signs instead of numbers, and
traces of this custom are still to be seen in country towns. It is
quite obvious that town surnames would readily spring into existence
from such signs. The famous name Rothschild, always mispronounced in
English, goes back to the "red shield" over Nathan Rothschild's shop
in the Jewry of Frankfurt; and within the writer's memory two brothers
named Grainge in the little town of Uxbridge were familiarly known as
Bible Grainge and Gridiron Grainge. Many animal surnames are to be
referred partly to this source, e.g. Bull, Hart, Lamb, Lyon, Ram,
Roebuck, Stagg; Cock, Falcon, Peacock, Raven, Swann, etc., all still
common as tavern signs. The popinjay, or parrot, is still
occasionally found as Pobgee, Popjoy. These surnames all have, of
course, an alternative explanation (ch. xxiii.). Here also usually
belong Angel and Virgin.

A considerable number of such names probably consist of those taken
from figures used in heraldry or from objects which indicated the
craft practised, or the special commodity in which the tradesman
dealt. Such are Arrow, Bell, Buckle, Crosskeys, Crowne, Gauntlett,
Hatt, Horne, Image, Key, Lilley, Meatyard, measuring wand--

"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight,
or in measure" (Lev. xix. 35)--

Mullett, [Footnote: A five-pointed star, Old Fr. molette, rowel of a
spur.] Rose, Shears, and perhaps Blades, Shipp, Spurr, Starr, Sword.
Thomas Palle, called "Sheres," died in London, 1376.

But here again we must walk delicately. The Germanic name Hatto,
borne by the wicked bishop who perished in the Maeuseturm, gave the
French name Hatt with the accusative form Hatton, [Footnote: In Old
French a certain number of names, mostly of Germanic origin, had an
accusative in -on, e.g. Guy, Guyon, Hugues, Hugon. From Lat. Pontius
came Poinz, Poinson, whence our Poyntz, less pleasingly Punch, and
Punshon. In the Pipe Rolls these are also spelt Pin-, whence Pinch,
Pinchin, and Pinches.] Horn is an old personal name, as in the
medieval romance of King Horn, Shipp is a common provincialism for
sheep, [Footnote: Hence the connection between the ship and the
"ha'porth of tar."] Starr has another explanation (see Starling) and
Bell has several (chapter 1). I should guess that Porteous was the
sign used by some medieval writer of mass-books and breviaries. Its
oldest form is the Anglo-Fr. Porte-hors, corresponding to medieval
Lat. portiforium, a