BS: What's in your name?

Subject: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 04:40 AM

Someone with the surname Miller probably had an ancestor who milled corn, wheat etc. Likewise the surname Wright probably came from the wheelwrights who mended wheels on carts. There are two that give me concern.
Firstly Shatner... what was his ancestor known for?
Secondly Bush.... Has there been some strange eveolution from plant life that gives a shrub the appearance of an upright ape but with even less brain and communication ability?
Any other interesting ones spring to mind?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 05:37 AM

Stanger, apparently German (now Stenger) a maker of iron bars.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: el ted
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 05:42 AM

My surname is - livesinhullplaysguitaranddrinksbeer. But I don't know what it means.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 05:52 AM

Poly (Many) Hronon (Years) Poulou (City..the feminine version). So Polyhronopoulou means "city of many years". It's not my maiden name (RITMAN, from the Prussian meaning "man who rides") but I do prefer it just cause so few people are willing to try and pronounce it..(think Holy Honolulu)..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 06:13 AM

And what the 'eck does Schwarzenegger mean? I know schwarz is the german for black. Perhaps as Joan Baez described him when she appeared at the British folk Awards, ' neanderthal.'
eric

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,juan kerr
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 06:22 AM

My name is self explanetary.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 06:34 AM

Where did "Blair" come from I wonder? Is it a corruption of "Blur" as in to blur the truth, which could have been a name for a lawyer long ago. Come to think of it isn't he one now?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Ben Dover
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 06:36 AM

oi juan, you think you got problems, look at my bloody name!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:03 AM

Nearly as problematical as Mr Richard Head

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:13 AM

Blairs name, probably someone reversed the i and the a.

I understand my first name means "Chief of the river glen" Don't have a clue about my last. It was changed after my ancestors invaded England in 1066, and the original spelling was DeMors.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:26 AM

I think I'd have a problem if my last name were Lipschitz instead of Hugedich.......

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 07:29 AM

Kendall: assuming Kendall is the actual name yu are referring to, "chief of the river glen" doesnt seem that likely to me. The "ken" could indeed be the gaelic for head or chief( "can" "ceann" or something like it in Gaelic labguages, pen in the British branches of the Celtic languages). Dall would be "dale", the Anglo/norse/Danish word for valley. But I would guess Kendall is basically Kendal(modern spelling), the chief town in Westmorland(now Cumbria). The Ken is for the River Kent (the river that drowned 20 Chinese cockle-pickers recently) and the "dal" from dale. basically. Kent valley. The old name was Kirkby(church town) Kentdale.
   now, the etymology of the "kent" I dont know.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:13 AM

My last name is Hanson = son of Hans, ow the 'eck did that get to Yorkshire. And whats yours mean ced2
eric

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:18 AM

No idea pal but one of my mates reckons that all with my surname came from a small village at the top of the worth valley... somewhat worrying.
However I am more interested where "Shatner" came from.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 10:27 AM

Any banjo players up the Worth valley ?
Shatner ? what the feck is that all about ?
eric

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Ben Dover
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 10:32 AM

My friend, Rhoda Horse, doesn't.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 10:46 AM

No Eric, no banjo players up the top end of the Worth Valley. Sad story really, there were some but they were a bit noisy. This resulted in them being kicked out onto the moors with the sheep. Harold the intelligent ram realised exactly who they were so he rounded up his mates and they decided to get their own back on the banjo players who had been indulging in unsavory acts with the ewes. Only the remains of their banjos were ever found.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 10:54 AM

Several years ago I was told by a Dutchman in Avignon that my German surname (which came from the Dutch border area) means "goalkeeper" or "goalie." My brother says that it orginally meant "keeper of the altar." A German teacher looked it up and said that it was an obsolete form of the word "madman."

Somehow, all of them fit.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 11:30 AM

LOL, great thread!

