Iu England, the number of existing surnames approaches to 40,000, or about one to every 500 individuals; it Scotland, there are far sewer surnames in proportion to the population. The remarkable predominance of certain surnames in certain localities—as Campbell, Cameron, Maclean in Argyleshire. Macdonald in Inverness. Mackay in Suther land, Gordon and Forbes in Aberdeenshire, and Scott Tier, Elliot, Maxwell, and John stone on the borders—arises from the clansmen hav:ng made a practice of taking the name af their chiefs, cons:alering themselves members of their family by adoption, if not otherwise. Elsewhere than in Scotland, vassals often adopted the names of their lords, and. servants those of their masters. Two or molt; surnames are often borne by one individual, in which case the paternal surname is sometimes placed first, sometimes List; and, in recent times. it is by the name which occurs last that the bearer of the two surnames, is most frequently known.
The wife. with us at least. changes her surname to that a her husband on marriage. In the continent, it is not unusual for the husband to append his wife's name to his own; and in Spain, the wife retains her own name, while the son is at liberty to use either paternal or maternal name as he pleases, the choice generally falling on the best family.
Change of Name.—Prior to the reformation, surnames were less fixed than they have since become. Occasionally, younger sons, instead of retaining their patronymic, adopted the name of their estate or piece of residence. A great matrimonial alliance was a fro quent cause for adopting the patronymic of the wife. With tl:e clergy, ordina tion was a common occasion of a change of name, the personal surname being exchanged for the name of the place of birth—thus, William Longe became William of Wykeham. In time of political troubles, a new name was often assumed for concealment; and in Scotland, the name of McGregor was proscribed in 1604 by an act of the privy council. In modern times, injunctions in settlements of land, and deeds of entail, frequent grounds for a change of name, it being made a condition that the devisee or disponee shall assume a certain surname wider penalty of forfeiture, a stipulation which the law recognizes as valid. Such an obligation is often combined with one relative to arms. In a Scotch entail, it is a very frequent condition that each succeeding heir of entail, or hus band of an heiress of entail, shall assume the entailer's name and arms, or his name and arms exchsively; in tne former case, he may, if he pleases, continue to use his own sur name along with the assumed one. The heir of entail is not held legally to take up any arms not otherwise his own. unless he have applied to the heraldic authorities for leave so to do. Where a Scotch entail contained an injunction to bear arms width had no exist ence in tile official record of arms, the condition has not been held to be null; the heir of entail must apply to the lord Lyon for a grant of arms bearing the designation of those disponed. In England. it. used to be common to obtain a private act• of parliament to authorize one to change his surname; an authority for such a proceeding has generally been given in later times by royal license. which is granted only on a reasonable grdund being established for the alteration, to the satisfaction of the kings-at-arms, lowborn a remit is made. It has sometimes been supposed that this royal license is necessay to legalize such a change, but the highest legal authorities have laid it down that there is nothing in the law of England to prevent ally one, who may consider it for his interest so to do, to change his surname, or even his christian name. The idea, lately prevalent to some extent, is equally erroneous, that an advertisement in a gazette or newspaper, or the execution of sonic deed, is a necessary form in order to effect a change of name. There
are always greatincanvenienges in cme'a name. which sufficiently account for the g,eneral indisposition to do so, except from a questionable motive. As there is no law to prevent a person from changing his name, so there is, on the other hand, no law to compel third parties to use the new name, and disputes and annoyances arising from such a state of things are matters of course, The change tends, to a certain extent, to destroy the means of identification lifter the lapse of years, which may or may not be the object desired. Notwithstanding these difficulties and inconveniences, there tire many examples of persons who have succeeded after a few years in being generally known under it new name, and of the public as well as his friends recognizing it. The change of name, in general, produces no change whatever on the legal status. A party is (aprilly punishable for swindling, larceny, and other cognate offenses, whatever name he uses; awl, on the other hand, if he is legatee, he is not prevented from establishing and receiving his legacy, whatever name he has adopted. It follows from what precedes that no person is punishable for using a new mane, though it is sometimes an ingredient for a jury to take into consideration when they are required to infer a particular motive of conduct. The' royal license is practically required to be obtained by Englishmen (not Seotchmen) holding commissions in the army, as also when the change of name is to be accompanied by a change of arms, it being the practice of the English heralds' college to refuse to grant arms corresponding to such change, unless the royal license have obtained. In Scotland a bona fide change of name requires neither royal, judicial, nor parliamentary authority, the sole exception being the case of members Jf the college of justice, who require the permission of the court oesession. A royal license is not generally applied for by natives of Scotland, as it is not required to be produced to the lord lyon on applying for it corresponding change of arms. The arms will generally be granted when the lord lyon is satisfied that the change has been made on some reasonable ground, and not from a purely capricious motive; and the fact of the change of name, with the reason why it has been made, are narrated in the new patent of arms. When such change of surname and corresponding eliange.of arms has been made by a Scotsman who is an officer in the army, the authorities of the war office are in the habit of requiring a certificate from the lyon office to the effect that the change is recognized there.
.N;invs of Places.—These, like names of persons, belong, in a great measure, to the language of past races. All over Great Britain, a very large proportion are derived from the Celtic names for natural features of the country. From gowsg, afoul, tam, tar, clety'l —in the Celtic speeches equivalent to ?o:zter or ricer—we have Esk„kvon, Wye, Thames, Tavy. Clyde. PM or ben, hill; gives rise to the names of hills in England and Wales (Penrhys, Penzance), and still more in Scotland (Ben Nevis). So, also. ewes, ema5, volley —as in Cumberland. land of valleys. The memory of the Roman invasion lies been preserved in the termination cheater (derived from eale.a) in the names of towns, as Manchester. Though surnames often originated in local names, the reverse process also occurred; as where vale, ton or ington, ham, or burgh, has been appended to the name of the owner of the land, e.g., Charleville, Johnston, Wymondhain, Edinburgh (i.e., Edwin's burgh).
See Pott's Die Personennamsn and litre Entstehungsarten (2 vols.. 1853; 2d. ed. 1850); Miss Yonne, history of Christian Names (Load. 1803); Lower, On English Surnames (Load. 1840); professor tunes, Concerning Some Scotch Surnames (Ellin. 1860).