e Welsh Ll--
"I am a gentylman and come of Brutes [Brutus'] blood,
My name is ap Ryce, ap Davy, ap Flood."
(Andrew Boorde, Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, ii 7.)
While Welsh names are almost entirely patronymic, Cornish names are
very largely local. They are distinguished by the following prefixes
and others of less common occurrence: Caer-, fort, Lan-, church, Pen-,
hill, Pol-, pool, Ros-, heath, Tre-, settlement, e.g. Carthew, Lanyon,
Penruddock, Polwarth, Rosevear, Trethewy. Sometimes these elements
are found combined, e.g. in Penrose.
A certain number of Celtic nicknames and occupative names which are
frequently found in England will be mentioned elsewhere (pp. 173,
216). In Gilchrist, Christ's servant, Gildea, servant of God,
Gillies, servant of Jesus, Gillespie, bishop's servant, Gilmour,
Mary's servant, Gilroy, red servant, we have the Highland "gillie."
Such names were originally preceded by Mac-, e.g. Gilroy is the same
as MacIlroy; cf. MacLean, for Mac-gil-Ian, son of the servant of John.
To the same class of formation belong Scottish names in Mal-, e.g.
Malcolm, and Irish names in Mul-, e.g. Mulholland, in which the first
element means tonsured servant, shaveling, and the second is the name
of a saint.
CHAPTER VII. GODERIC AND GODIVA
"England had now once more (A.D. 1100) a King born on her own soil, a
Queen of the blood of the hero Eadmund, a King and Queen whose
children would trace to AElfred by two descents. Norman insolence
mocked at the English King and his English Lady under the English
names of Godric and Godgifu." [Footnote: "Godricum eum, et comparem
Godgivam appellantes" (William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum).]
(FREEMAN, Norman Conquest, v. 170.)
In dealing with surnames we begin after the Conquest, for the simple
reason that there were no surnames before. Occasionally an important
person has come down in history with a nickname, e.g. Edmund
Iron-side, Harold Harefoot, Edward the Confessor; but this is
exceptional, and the Anglo-Saxon, as a rule, was satisfied with one
name. It is probable that very many of the names in use before the
Conquest, whether of English or Scandinavian origin, were chosen
because of their etymological meaning, e.g. that the name Beornheard
(Bernard, Barnard, Barnett) was given to a boy in the hope that he
would grow up a warrior strong, just as his sister might be called
AEthelgifu, noble gift. The formation of these old name
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