I guess some ancestor was the son of Hud, but that doesn't stand for Housing and Urban Development! Wonder if Henry ever figured out the etymology of it...

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Strick
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 12:09 PM

Strickland: a pasture for young cattle, in this case (as I understand it) a common between some villages in Cumbria. Great and Little Strickland are villages there (in the Lake District?) and it was apparently a significant family name. Never on my side of the family, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 12:41 PM

My married name means what it is, a draper. My maiden name meant maker of hoods. Cloth is apparently my designation.

My mother's maiden name meant brown ford and comes from a village in Yorkshire, which now has a bridge where the ford was.

Her mother's maiden name means 'Christ carrier' (or Christ is my burden')

My Christian names mean beloved by God and chosen by God. Sort of rules out athiesm really!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:09 PM

I made a bet with myself that there would be web sites dedicated to this...I won..first hit!

here's mine You can do a search on yours, too.

DAY The Celtic and Gaelic word deag or dagh signifies good, excellent, the same as Da, in Welsh. Camden supposes the name to be a contraction of David. Dai, Du, in the Welsh, signifies dark, in allusion to the complexion or color of the hair. Dhu, in Gaelic, the same, dark color, black. Deah, Anglo-Saxon, dark, obscure.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:17 PM

My last name is Campbell, I was told it meant "beautiful field". Any Scots name knowers out there?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:25 PM

Hudson - yep, from a surname which meant "son of Hudd". However, Hudd is a medieval pet form of HUGH or RICHARD. Hugh from Germanic hug, meaning "heart, mind, or spirit". Richard means "brave power", derived from the Germanic elements ric "power, rule" and hard "brave, hardy". Take your pick. Either way, Henry was probably too busy exploring geography to worry about etymology! ;)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:27 PM

Pentland Firth, Solway Firth, Firth of Forth, etc. Place name. My great-grandfather came from Orkney.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 01:53 PM

Eric - I looked that one up years ago. An Egger, apparently, is a ploughman. So Mr Governer is Arnold the Black Ploughman...

ced2 - Blair apparently derives from the Gaelic for "plain" (as in grassland, not speaking!). Oh, and Richard Head is a highly respected maker of longbows (but I can't help feeling that his parents must have hated him on sight!).

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 02:59 PM

Thank you greatly for that Raedwulf; It explains a lot as in:- he's grass, his father's grass; his father's father was grass as was his father before him. Infact a load of old sods!    'Nuff said!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 03:14 PM

My Last name is LaWall, with the accent on the second syllable. Many years ago it was French "LaValle" meaning "from the valley". My ancestors were Huguenots (French Protestants) at a time when being a Protestant in Catholic France could have unpleasant consequences like prison sentences and beheadings. So, they packed up and moved to Germany. They changed the spelling to "Lawall" to accommodate the difference between French and German pronunciations of the letter "v". They also dropped the final "e" which was silent in French but would be pronounced in German.

But, when my formerly French/now German ancestors moved to Pennsylvania in the US, they didn't change the "w" back to a "v" so that Americans would pronounce it correctly and it wound up with the English "w" sound. Many of my relatives (and it's such an uncommon name that I assume anyone with the name is at least a distant cousin) have chosen to capitalize the "W" as a pronunciation aid.

Coincidentally, the city of Jacksonville, Florida, where I grew up, was originally established by another French Huguenot, the explorer Jean Ribault. In fact, the school I attended was named after him. And, in the historical district of the city of Pensacola, Florida there is a "LaValle House", built in the 19th century and maintained as a historical building by the city.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 03:15 PM

Well, LtS, my first name translates as "Who is like God". Somehow I find that to be entirely appropriate....

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 03:30 PM

Can't find a meaning for my surname .....Pettigrew....but it is rather common in Ireland. My first name means Pure Maiden....go on Liz say it.........!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 03:53 PM

catsPHiddle... found this page which says:

Pettigrew
A Huguenot family that settled in Co. Tyrone in the 1600s. Derived from the French petit cru which means small growth

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 03:59 PM

My maiden name was Smith, which I've always assumed means "worker," as in blacksmith, goldsmith, silversmith, etc. Workers were sure common, weren't they?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 04:10 PM

Alternatively, Khatt, you might prefer this...

