Named bull
First, the origin of English surnames
The origin of English surnames has an interesting history. Once upon a time, people were born with only one name. For example, it may be John John, it may be Hilda Hilda. Several people live together or in a small village as in the past. One name is enough. If Hilda or John is mentioned, everyone in the village knows who he means, because there is only one Hilda or John in a village, but with the passage of time, small villages have developed into big villages, and some big villages have developed into towns, so there may be five or six John or five or six Hilda living in the same place. So, how can people tell which is John and which is Hilda? One way to solve this problem is to add the name of the job he is engaged in after this person's name. In this way, the person who is a chef can be called John the Chef. The person who spins and weaves can be called John the weaver. Since then, there has been a second name that we now call a surname. Sir name/surname/familyname/lastname "After a period of time, these surnames were passed on to their children. So, John's textile worker's child may be called Hilda? Hilda Weaver and Charles? Charles weaver. That's why we still use them as surnames today.
"Wright" is an old English word, which means a maker who makes something. Therefore, the man who built the carriage is called Cartwright; The man who makes wheels is called a wheelwright. People who build ships are called shipbuilders. This explains why so many people are surnamed Wright or Carter Wright now.
Another common surname is Smith. Smith (blacksmith) is a man who makes things out of metal. So goldsmith, blacksmith, coppersmith, silversmith); Appeared. Sometimes these names are simply called Tom Gold or Tom Silver. Smith has been a very important person for many years. Although we no longer talk about blacksmiths, we still talk about John? John Smith and Hilda? Hilda Smith.
Another way to distinguish two people with the same name and surname is to add residence after the name. Therefore, two people named Tom who live in the same village may be called (Tom? Tom Wood, (Tom? Woods) or Tom? Feld) Tom field (Tom? Field) This gives birth to surnames such as wood, field, street, tree, pond, lake, mountain and forest. Some surnames come from different looks or appearances of people with the same name. For example: Longfellow (tall), Xiaoman (short), Braitman (smart), Short (short), Brown (dark face). A short man may be called Little John, and that's how his son got his name. Maybe Tom? If little John is always thirsty, you can ask Williams to drink water. There is another way to distinguish two people with the same name. This is to add Son (son) after their names to indicate whose son they are. In this way, if there are three people named Henry, they can be named Henry respectively? John's Henryson, Henry? Robin's Henryson, Henry? William's Henryson. In this way, these surnames became Johnson, Robinson and Williamson. The origins of many surnames in English are easy to find. But how other surnames come from is hard to figure out. Only those scholars who specialize in the history of vocabulary can explain the sources of some difficult words. [1] Historically, British and American surnames can be traced back to 1 1 century. Before the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the English had only a first name and no last name. After the invasion of Normandy, the Anglo-Saxons, the ancestors of the British, gradually acquired surnames. Morgan pointed out in "Ancient Society": "Until the Norman Conquest, our ancestors Saxons only had personal names, but did not represent clan surnames." With the development of feudal society and the rapid increase of British population, the number of names available for selection is far from meeting the needs of the rapid increase of population, and more and more people have to choose the same name. In this way, this view requires adding a word to the name of the person to show the difference. In order to enhance the social function of personal names, English speakers began to adopt personal surnames attached to personal names. This personal nickname is usually my professional name, or birthplace, or nickname, such as chef John; London Roy in London. Later, this personal additional name evolved into a surname, such as chef John evolved into john cooke (John? Chef). The use and development of English surnames are greatly influenced by law and religion. 1538, Britain implemented a hat degree in which newborn babies must register their names after being baptized, which effectively promoted the fixed use and comprehensive popularization of surnames. English surnames were originally only available to nobles, so they were spelled as "jazz names" and later evolved into "surnames" (of course, they can also be called "surnames" or "surnames"). Later, ordinary people also followed the noble practice, adding a surname to their own names, or taking the surname of a noble. [2]
Second, the composition and types of English surnames
English surnames form a relatively fixed pattern around 1 100~ 1450. English surnames come from many languages; Old English, old French, old Norwegian, Irish, Gaelic, Celtic, Welsh, Gaul, Germanic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, etc. The origin and color of English surnames reflect the history of Britain, which is a country frequently invaded by wars and foreign countries. Britain has a wide range of blending and mixing with foreign nationalities in history. According to the origin, English surnames can be roughly divided into 15 kinds.
