Surnames and Their Origins

Description

How our surnames arose is an endlessly fascinating subject, which has produced much speculation, some of it very far from the mark. It is never safe to break down a modern name into the apparent meaning of its parts Catchlove has nothing to do with ensnaring young ladies and a lot to do with wolves of another sort. Our earliest ancestors made do with the one identifying name or grunt to which they answered. As the population grew and became slightly mobile, more than one person with the same identifier might occur in the same circles, and therefore an additional or sur name was needed. When two or three are gathered together and want to gossip about a third, they need some way of indicating him. Although a handful of Danes and Saxons were known by additional names, the practice came into full flower under the Normans. These were personal names and the practice of using hereditary surnames came much later. 32 pages (A5)