Periods of religious and political excitement have had a very powerful influence in modifying the fashion in 'mines. The Puritans would only admit of two classes of names, those directly expressive of religious sentiment—praise-God, names which occur in Scripture; these latter indiscriminately made use of, however obscure their meaning, or however indifferent the character of the original bearer of them. Old Testament names were used in preference to New, probably because they did not convey the notion of a patron saint. Old Testament names still prevail largely in America, where exists a medley of Christian names from all possible sources. At the French revolution, names supposed to savor of either loyalty or religion were abandoned, and those of Greek and Roman heroes came into vogue instead. The Augustan period of English literature gave a temporary to such feminine names as Narcissa, Celia, Sabina. in Germany, the names in use are particularly free from foreign admix ture; they are almost all either of Teutonic origin, or connected with the early history of Christianity. In Britain, the number of names has, particularly since the reforma tion, been more limited than in most other countries. In some families of distinction, unusual names have been handed down from father to son for centuries—e.g., Peregrine among the Berties, and SiloIto in the Douglas family. The accumulation of two or more Christian names only became common in the present century, and another practice which has gained ground in Britain is the use of surnames as Christian names. More recently, various old names, particularly feminine acmes, as 3fand, Florence, Ethel, have been withdrawn from their obscurity, and resuscitated.
The use of fixed family surnames cannot be traced much further back than the latter part of the 10th century. They first came into use in France, and particularly in Nor mandy. At the Conquest, they were introduced into England by the Norman adventur ers, and were general at the Domesday Valuation. Many of time followers of William hall taken names from their paternal chateaux or villagea on the other side of the chan nel. names which were used with the French preposition de before them. Their younger sons and others applied the "de" to estates awarded them as their portion of the con quered country, and called themselves De Hastings, De Winton, etc.. a prefix probably never in vernacular use in England, and completely discarded with the disappearance of Norman-French, unless in a few ewes where it was retained for the sake of euphony, or from coalescing with the initial vowel, as in De la Beebe, Danvers (d'Anvers), Danger field (d'Angerville). When English was used in place of Norman-French, the "de" was always rendered into "of." The affectation of resuming it in recent times is as unwarrantable in theory as in taste. Such a designation as lord De Tabley of Tabley House is an unmeaning tautology. The Scotch have a more expressive designation when they say Colquhoun of that Ilk. In France and Germany, a territorial surname (denoted by " de" or •' von ") came, when surnames spread to all classes, to be the mark of nobil ity, so much so that in latter times, when any one was ennobled by the sovereign, the "de" was prefixed to his previously plebeian and not territorial name. In Britain, the "de" was never considered the test of nobility; the names of some of the most distin guished families were not Stewart. Butler, Spencer. In Scotland, sur names were hardly in use till the 12th c., and were for a long time very variable. The
assumption of surnames by the common people is everywhere of much later date than their use by noble (gentle) families. As yet, they can hardly be said to be adopted by the people of the wilder districts of Wales.
There are many existing local surnames in Britain besides those derived from the names of the manors of the gentry or landholders. Farms, homesteads, the natural features of the country, all gave their names to those who resided at or near them; hence such names as Wood, Marsh, Dale. The preposition "at" is in a few eases retained, as in Atwood. A'Court, Nash (atten-ash, i. e., at the ash). The traveling habits of the Scots account for such names as Inglis, Fleming. Welsh (the original of 'Wallace), applied to those who had visited foreign parts; and sometimes a Scotsrhan, wandering into England, returned with the acquired name of Scott.
A large class of surnames are patronymics, often formed by "son," or its equivalent in the language of the country, added to the Christian name of the father. Names of this sort often fluctuate from generation to generation. Alan Walterson had a son, Walter, who called himself Walter Alanson- The genitive ease of the father's name sometimes served the gape purpose, as Adams. Jones; and similarly in Italian, Dosso, Dossi. A fashion of using "Fitz," the equivalent of "son," before the ancestrarname, as in Fitz herbed. prevailed temporarily in Normandy, whence it was imported into England. In the highlands of Scotland, the prefix ' Mac" (Macdonald) served the same purpose, which, however. fluctoated far longer than the patronymic surnames of England and the lowlands; so also the 0" (grandson) of the Irish (O'Neil), and "Ap" of the Wers1) (Ap lthys, otherwise Aprecce). The "de" of France had sometimes a similar origin, as iu d'Andre d'Ilugues; ;tad still more frequently the " de," "dei," or " degli " of Italy—di Cola, di Giacomo.
Office, occupation, or eondition, gives rise to surnames—e.g., Kniain,Marshalr, Page, Smith, Brewster, Shepherd; in Germany and Holland, Haulier and Ilogver (robber), and from such appeliatives, patronymics may be again derived; thus, we have Smith son, de Maistre (master's son), M'Nab (son of the abbot), M'Pherson (son of the parson), del Sarto (son of the tailor), etc. So also personal qualities—Black, White, Strong, Stark. Lang (long), Littlejohn, Cruikshanks; and nicknames have not infrequently been perpetuated as surnames. We have also surnames derived from the signs and cognizances which were borne in the middle ales, not only by inns and shops, but by private houses. John at the Bull became John Bell; at Middleburg, in Holland, Simon, apothecary in the " Drake," or Dragon, became Simon Draek; hence, probably, the frequency of fam ily names derived from animals, and also of those beginning with " Saint ;" though this last class may, perhaps, sometimes have had its origin in the first owner of the name dedicating himself to the service of the saint in question. In Scotland and Ireland, "The" is a distinctive title borne by the heads of some old families—as "The Chisholm," "The O'Connor Don " In the highlands of Scotland, the chief a clan is usually addressed by the name alone in a marked manner: thus, "Macleod" implies specially Macleod of Dunvegan, in Skye. head of the elan Macleod; "Mackintosh," in like man ner, applies solely to Mackintosh of Moy, in Inverness-shire.