The need of surnames began to be felt. Many would naturally prove themselves "dread ful-in-the fight," "Hardy," °Stem-of-look," and the Northern nations soon adopted a method of adding the father's name to the son's; as Oscar son of Ossian, Oscar son of Caruth, Dermid son of Duffino, Dermid son of Diaran. The introduction of Christianity, which taught the equality of man, breaking up class distinctions, rapidly advanced the adoption of surnames by the use of new or baptismal names—Biblical or saints' names, anything but pagan cogno mens — and this caused endless confusion; the new names were almost wholly derived from foreign languages, and as such had no local or personal significance.
The rise of feudal power was another source of change and confusion, as retainers or feoffees often bore the name of their overlord, whose title might arise from his office at court or his most valuable estate. The division of estates led to a new distribution of surnames among the heirs, taken from the inherited estates, only the oldest retaining the father's name by reason of the name being attached to the home-estate. The charters of the 10th and 11th centuries often recited the same individual under differ ent names — sometimes because he had lost the manor which gave him title, or had come into possession of another which was more flatter ing to his vanity. The law of primogeniture finally cleared away much confusion, the prop erty- becoming settled in tenure and the owner desiring to proclaim his patent of nobility; from that time a surname was rarely lost and was further confirmed by the granting of armorial bearings.
In heraldry we find many surnames derived from "canting arms," which clearly proceed from the arms; as in Sweden, the family whose arms represented the head of an ox took the name Oxenstiern (like the well-known Front de-Bcef) ; the Racines had originally placed in their coat-of-arms a rat and a swan (Rat Cygne), but the writer of "Athalie" retained only the swan, as the rat offended his taste.
To England the Saxons brought their feudal institutions; immense properties were at tached to the king and his Thanes, and they farmed them out to substantial tenants who again let them to subtenants for cultivation. William the Conqueror redistributed these lands as fiefs among his Norman warriors; Henry I, in 1100, changed the fief tenure into real or freehold property, but his concession produced no great increase of hereditary names. In 1160 Henry II enfranchised the land in order to counteract the ambitious barons; soon after his time hereditary names became common in England.
It appears that surnames began to he adopted in England about 1000 A.D., coming mainly from Normandy. A few Saxons had surnames: "Hwita Hatte was a keeper of bees in Hcethfelda, and Tate Hatte, his daughter, was the mother of Wulsige, the shooter," in the Cottonian manuscript shows a transition point. In the time of Edward the Confessor
there were Saxon tenants in Suffolk: Leuric Hobbesune (Hobson), Suert Magno or Manni, Godric Poinc, Tedricus Pointel, Siuward Rufus (redhead) .and Stigand Soror. In the Domes day Survey they were becoming more common: as Alwin Dodesune (Dodson), Walter Achet, Osmund Angevin, Roger Arundel, Walter Bee, William Bonvaslet; some of these being curious Norman blends of their own names with those of their Norman masters, as above in Arundel and Angevin. When King Magnus assumed Highland dress he became known as Berbeinn (Bareleg), still preserved, probably, in the Puritan "Barebones." The terminations ing, kin, son, in English names, were derived from the Norse ingr, kyn and sonr, the r being dropped. The Danish make the last sen. The diminutives: Friesian, ken, ke, ock, cock (a foolish fellow, hence the Scotch lgowkll); Norman-French et, ette, let, ot, otte, el; Old Norse, i, a, ki, ka, gi, ga, ungr, ingr and ling, became quite common additions to English names, which have since adhered.
The Gaelic Mac, Irish 0', the British Ap, the Norse ungar, the Friesian ingar and en, the Anglo-Saxon ing, the Norman Fitz (probably from Flanders originally; many Irish families substituted Fitz for Mac in Norman times) are all ancient family prefixes. The ancient tribe of Waring or Wearing, the Vceringi or Veringun (originally from the Vceringifjord in Norway) formed the celebrated Varangian guard of the Byzantine emperors, which was afterward largely recruited from the North and especially from England.
In England, as of old in Schleswig, the vil lage community formed the unit of English society. Each such township was still bounded by its mark of forest, mere or fen, which di vided it from its nearest neighbors. In each lived a single clan, supposed to of kindred blood and bearing a common name. Many family names are thus perpetuated in England; as the Bassingas at Bassingbourne in Cam bridgeshire; at Bassingfield in Notts; at Bas singthorpe and Bassingham in Lincolnshire; and at Bassington in Northumberland. The Billings have left their stamp at Billing in Northampton; Billingford, in Norfolk; Billing ham, in Durham; Billingley, in Yorkshire; and Billinghurst, in Sussex. Birmingham, Notting ham, Wellington, Farington, Warrington and Wallingford are well-known names formed on the same analogy. In London alone occur the clan settlements at Kensington, Paddington, Notting-hill, Billingsgate, Islington, Newington, Kennington, Wapping and Teddington. There are altogether 1,400 names of this type in Eng land.