"Where does pedigree come from?

It came to English in the late 14th to early 15th century and is first recorded in 1410, when it was written pedicru. It has been traced to Norman French pied de grue "crane's foot". What on earth does a crane's foot have to do with genealogy? Well, descendants in a pedigree are indicated with something like this /|\, branching out from the names of their parents. That mark does somewhat resemble the foot of a crane. Pied comes from Latin pes "foot", and grue from Latin grus "crane". The suggestion that pedigree derives from Norman French par degrés "by degrees" (which is how names in a pedigree are listed) is superficially plausible but it lacks any supporting evidence.

Speaking of cranes, the Indo-European root from which grus comes is ger¿- (where ¿ represents schwa), which means "crane" and also "to cry hoarsely". It is from the "hoarse" meaning that English crow derives.

One of the old variant spellings of pedigree is pettigrew but the British surname Pettigrew (first recorded in the 13th century) does not appear to be related. None of the Pettigrews we consulted knew exactly where the name originated, but the most popular guess seemed to be a French placename."

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Raedwulf
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 04:11 PM

Rap - You're obviously a Michael then...

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Benjamin
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 05:32 PM

Well, the first site that Bill gave us a link for doesn't seem to think that there are enough Wilson's in this world to justify an inclusion to there list. But who needs Sur-Name elitists anyways? The second site says this -
Wilson
Found mainly in Ulster it is the most common English surname in Ireland.
So I'm an English man from Ireland in America. Thanks Bill, that cleared a lot of things up!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 06:35 PM

Raedwulf, thanks!!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Nemesis
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:15 PM

"What's in your name?" Consonants and vowels .. ??

I have French Hugenot ancestors too ..and surname was my Great Grandmother's maiden name (changed by German grandfather from Hahn = "hen" in German).

Challis apparently from L'Escalier range of mountains (shaped like a staircase) in Pas de Calais in northern France. First noted in London/ Essex in 16th century apparently.

Then married a Cook - pronounced "Nkhuku" when I lived in Africa as a pun on the local African language word for chicken.
Cluck!
'Scuse me while I go lay an egg or something :)
Nem

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:25 PM

I'm a Corlew. Certain people try to call me 'Curlew' and I'm not related to the bird. All of this is speculation, but it's believed (by a guy who actually wrote a book on the family's history in the US and did a lot of research) that before Corlew, it was Corlieu. This is OK - that's how they pronounced my name when I sent an e-mail during Rick Fielding's netcast CD release. I could possibly pass for a French Canadian, except I don't look anything like one.

Before Corlieu, it was Corrslieve...s'cuse me. It was something in Gaelic. (For anyone who has wondered, my murdering of Gaelic spelling isn't meant as a criticism of the language but an invitation to laugh at my complete ignorance). It came from 'Cor' (it means a place, doesn't it?) and 'Llud' (who was a Celtic god - feel free to enlighten me).   

I had an aunt who insisted our first ancestors came to the US from Ireland. Various people on both sides of my family have traced our geneology back to, in a very few cases, as early as the 1400s. I have pale skin, freckles and reddish hair. You'd think, wouldn't you? No one has found evidence that even ONE ancestor came from Ireland. The guy that wrote the book theorized that we started out in Switzerland with the Helvitii, so I can at least feel like I'm a Celtic type.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:27 PM

This is a message with three parts:

Oesterreich The German word for Austria, which is built from "oester" (eastern) and "reich" (more or less realm).

David is my first name, which means "beloved" in Hebrew, I'm told.

Roy, my middle name, is of course a king.

So I'm "The beloved king of Austria!"

