are other examples, which might easily be extended.

In France and Germany when surnames became universal, the prefix of De or von to a common plebeian name was considered as a mark of nobility. In Britain the De was not considered the test for nobility, for the names of some of the best families were not territorial; as Butler, Stewart and Spenser.

It now remains simply to consider the state of nomenclature in England at the eve of the Reformation in relation to the Bible. Four classes may be mentioned.

The leading incidents of Bible narrative were familiarized to the English lower orders by the performance of sacred plays, or mysteries, rendered under the supervision of the Church. To these plays is owed the early popularity of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Sara, Daniel, Sampson, Susanna, Judith, Hanna or Anna, and Hester. But the Apocryphal names were not frequently used until about 1500. Scarcely any diminutives are found of them. On the other hand, Adam became Adcock and Adkin; Eve became Evott and Evett; Isaac became Hickin, Higgin, Higgott and Higgett; Joseph became Joskin; and Daniel became Dankin and Dannet.

The Crusaders gave several prominent names. To them we are indebted for Baptist, Ellis and Jordan; and John received a great stimulus. The sacred water, brought in the leathern bottle, was used for baptismal purposes. The Jordan commemorated John the Baptist, the second Elias, the forerunner and baptizer of Jesus Christ. Children were styled by these incidents. Jordan became popular throughout Western Europe. It gave to England, as already observed, Judd, Judkin, Judson, Jordan and Jordanson, Elias, as Ellis, took about. the eighth place of frequency, and John for a while the first.

The legends of the saints were carefully taught by the priesthood, and the day was as religiously observed. All children born on these holy days received the name of the saint commemorated. St. James's Day, or St. Nicholas's Day, or St. Thomas's Day, saw a small batch of Jameses, Nicholases, and Thomases received into the fold of the church. In other cases the gossip had some favorite saint, and placed the child under his or her protection. Of course, it bore the patron's name. A large number of these hagiological names were extra Biblical such as Cecilia, Catherine, or Theobald. All the apostles, save Judas, became household names; John, Simon, Peter, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Thomas and Philip being the favorites. Paul and Timothy were also utilized, the former being always found as Pol.

If a child was born at Whitsuntide or Easter, Christmas or Epiphany, like Robinson Crusoe's man Friday, he received the name of the day. Hence our once familiar names of Noel or Nowell, Pask or Pascal, Easter, Pentecost, and Epiphany or Tiffany.

It will be observed that all these imply no direct or personal acquaintance with the Scriptures. All came through the Church. All, too, were in full tide of prosperity with the single exception of Jordan, which was nearly obsolete- when the Bible, printed into English and set up in the churches, became an institution. The immediate result was that the old Scripture names of Bartholomew, Peter, Philip, and Nicholas received a blow much deadlier than that received by such Teutonic names as Robert, Richard, Roger and Ralph.

The subject of the influence of the Bible upon English nomenclature is not uninteresting. It may be said of the "Vulgar Tongue" Bible that it revolutionized the nomenclature within the space of forty years, or a little over a generation. No such crisis, surely, ever visited a nation's register before, nor can such possibly happen again. Every home felt the effect.

The introduction of double baptismal names produced a revolution as immediate as it was unintentional. It put a stop to what bade fair to become a universal adoption of patronymics as single baptismal names. This practice took its rise about the year 1580. It became customary in highly placed families to christen the eldest son by the name of the landed estate to which he was heir. Especially was it common when the son succeeded to property through his mother; then the mother's surname was his Christian name. With the introduction of second baptismal names, this custom ceased; and the boy or girl, as the case might be, after a first orthodox name of Robert or Cecilia, received as a second the patronymic that before was given alone Instead of Neville Clarke the name would be Charles Neville Clarke. From the year 1700 this has been a growing custom, and half the present list of treble names are thus formed.
 

Until about the commencement of the seventeenth century, no material change in the designations of Englishmen had occurred since the days of the earlier Edwards, when surnames were generally adopted. John de la Barre, it is true, had become plain John Barr and Roger atte Hylle had softened to Roger Hill, but still the principle of a single Christian name and a single surname had been maintained throughout. About the period alluded to, the innovation of a second personal name occurs, though but very rarely.

The practice was imported to Great Britain from the Continent, where it seems to have originated among the literati in imitation of the trianomina of antiquity. The accession of the many named house of Brunswick may be said to have rendered it somewhat fashionable; and during the last century it has become every year more common. Should the fashion continue, it is probable that at the dawn of the twentieth century it will be as difficult to find a binomillated person in America, as it is in France at the present day.

Another innovation belongs to the seventeenth century; that of the use of some family name as a baptismal appellation. as Gouldsmith Hodgson, Boscawen Lower, Cloudsley Shovel.  This practice as well as the other is highly to be commended, as serving to identify the individual with the designation. The genealogist will at once see its utility; and it is suggested to parents the desirability of inserting the maternal family name between the proper name of baptism and the surname, as James Morton Wilson, Henry Smith Bradley. Indeed it would be well to go further and add the maiden family name of the wife to the surname of the husband; thus if a Charles Harrison married a Mary Bradshawe, they should thereupon write themselves respectively Charles Bradshawe Harrison and Mary Bradshawe Harrison. If Vanity unites in the same escutcheon the arms of the wife with those of her lord, ought not Affection in like manner to blend their names? This usage is voluntarily followed at Geneva and in many provinces in France; and it serves to distinguish the bachelor from the married man.

