BS: What's in your name?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 03:55 AM

If anyone is really interested in the origins of their surname, I have a dictionary of surnames and quite a lot of knowledge on the development and origins of English surnames. I do a look-up service on the net for family historians. If you want to ask me about yours I'm happy to look it up, tell you about surnames or make an educated guess...! I find the whole subject fascinating

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,jennie
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 03:10 AM

whats in the name jennie

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,jennie
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 03:08 AM

whats in the name jennie

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Mudlark
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 01:33 AM

I finally decided to look mine up: Nancy = Full of Grace (true, true) and maiden name, Caton = full of knowledge, wise (also true, all true!) Isn't that amazing??? (How many of these name definitions mean dullard, venal, gross, etc. I wonder...none, I bet!)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 01:12 AM

The Fooles Troupe Characters names... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 01:07 AM

Prettygirl:

I would suggest you ask someone skilled in Chinese etymology. I don't have any idea.


A

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,Guealeg
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 12:58 AM

Campbell - Cambell etc

The old Gaelic is; 'caombh', 'beal' or '
beul' etc. It meANT Orator or Clever or Schooled - person with the implication that the skill is oral, since the word 'beal' etc., means mouth as opposed to 'lambh'-for example- which would have indicated an arisan or laborer etc.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,Blackcatter
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 08:08 PM

Way up the list Ellenpolly said: And then there are the names that got changed at Ellis Island.

This is actually a myth. The immigration people at Ellis were some of the most skilled individuals when it came to foreign names, after all the saw hundreds of them every day. If you look at the Ellis records, nearly all immigrants were marked down with their names completely intact. This is because the immigration records were compiled using the ship manifests.

What happened is that many of the new immigrants changed their own names to fit in and find work. Since this wasn't the proudest day for these "yearning to breathe free-ers" the myth arose.

Subject: What does my surname mean???
From: GUEST,prettygurl =)
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 07:08 PM

What does my surname mean??? My surname is YU. Thnx!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,prettygirl =)
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 06:52 PM

Well, do u all know what my surname means????? My surname is YU
Thnx!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Mar 04 - 10:29 PM

My name, it means nothin',
My age it means less...

Art

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Metchosin
Date: 18 Mar 04 - 06:34 PM

my name it doesn't matter.....but a poor, pudgy William Shatner has finally taken his name to heart and is now appearing in commercials for stuff to aid bowel movements. Oh dear! how the mighty have fallen.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Mar 04 - 12:54 AM

Nothing's in my name.

I put it all in Carol's name !

Art

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,Toby Tostoff
Date: 17 Mar 04 - 03:31 AM

juan and Ben, my name's no great shakes...

I think it means "ruined pole"....

T.T.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 17 Mar 04 - 02:30 AM

Lady P you would have been called Pincher in the RN after an Admiral in the 1800's who was renowned for issuing a great number of punishments. Known as 'pinching'

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: LadyJean
Date: 17 Mar 04 - 12:35 AM

I'm not sure what Martin means, but it can be from ANYWHERE, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia. I didn't know where my father's family came from until a cousin came out of the woodwork and said they were Irish.
I worked with a German Martin on the 2000 Census. We did not have the same way of looking at things.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 16 Mar 04 - 04:35 AM

My surname is of Norman French origin, but also dates back to the Viking invaders who took over Normandy.


In the RN we also assigned nicknames to certain surnames;

Miller; Dusty or Windy
Smith; Smudge
Adams; Fanny or Daisy
Marsh; Swampy
Allan; Derby
Bacon; Streaky
Baker; Bagsy
Bell; Dinger
Fields; Gracey
Todd; Sweeny
Parker; Nosey
Gale; Windy
Gray;Dolly

Not all surnames had a nickname and some nicknames were pretty horrible as they referred inevitably to physical or persoanl characteristics.

We had a messman in the Chiefs & PO"s mess on Conqueror who was only known as Wingnut due to the unfortunate size of his ears.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: GUEST,Shlio
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 05:03 PM

I've no idea what the name Ashlie means - I've always assumed my parents wanted to name me in a hurry, so arranged a spelling that meant they wouldn't have to wait for the boy/girl question to be answered. (trad. boy spelling - Ashley, trad. girl spelling - Ashleigh. As a girl, I like my spelling better!)
As for my surname...I'm hoping that one of my ancestors was very tall and just got the name "Large" hung on him...in a manner of speaking. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Cluin
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 03:38 PM

From a couple of sources:

Deevey
Well known, on account of the famous Fenian John Devoy (1842-1928); the O'Devoys (the anglicized version) or O'Deevys were one of the Seven Septs of Leix, the chief men of which were transplanted to Co. Kerry in 1607. The name has always been associated with Leix and adjoining midland counties. The Gaelic form of the name is Ó Duibh which became the well known Leix name Deevy or Devoy. This is supported by an entry in the Annals of the Four Masters (1071) where the lord of Creamhthainn (i.e. Maryborough) is called Ó Duibh:

"Under Dun Mase of smooth land,
O'Duibh (O'Deevy) is over Cinel Criomthainn,
Lord of the territory which is under fruit,
Land of smoothest mast fruit."