Dave Oesterreich

My middle name is Roy

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 08:45 PM

my father always thought our last name was a variation on shortlegs
because everyone in the family had short legs 'kratoska' krat similar to latin=crutus or english curt. so he traced the ancestry back to 1585 (took several years to do this) and found that an ancestor bought a farm and took on the name of the people that live on the land. so our name actually was something else (like digger or miner)
which he didnt like at all.

oddly enough the family eventually lost the land about 1850 but when my dad visited the farm and talked to the lady who lived there they had an interesting chat - and when he left he thanked her, and she said 'oh but my name is not Kratoska, thats what they call me because we live here.' our name is something else.

first name =rock

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 09:09 PM

Thomas--the beloved of the opposite sex
Bruce--who will be devastatingly attractive to women (I like cats)
Murdoch--and who will never tell a lie

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ranger1
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 09:30 PM

I used to get junk mail from some place trying to sell me a family tree. They always used to include a small sample intended to pique the interest of their target. My last name is Bill (please, no more Mr. Bill jokes!), so they'd include something about so-and-so Bill came from such-and-such town in England and emigrated to Philadelphia, PA in 18something. I got the last laugh-- my last name used to be something longer in French and was changed by my Quebecois great-great-grandfather when he skipped across the border to New Hampshire in order to evade the long arm of the law in Canada. Needless to say, I didn't invest in their product.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Mar 04 - 09:57 PM

Alaska Mike...I have always read that Campbell came from a phrase meaning "Crooked Mouth"

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 12:25 AM

Or as the McDonalds say " never trust a Campbell " [ after Glencoe ]
eric

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Blackcatter
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 12:53 AM

I'm Thomas Edward Cook

That's about all one needs to say. Just about the most English name around.

My paternal grandmom's maiden name was Schitz. Kinda glad she passed away (at age 78) before I was born. "Hey grandma Schitz!"

My maternal grandmom's maiden name was Lye - it was originally Lee, but the family was from the North and changed the spelling during the Civil War.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 12:54 AM

My surname is Clark, which ...aw hell, it is so common and simple, you work it out!

Most of the resources that list my first name show "dim" next to it. But my folks always told me Allan meant "little rock" or "handsome". Take your pick.

My middle name is Cecil, the first part of which, by the way, rhymes with SEA. I think any other pronunciation is at least abberant and probably just plain wrong. The name is vaguely associated with the number, six. It was once common to name a sixth child Cecil. I received it from my father, (not a sixth child,) who had it as a first name. He was told that his mother was a fan of the classics and gave her children names of literary characters. I have not yet discovered a probable source. (His sisters were Agnes and Venetia [pronounced, vin-ET-ta, for some reason].)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 02:54 AM

Christopher = Christ carrier. Biblical, after a ford-porter who carried Jesus.
Marden. = Corruption of Maderer, a gatherer of plants for the dyeing industry.
Most English peasants never had surnames until it became difficult to differentiate between the locals with the same first names. The, "James-on-the-Hill" became James Hill. William-of-the-sheepfell-bottom became Bill Shufflebottom. Thomas-the-carpenter is an example of a trade related name, Crookshank and Armstrong of physical characteristics.
It used to be possible to get large books which listed the majority of English surnames. It was also easy to bore your pals by telling them what their ancestors did or where they lived....

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 04:49 AM

Thank you Bill and Wulfie......I think I will continue to research the topic!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 05:41 AM

And then there are the names that got changed at Ellis Island...My mother's maiden name was Drobney, which was changed to Spiegel..(I figure there was a Spiegel catalogue lying around somewhere at the time). Her gloriously lovely first name of Manya to Miriam, and her mother went from Lena to Leah.The brothers went from Yussel, Yonkel, Welvil, and Ziskint, to Jack, Bill, Al, and Joe. Talk about something being lost in the translation!!..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Amergin
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 05:47 AM

My name has an N an I and a T in it....