Работу выполнила ученица 6класса Б

Евглевская ЮлияРуководитель Петухова Е.С.

British names and surnames

British names and surnamesI have no nameI am but two days old What shall I call thee?I happy am,Joy is my name.Sweet joy befall thee!William Blake

The British Isles

Traditionally a child gets two names when he is born: a personal name or a first name and a middle name.

These personal names come from one generation to another.

First of all let’s look through the ancient British names.

Personal Names

After the Norman conquest ancient British names disappeared. In 1313-1314 there were only 5 names in the list. The Norman conquest influenced greatly on the British names. The most popular names were William, Richard, Robert, Hugh and Ralph for boys and Mary, Joan, Agnes, Catherine, Margaret and Ann for girls. Also people gave names from the Bible. But then the church shortened the list of the names. The real name was the name given after baptizing.

British names in the Middle Ages

In the 16th century the puritans separated themselves from the church. It meant that they gave their children the Latin names but of their own. These names became very popular in America where the puritans escaped in the 17th century. We can meet these names even now: More-Fruit, Much-Mercey, Sin-Deny, Fear-Not. But the most popular names are Samuel, Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, Daniel, Sarah, Susan, Sharon. A lot of famous American people have got these names now.

Puritan’s names

English writers not only helped the name to be popular but also created their own names. J. Swift created Vanessa and Stella. The heroes of Shakespeare gave their names to many English people. Now we can meet Silvia, Celia, Julia, Juliet, Viola.

In the 18th century writers showed their interest in the Gothic literature, so Middle-aged names became popular again. People again gave children the following names: Matilda, Arthur, Lancelot, Emma, Diana, Roland, Rowena.

Literature and a name

English children got two names, but now very often we can see three and four names: Charles Philip Arthur George. The middle name plays an important role. It shows the individuality of the child. People use not only names as middle names but also geographical names, the names of the famous people.

In Scotland there is a great tradition to give middle names from the mothers’ families. They think it keeps their children from evil.

Middle names

There are not only full names but also short forms. We often shorten our names in our everyday life.

Father calls me William,Sister calls me Will,Mother calls me Willie, But the fellers call me Bill!

E. Field

Different forms of the names

Here is a popular children poem:Eliza, Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess, They went to the woods to get a bird’s

nest; They found a nest with four eggs in it; They took one apiece, and left three in

it,Here Eliza, Betsy and Bess are one name

– Elizabeth.

Shortened names

BOYS:Mark, Paul, Robert, Michael, Colin, Dean,

Kevin, Timothy, Russel, Daniel, David, Geoffrey, Thomas, Philip, Ian, Nicholas, John, Richard, Gary, Barry, Andrew, Christopher, Peter, Matthew

GIRLS:Sarah, Sharon, Lisa, Julia, Karen, Rachel,

Amanda, Catherine, Emma, Angela, Paula, Teresa, Kelly, Tina, Andrea, Linda, Ann, Donna, Wendy, Helen, Fiona, Janet

The most popular names now

There are some factors that influence the choice of a name:

1. the influence of the fashion2. social status3. a wish to be original4. the influence of the religion5. a place of birth6. associations7. in honour of smb

How they choose names

1. The fashion plays a very important role in our life, it influences us, so we even can give names which are more fashionable now.

2. The social status influences the choice of a name. Aristocracy persons give names which are not used among poor people.

3. Some parents want to be original and give their children rare and unusual names.

4. The most religious people give Bible names.5. There are some names connected with

geographical places, Jennifer – Cornwall, Yorick – West England , York

The factors

Long ago people didn’t have surnames. But there appeared a lot of similar names and people began to use additional signs to identify themselves. In the 11th century there were the first surnames in the documents. But first of all rich and noble people could afford surnames. There are 4 groups of the surname origin:

1. ancient names2. the place of living3. a profession4. names that describe character or appearance

British Surnames

A lot of future surnames were connected with different myths and legend. It was long before the Norman Conquest: Walter, Henry, Godfrey, Good, Goddard, Godwin. Many surnames came from Scandinavian countries: Swain, Swanson, Thor, Thurlow. With the Normans new names came. These names were begun to use as surnames: Walters, Watterson, Ralph, Hugh, Watts. The name “Roland” gave a birth to the surnames: Rowland, Rowlandson; “Richard” – Richardson, “Lawrence” – Lawrence, Lawson, Larson, Larkin. We often meet “s” in the middle of the surnames. It means relative relationships. Highlands people use the prefix MAC that means “son”. The Irish people use the prefix “o”. You always meet MacDonald, MacGregor or O’Hara and O’Neal.

ANCIENT SURNAMES

It is the biggest group, most surnames are given because of the place of living. The surnames were given to people and they pointed the definite place, town or country: Scot, Ingleman, Wallace, Cornwall, Kent, York, Westley. The other surnames showed the geographical position of the place of living: Hill, Dale, Brook, Moore, Atten-Oaks, Birch, Wood, Brook, Ford, Rhodes, Gateman.

The place of living

A lot of surnames came from the names of professions. We can divide this group into several aspects:

1. the surnames from the posts2. the surnames from the agricultural

professions3. the surnames from the craftsman

professions4. the surnames connected with cloth trading

A profession

In these group we can find surnames connected with the titles, ranks and posts. These people served to a king in the Middle ages in England. We can find Stewart, Wardrop, Barber, Spencer, Spooners, Kitchener, Marshall. Also we can find social characteristics in the following surnames: Knight, Squire, Sheriff, Mayor, Judge, Crier, Clark, Abbot, Canon, Deacon, Priest, Forester.

POST SURNAMES

These surnames are connected with the oxen, agriculture. In the north there are a lot of surnames as Hurd, Hird, Heard, Coward, Swinnart, Goddart, Gozzard, Sheperd. From the word “cottage” people got the surnames as Cotman, Cotter, Cotterel. The most popular surnames are Farmer, Baker, Thackery, Carpenter, Painter, Gardener, Honneyman.

Smith is the most widespread surname in England and America.

Agricultural Professions

In the 13t and 14th century a lot of surnames connected with crafts appeared.: Baker, Draper, Barber, Spicer, Mercer, Chapman, Archer, Reader, Horner and Wakeman.

Craftsman professions

These professions gave a lot of surnames such as Woolen, Wooley, Fuller, Comber, Seamer, Tailor, Dyer and Dyster.

Cloth trading

These surnames showed physical peculiarities of a man: Bigg, Strong, High, Low, Little, Longman, Strongman, Young, Elder, Small, Arms, Head, Hands, Armstrong, Kneebone. Some surnames depicted the colour of the hair: Black, White, Grey, Brown, Red, Ball.

We can see not only physical characteristics, but also traits of character: Bad, Good, Wise, Gay, Joyce, Friend, Gentle, Trueman, Love, Bragg, Sad, Silly, Moody, Merry.

Character and appearance descriptions

Having studied the whole material I realized that the quotation “deep are the root” is right. These connections we can meet not only in British history but also in Russian. It’s very important to know about the origin of our names. I tried to get your interest to this topic. This way we will get more about our names.

REFLECTION