Seven Septs of Laois
After the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, the Leix (Laois) County was divided among seven Septs or Clans: O'Moore, O'Kelly, O'Deevy, O'Doran, O'Lalor, O'Dowling and McEvoy.
This confederation began after the 3rd century CE, when the family group that would become the O'Mores came from Ulster to Leinster under the leadership of Laoighseach Cean More, son of Connall Cearnach of the Red Branch, and helped to defend Leinster under the kingship of Cuchorb, and expelled the Munster forces from the region. They continued to hold principality over what became Leix (Laois), so named after Laoighseach, and this confederation continued through the Elizabethian wars of the 1500's, when the military and political power of the families were broken and the clans dispossessed and relocated...


It was the incident at Mullaghmast in 1577 that really broke the power of the Seven Septs when most of the leaders were massacred by ambush at what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. But the attackers were unsuccessful in their main objective, since Rory Og O'More, the then-leader of the Seven Septs wasn't there and he rallied many more to his cause afterwards with the battle-cry "Remember Mullaghmast!" They practiced a pretty brutal form of guerilla warfare on the transplanted English and their Irish allies from the massacre for years (in point of fact, Rory Og had been doing this before the massacre and that was the main cause of it in the first place), until O'More was betrayed, escaped with much loss including his family, and later died in an unsuccessful rally. The pinnacle of revenge for Mullaghmast was probably achieved with the events inspiring the song Follow Me Up to Carlow, though Rory Og didn't live to see it.


Anyway, big fuzzy deal... except to say that that's why, though I heartily dislike jingoistic rebel songs and refuse to do them, I still perform "Follow Me Up to Carlow" regularly. Besides, it can really kick ass the way we do it.   ;)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 12:47 PM

Interesting sites, Bill. Thanks for posting them. I can't find my mother's maiden name, Degnan, anywhere. Her father's parents came to the US from Ireland, so I thought I would find it. It's probably a variation of Deignan, which is in there:

An important Leitrim-Roscommon family who moved to Cavan, Longford and Westmeath and where the name is often spelt Dignam

My 'maiden' name, Cunningham is a place related name:

(origin: Local) A district in Ayrshire, Scotland. The name signifies the dwelling of the chief or king, from the Saxon, cyning, Dutch, koning, a leader or chief, and ham, a house or town.

My current last name, Dale, was addressed above, but I like this meaning in the site you posted:

...a bushy vale; low ground, with ground ascending around it.

So I'm a descendent of the Leitrim-Roscommon family in a dwelling of a chief or king, nestled in a vale of low ground with ground ascending around me ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 09:51 AM

Didn't have any of my Hugenot ancestors names on it!

Ella

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 03:35 AM

Roger, according to an appendix in my dictionary, is from the German, and means 'strong counsel.' Gregory is from Greek, 'watchful.' Stephen is from Greek, 'a crown or garland.'
Told you it got boring.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 15 Mar 04 - 01:13 AM

heloo, my real name is jOhn, it means curry ship delivery bloke.john

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: rock chick
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 06:33 PM

No idea, never looked into it although it could be intresting, maiden name Hobbs, any ideas anyone ??? or even Shelagh, again no idea?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: JennieG
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 06:10 PM

I did Jenny, and to Genevieve too, which always sounds saintly and French to me!
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: hobbitwoman
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 03:49 PM

Thank you, Bill D., for the link to the Irish Identity page and an entertaining afternoon's reading. I now know that my maiden name, Browne, is derived from le Brun, which I already knew, and that the le Bruns came to Ireland during the Norman invasion, which I also knew, but the more places I read it the more I believe it. I didn't know the Bolands (my maternal grandfather's mother's folk) were of Norse descent... now I don't know if this is Norse as in from Scandanavia or Norse as in Scandanavians who settled in Normandy and then came to Ireland during the... oh, never mind. My mother's maiden name was Gilmartin and her mother was MacGuinness... Americanized to McGinnis...I don't know if that means descended from Guiness but according to my son's t-shirt, that would make us descendants of geniuses as Guiness is supposedly Gaelic for genius. ;o) Which I may be spelling wrong. No, that's right - I just checked.