1, the paternal surname comes from the father's name, which is adopted in many European countries. This method is to add a prefix or suffix to the father's name, which means "my son". English people add the suffix -son and -s, Swedes add the suffix -son, Scots add the prefix Mac-, Irish add the prefix Mac- or Mc- and Q'-, Normans add Fitz, Germans add Von-, Spaniards and Italians add Di-, and Danes and Norwegians add the suffix -sen, such as Johnson, McNeill, MacAdam, Jense and OBrian.
2. Physical and physiological characteristics or lifestyle from ancestors, such as appearance, figure, temper, morality, habits, etc. , or from his father's relatives and friends (nickname). For example, a man named Peter is a big man. People called him Peter Strong, and later he became Peter Strong. Similarly, short Roger became little Roger or little Roger. There are long ones, short ones, good ones, Hardy Wise and so on.
3. Occupational surnames from ancestors, such as Justice, Deacon, Member of Parliament, Latimer and Latimer (1485- 10). British religious leader, converted from Orthodox Church to Protestantism, was appointed Bishop of Worcester [1555], and was arrested by Catholic Queen Mary for treason and burned at the stake. Baxter, (Baxter Richard) Baxter (1615-1691), a British Protestant priest, was persecuted and imprisoned for urging the authorities to be lenient with moderates who broke away from the state religion during the restoration of the monarchy. Webster, (Daniel Webster) Webster (1782- 1852) US Secretary of State [1841-1843] [1850-/kloc] [1823- 1827] Senator [1827-1841] [18435-185/kloc-0] He is one of the three Whig presidential candidates in the United States [1836] Carter, Carter (coachman) Cook, (chef) Clark, (Clark champion) (Clark) [1850-1921] President of the US House of Representatives [650] (Butcher) Blacksmith (Blacksmith) Bronzer (Goldsmith) Silversmith (Silversmith) Vendor (Vendor).
4. Place-based surnames come from place names. This method was used in France before and was brought to England after the Norman conquest in 1 1 century. It should be pointed out that many aristocratic surnames are formed in this way. There are often De (la) and Del in this surname, which means "Zhi". Saxon's corresponding way is "at(te)", such as: John Atbrook (stream), Edgar Attwell (well) and William Atwood (forest). Later, at(te) and other essays were removed, and the names on them became what they are now; John Brooke, Edgar Will and William Wood. Similar surnames include Everest, Ford, Hill, Lake and Yuanye.
5. Surnames from animals. This way came into being mainly because in the Middle Ages, people liked to decorate their heads with symbols of animals they worshipped. If someone likes the bravery of a lion, he takes it as his surname. In addition, there are bulls, (bulls) foxes, (foxes) peacocks, (male peacocks) lambs (lambs) birds and so on. Badger (beaver), deer (stag). 6. Obtained surnames that people didn't need at first, but later got because they needed them. For example, the maid who left the court and the king's entourage became ordinary people overnight, and found that they needed a surname of their own, so they chose this word as their surname. This kind of surname has a nice sound or is only an appendage of a person's name, so it is difficult for its descendants to make any inferences about its ancestors.
7. Sometimes color will become people's surnames. A person with red hair may be called Tom? Red (red). But sometimes long-standing names change, Tom? Can reed be Tom? Red offspring. People who live near the village grass may be called Tom? Green (green) and white and black.
8. Names in the Bible and names of saints in Christianity are also important sources of English surnames. Such as James, John, Michael, Ellis and Elliot. In addition, the names of saints such as Martin, Gregory, Lawrence and Vincent are now very common surnames.
9. Take names with physiological characteristics as surnames, such as: strong arm strength (arm strength superman) and Longfellow (tall man).
10. Take national names as surnames: Angles, Germans, Welsh, etc.
1 1. Take natural phenomena as surnames. Such as frost, rain, show, etc.
12, with plants as the surname. Such as: flowers, roses, etc.
13, with the name of the body part as the surname. Such as arms (arms), feet (feet), temples (temples) and so on.
14. Take the name of the weapon, utensil or currency as the surname. Such as swords, spears, coffins, levers, pounds, etc.
15, with official rank as the surname. Such as judges, kings, Marshall, etc. The number of national surnames in Britain is amazing. According to the survey, there are as many as 1974 surnames in America, and one third of them are unique surnames. There are also 35,000 surnames in Britain. At present, there are about 3000 common surnames in English. The most common is about 200. The top ten surnames are Smith, Jones, Williams, Brown, Davis, Johnson, Anderson, Taylor, Tom and Evans, which account for about half of the English-speaking population.