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English Names -What is the story behind ?

English Names -What is the story behind ?. 96501044 Nancy Kao. Top names ranking The history of English names (first names) The history of English surnames (last names) References. Top names: 1930-1939. 1.Mary 2.Betty 3.Dorothy 4.Helen 5.Barbara 26.Gloria 27.Nancy 33.Catherine.

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English Names -What is the story behind ?

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  1. English Names-What is the story behind ? 96501044 Nancy Kao

  2. Top names ranking The history of English names (first names) The history of English surnames (last names) References

  3. Top names: 1930-1939 1.Mary 2.Betty 3.Dorothy 4.Helen 5.Barbara 26.Gloria 27.Nancy 33.Catherine 1.Robert 2.James 3.John 4.William 5.Richard

  4. Top names: 1980-1989 1.Jennifer 2.Jessica 3.Amanda 4.Melissa 5.Sarah 30.Andrea 34.Katherine 1.Michael 2.Jason 3.Christopher 4.David 5.James 10.Daniel 34.Mark

  5. Top names: 2010 1. Isabella 2. Emma 3. Olivia 4. Sophia 5. Ava 23. Hannah 1. Jacob 2. Ethan 3. Michael 4. Alexander 5. William 7. Daniel

  6. History-names • People have had names since long time ago • Most names have some sort of original meaning, usually descriptive: • 1.discriptive names • 2.compound names • 3.Christian names

  7. History-names • Descriptive names 1.from nouns: Irish Gaelic name, Conan => "hound, wolf“, Aed => "fire“ 2.from adjectives: Irish Gaelic name, Fial => "modest, honorable, generous”, Finn => "fair, bright, white"

  8. History-names • Compound names 1.Frankish names: Sigibert=>victory+shining, Childeric=> battle+powerful. 2.Norse names (+god “Thor”): male- Thorbjorn, Thorgeir, Thorkell female- Thordis, Thorgunna, Thorhalla

  9. History-names 3. English names: Edwin => ead,"prosperity, fortune, riches“ + wine,"friend" Wulfgar => wulf,“wolf” + gar,"spear” Thus… 1.forms a name pool 2.names become unrecognizable

  10. History-names • Christian names Christians were encouraged to name their children after saints and martyrs: 1.Jewish -Mary, Martha, Matthew, James, Joseph, John 2.Greco­Roman - Anthony, Catherine, Margaret, Mark, Martin, Nicholas, Paul

  11. History-names 3.Native - Alfred, Edward (from Anglo-Saxon) In Fact… 1."early Christian names" changed the least in most name pools 2.English name pool changed radically after the Norman conquest in 1066 => Emma, Matilda, Richard, William

  12. History-surnames Developed from bynames, which used to distinguish two people with the same given name Became inherited from father to son between the 12th and 16th century, especially for aristocracy 3 types of surnames: 1. patronymic 2.locative or toponymic 3.epithet, occupation, office or status

  13. History-surnames • Patronymic surnames • X+son: son of John or John's son => Johnson • Richard's son Martin => Martin Richards (“son” can also simplified to “s” ) • In Welsh: ap X => ap Rhys/Reece => Price • In Scotland and Ireland: mac X => MacAndrew, MacDougall, MacGregor

  14. History-surnames Locative or Toponymic names Locative: indicate places that you are from. Typical forms in Old and Middle English are: aet x, atte x, de x, of x =>æt Lintone, atte Homwode, de London, de Ebor. Sometimes the name of the place followed the given name directly: Linton, Homwode, London, York

  15. History-surnames • Toponymic: topographic or other local features of the landscape • a man dwelling near a beech tree might use "atte Beche", " de Beche" or " de la Beche" as his byname • => XXX Beech, XXX Hill, XXX Fen

  16. History-surnames • Epithet, Occupation, Office or Status • Epithet: refer to some personal characteristics: 1.physical characteristics:Blakloc, the Small, Armstrong, Grenehod 2.mental or moral characteristics: Wastepenny, Slyman, Careless, Bonfaith 3.metaphoric: "Peppercorn" - small person, "Fairweather" - cheerful, sunny person

  17. History-surnames • Occupation: Baker/Baxter, Taylor, Smith, Weaver/Webster, Brewer/Brewster, • Office: Marshall - a tender of horses, or an office of high state, Steward - a manager of an estate, Abbott - the head of an abbey

  18. Further Readings 1. E. G. Withycombe - The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names 2. P. H. Reaney - Origins of English Surnames 3. Ekwall - Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place­names 4. Jan Jönsjo - Studies on Middle English Nicknames

  19. References Top names: • http://www.homepagers.com/names/ Names and Surnames: • http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/namehist.html • http://www.webhistoryofengland.com/?p=232

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