e Rudd from Anglo-Sax. rud, whence ruddy and the name
Ruddock, really a bird nickname, the redbreast. To these must be
added Rudge, Fr. rouge, Rouse, Rush and Russ, Fr, roux, and Russell or
Rowsell, Old Fr. roussel (Rousseau). The commonest nickname for a
fair-haired person was Blunt, Blount, Fr. blond, with its dim.
Blundell, but the true English name is Fairfax, from Anglo-Sax. feax,
hair. The New English Dictionary quotes from the fifteenth century

"Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe,
That was yelowe as the waxe."

The adjective dun was once a regular name, like Dobbin or Dapple, for
a cart-horse; hence the name of the old rural sport "Dun in the mire"--

"If thou art dun we'll draw thee from the mire." (Romeo and Juliet, i.
4.)

It is possible that the name Dunn is sometimes due to this specific
application of the word. The colour blue appears as Blew--

"At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blew:
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new"

(Lycidas, 1. 192)--

and earlier still as Blow--

"Blak, blo, grenysh, swartysh, reed."

(House of Fame, iii. 557.)

Other colour names of French origin are Morel, swarthy, like a Moor,
also found as Murrell [Footnote: This, like Merrill, is sometimes from
Muriel.]; and Burnell, Burnett, dims. of brun, brown. Chaucer speaks
of--

"Daun Burnet the asse" (B, 4502);

[Footnote: Lat. dominus; the masculine form of dame in Old French.]

"Daun Russel the fox" (B, 4524.)

But both Burnell and Burnett may also be local from places ending in
-hill and -head (), and Burnett is sometimes for Burnard. The same
applies to Burrell, usually taken to be from Mid. Eng. borel, a rough
material, Old Fr. burel (bureau), also used metaphorically in the
sense of plain, uneducated

"And moore we seen of Cristes secree thynges
Than burel folk, al though they weren kynges."

(D, 1871.)

The name can equally well be the local Burhill or Burwell.

Murray is too common to be referred entirely to the Scottish name and
is sometimes for murrey, dark red (Fr. mure, mulberry). It may also
represent merry, in its variant form murie, which is Mid. English, and
not, as might appear, Amurrican--

"His murie men comanded he
To make hym bothe game and glee."

(B, 2029.)

Pook, of uncertain origin, is supposed to have been a dark russet
colour. Bayard, a derivative of bay, was the name of several famous
war-horses. Cf. Blank and Blanchard. The name Soar is from the Old