In some districts, where a family name was originally applied at the font instead of the usual James, Peter, or John, that family name has come to be regarded as a regular christian name. For example: about Lewes, Trayton is fully as common as Samuel, Nicholas, Alfred, or any name occupying the second rank in point of frequency, and only less usual than Henry, William and John. In the sixteenth century a family ofthis name, from Cheshire, settled in Lewes, and continued to reside there for several successive generations, during the latter part of which period they became so popular that a host of children received the baptismal name of Trayton in compliment to them. The spirit ofimitation succeeded; and there are at the present day scores of Traytons, who have neither any idea of the origin of their name, nor any doubt of its being as orthodox as the very common appellatives alluded to.

We have seen that the Christian name, once imposed, cannot be altered at the option of the bearer, as the surname may; at least not without the sanction of Episcopal authority. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, Sir William Bridges exchanged the name of William for that of Brooke, by license from the Archbishop of Canterbury; but this is almost a solitary instance in modern times, as the occasion for it rarely arises. Before the Reformation, the unauthorized change of a Christian name was a grave offense. It is recorded in the consistorial acts of the Bishop of  Rochester, that on Oct. 15, 1515, one Agnes Sharpe appeared and confessed that she had "of her own motion and consent, voluntarily changed, at confirmation. the name of her infant son to Edward, who when baptized was named Henry for which she submitted to penance." The penance enjoined was to make a pilgrimage to the famous Rood of Grace, at the neighboring abbey of Boxley, and to carry in procession on five Lord's days, a lighted taper which she was to offer to the image of the Blessed Virgin.

There were no Scripture names in England when the Conqueror took possession; even in Normandy they had appeared but a generation or two before William came over. If any are found in the old English period, they were undoubtedly ecclesiastical titles, adopted at ordination. Greek and Latin saints were equally unnoticed.

Before many generations had passed, Bartholomew, Simon, Peter, Philip, Thomas. Nicholas, John and Elias, had engrossed a. third of the male population; yet Doomsday Book has no Philip, no Thomas, only one Nicholas; and but a sprinkling of Johns. It was not long before Jack and Jill took the place of Godric and Godgivu as representative of the English sexes, yet Jack was from the bible and Jill from the saintly calendar.

Without entering into a deep discussion, it may be said that the great mass of the old English names had gone down before the year 1200 had been reached. Those that survived only held on for bare existence. From the moment of William's advent. the names of the Normans began to prevail. He brought in Bible names, Saint names, and his own Teutonic names. The old English names bowed to them, and disappeared.

A curious result quickly followed. From the year 1150 to 1550,  four hundred years in round numbers, there was a very much smaller dictionary of English personal names than there had been for four hundred years before, and than there has been in the four hundred years since. The Norman list was really a small one, and yet it took possession of the whole of Great Britain.

A consequence of this was the Pet name Epoch. In every community of one hundred Englishmen about the year 1300, there would be an average of twenty Johns and fifteen William's; then would follow Thomas, Bartholomew, Nicholas, Philip, Simian, Peter and Isaac from the Scriptures; and Richard, Robert, Walter, Guy, Henry, Roger and Bald win from the Teutonic list. Of female names, Matilda, Usable and Me were first favorites; and Cecil, Catharine, Margaret and Gillian came closely upon their heels. Behind these. again, followed a fairly familiar number of names of either sex, some from the Teuton, some from the Hebrew, some from the Greek and Latin Church, but, when all told, not a large category.

This is not enough; for in common parlance it was not likely the full name would be used. Besides, there might be two, or even three Johns in the same family. So state as March, 1545, the will of John Parnell de Gyrton runs:

"Alice, my wife, and Old John, my son, to occupy my farm together, till Old John marries; Young John. my son, shall have Brenlay's land plowed and sowed at Old John's cost."

The register of Raby, Leicestershire. has this entry:

"1559. Item: 29th day of August was John, and John Picke, the children of  Xtopher and Anne, baptized.

Item: the 31st of August the same John and John were buried.

Mr. Burns, who quotes these instances in his "History of Parish Registers," adds that at this same time "one John Barker had three sons named John Barker, and two daughters named Margaret Barker."

If the same family had but one name for the household we may imagine the difficulty when this one name was also popular throughout the village. The difficulty was naturally solved by, firstly, the adoption of nick forms; secondly the addition of pet desinences. Thus Emma became by the one practice simple Emm, by the other Emmott; and any number of boys in a small community might be entered in a register as Bartholomew, and yet preserve their individuality in work-a-day life by bearing such names as Bat, Bate. Batty, BartJe, Bartelot, Batcock, Batkin, and Tolly, or Tholly. In a word, these several forms of Bartholomew were treated as so many separate proper names.

It was, of course. impossible for Englishmen and English women to maintain their individuality on these terms. Various methods to secure a personality arose. The surname was adopted, and there were John Atte-wood, John the Wheelwright, John the Bigg, and John Richard's son, in every community. Among the middle and lower classes these did not become hereditary until so late as 1450 or 1500.

This is easily proved.. In the wardrobe accounts for Edward IV, 1480, occur the following items:

"John Poyntmaker, for pointing of XI dozen points of silk pointed with agelettes laton.

"Jehn Carter, for carriage away of a grete loode of robeux that was left in the strete.

"To a laborer called Rychard Gardyner for working in the gardyne.

"To Alice Shapster for making and washing xxiii sherts, and xxiii stomnchers. Shapster is a, feminine form of Shapper or Shaper one who shaped or cut out cloths for garments.

All these several individuals, having no particular surname, took or received one from the occupation they temporarily followed.

The Reference For The Above Is; "Origin and History of the Name Smith: and an account of the origin of Surnames and Forenames; together with over five hundred Christian names of men and women and their signifiance: the Crescent family record.  Chicago, Ill: American Publishers Association. 1902, 130 pages."
The Surname-Forename information contains much that will be helpful to you. The rest of the book is too general to assist you with any surname lines..Many other surname lines published from about 1900-1910 by this firm. .....

Harold Oliver, Director America's First Families.

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