Читать книгу Collins Dictionary Of Surnames: From Abbey to Mutton, Nabbs to Zouch - Leslie Dunkling - Страница 10

Let us retrace our steps for a moment and ask how, once the need for additional secondary names had been recognized, they were formed. The easiest way to understand the process is to think of how people might be given a nickname today. A nickname (originally an ‘eke name,’ or ‘extra name’) may comment on someone’s physical appearance, such as his or her red hair. It may refer to an aspect of behaviour, such as greediness. Our ancestors were fond of commenting on where someone had originally come from, as we do occasionally when we nickname someone Paddy or Jock. They were usually far more specific, however, and described someone as from such and such a village, or as the chap who lived at the foot of the hill. They liked names of the Jones the Bread type, which commented on a man’s trade or profession. They also liked to describe people in terms of their relationships, as Richard’s or Emma’s son.

Writers on surnames traditionally refer to such relationship names as patronymics (derived from the father or male relative) or metronymics (derived from the mother or female relative). Surnames indicating trades and professions are occupational names; those which indicate where someone originally lived are either place names or locative names. Names describing some aspect of appearance or behaviour are lumped together as nicknames. These have become established terms, and they are not necessarily as good as they should be, but the four categories do give a general impression of how surnames were formed.