I was also surprised to find my current surname on the site, b/c I thought it was English or German, and when the woman at the Celtic Festival sold my son a 'coat of arms' and told him that was the "Irish" spelling of the name, I asked if she'd tried to sell him a bridge in Brooklyn while she was at it.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 03:51 AM

My surname comes from a village in Cheshire from which my g-g-pa migrated to the City of a Thousand Trades seeking employment. It is anglo-saxon in origin and means "The field where the shrike nests". The shrike being the "butcher bird" of course.
I seem to remember "Roger" means "valiant spear" or summat, inappropriate for a pacifist!

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: ced2
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 03:50 AM

I'm still no wiser about Shatner... round here shat is the past tense of sh1t! Thus the mind boggles!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: JennyO
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 01:58 AM

And a good thing too, Jennie G. I would not answer to Jennie, and seldom to Jennifer. Jenny or Jen will do just fine. There's only room in this town for the two of us :-)

BTW, did you know that our name is related to Guinevere and Sinead too?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: JennieG
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 01:22 AM

First name Jennifer - "white wave" or some such waffle
Middle name "Grace" - geez I'm amazing - named after my mother's cousin
Maiden name Eldridge - don't know where that came from - my paternal grandfather emigrated from England during WWI and brought the name with him
Married name Richards
I will answer to Jennifer or Jennie - never Jenny and most definitely not Jen!
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: flattop
Date: 14 Mar 04 - 12:27 AM

Well Little Hawk had another nickname in school that refered to a different species of bird aand rhymed with Little Hawk. Desiring a bigger and bolder bird, like the American Eagle, he put a name between his legs that would soar.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: JennyO
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 11:32 PM

I have a book by Alexander Kent - "The Flag Captain", with Captain Bolitho as the main character. It wasn't the usual sort of book for me to read, but I found I couldn't put it down. It always stuck in my mind as one of my favourites.

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 08:08 PM

Yes Bolitho is a common Cornish name. Must have been a lot of big bellies there. As far as I know there are no "little bellies".
I sang at a Cornish festival here in Australia a few weeks back to an audience of about 100 or so people of Cornish descent. In introducing a song I said, "hands up who hasn't got a Walter Bolitho somewhere on their family tree?" and 5 people put up their hands. We're all cousins of some sort. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: akenaton
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 07:33 PM

Thats right Kendall Capt Bolitho.
Alexander Kents yarns are very addictive ,the battle scenes are brilliantly written,you can smell the sea,blood and black powder.
I have a Cornish friend who says Bolitho is a common Cornish name
Besr wishes to you ...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 07:25 PM

Didn't Alexander Kent have a character by the name of Bolitho? He wrote sea stories ala C.S. Forrester

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 05:32 PM

My grandmother's family name was Bolitho = Cornish for "big belly". I had another ancestor with the name Fulton which comes from "Fowl Town" or simply a place where chickens are kept. She came from Peckham which is to be expected. Joy whose-given-name-has-no-hidden-meaning.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 05:18 PM

here is part of my family tree on my father's side.

Great-grandfather Tarsus, grandfather William, father Audley Wayne....and then the Farrabee branch goes way back


If anyone has done the research, it is possible that your family may be represented here.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Megan L
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 02:59 PM

Don there are still Firths in Orkney. take pity my surname can best be described as -thick as a brick, heavy weight clown - barclay-laughton

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 02:46 PM

In the early struggles immigrants to North America often needed to disguise their identities to avoid pesecution by various factions. Sometimes simple name changes were not enough. Some names were altered by way of code. Kendall's surname is an example of this.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Peace
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 02:19 PM

KEN DALL

BARBIE DALL

Work with us will ya?

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 02:05 PM

Hell, I don't know!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 09:43 AM

Ward - means guard, or somebody who looks after something.

My mum's name's Irish for Welsh - so there!

My grandmother's name was Windsor, but not the German branch of the family!

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 09:10 AM

Thnks. Strick. i never knew that, or if I did I've forgotten. "Crown, wreth or garland" sounds fine. Spring is in the air today, i will go and plait a few daffodils and celandines together and stick them on my head.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: Strick
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 09:06 AM

Since my first name is Steven, I know that Stephen and the other variations are Hebrew for "crown, wreath, or garland". The dictionalry of names says the added "s" implies a son of Stephen or a shortening of Stephenson.

Subject: RE: BS: What's in your name?
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Mar 04 - 07:26 AM

My name(Stephens) seems to be so old it's just a name, nobody can remember what it means.It is an incredibly common in Cornwall(the land of my fathers. And indeed mothers). There is a rugby team in St Ives consisting entirely of people called Stephens.
   I believe Gregory means "watcher" or "sentry" or somethng in some old language or other.
Bill D(ay): you Americans so love all that Celtic stuff. Where I come from, Day is just that sort of period of time from the first cup of tea till the first pint of bitter.

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....

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: 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: 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: 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].)