Names

[lpetrich]

I've decided to start a thread on the origins of names.

•  Onomastics or onomatology is research into proper names.
•  Anthroponymy or anthroponymics or anthroponomastics is research into people's names.
•  Toponymy or toponymics, or toponomastics --  Place name origins

The Meaning and History of First Names - Behind the Name - Personal names. Using the Western convention of using one's personal name being before one's family name. Eastern Asians use the opposite order: family name, then personal name.

Having names is universal in our species, it seems, and it is likely as old as our species. But for most societies over most of history, people have had only one name. Multiple names were invented in several places, at least a personal name and a family name, and sometimes more.

One might look at the personal names of people discovered to have had Paleolithic-level technology ("primitive people") for clues as to what names people had for most of our species' history.

 

[Politesse]

Some other interesting areas of inquiry: autonyms, names one applies to oneself, ethnonyms, names applied to social or ethnic divisions of people, and demonyms, the names for people from particular places.

 

[lpetrich]

Leaving aside this extrapolation as very hand-wavy, we are on somewhat firmer ground with Proto-Indo-European speakers some 6,000 - 5,000 years ago. Like for protolanguages in general, the more firmly reconstructible parts of the Proto-Indo-European language are not very culturally informative. Like being able to say that something is something - the PIE word for "is" was "esti", and the English word is descended from that PIE word. It's usually written *esti, with the * denoting a reconstruction.

But some of the more secure PIE does enable cultural inferences, like words for domestic animals: *kwon "dog", *ekwos "horse", *polos "foal", *suHs "pig", *gwous "cow", *tauros "bull".

The PIE speakers did base-10 counting, with a word for 100. The word for 1000 is different enough between the dialects to make a PIE original, if any, difficult to recover.

Turning to names, there is no personal name that can be reconstructed across most IE branches. But there is a pattern of name construction that is very similar in early Germanic, Greek, Slavic, and Indic names: two-word compounds. So we infer that the PIE speakers used names that are two-word compounds.

Greece had lots of horse names, like Leucippus "white horse", Hipparchus "horse master", etc. Germanic has a lot of wolf names, like Rudolf "famous wolf", Adolf "noble wolf", Wolfgang "wolf path", etc. Also raven names, like Bertram "bright raven", and a combination name, Wolfram "wolf raven".

Early Germanic horse names weren't common, though the leaders of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Great Britain were named Hengist ("stallion" or "gelding") and Horsa ("horse").

The Slavic name Vladimir means "great ruler" or 'world ruler", but with the original word order, "rules greatly" or "rules the world". The name Volodymyr is a sound-shift variation of it. By an interesting coincidence, Prince Vladimir of Kiev, Vladimir Lenin, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy all have that name.

Another element common in ancient Greek names was Cleo- and -cles meaning "glory". Thus the name Cleopatra means more or less "glorious ancestors", literally "glorious father". She wasn't "native" Egyptian but was Greek, the last of the Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt, a descendant of one of Alexander the Great's generals.

 

[Hermit]

Another element common in ancient Greek names was Cleo- and -cles meaning "glory".

The names of many Greek philosophers, poets and playwrights end with -cles, but most of them are not well known because they never actually wrote their thoughts down or their works have been lost. Here is a partial list of generally ignored Greek philosophers:
Bicycles
Spectacles
Particles
Tentacles
Debacles
Icicles
Circles
Cubicles
Obstacles
Carbuncles

 

[lpetrich]

Turning to family names, they fall into several genres.

Patronymics (being named after one's father): English -son, Norman French Fitz-, Scandinavian -sen, -son, Turkish -oglu, ... some languages use some adjective-forming suffix for that, like Russian -ovich, Croatian -ich (like my last name), etc.

Occupations: Baker, Butcher, Farmer, Leverrier ("the glassworker"), ... The names Eisenhower (German: Eisenhauer) and Ferrari (Italian) both mean "ironworker".

Personal features: White, Black, Little, ...

Place names: Newton, Deutsch, Milano, Napolitano, ...

Titles: King, Prince, Noble, Duke, Graf, Herzog, ...

Ornamental names: Gold, Silver, Diamond (German: Finkelstein, "sparkle stone"), Ruby (German: Rubin), ... German Bernstein means amber, and is literally "burn stone".

 

[bilby]

Another element common in ancient Greek names was Cleo- and -cles meaning "glory".

The names of many Greek philosophers, poets and playwrights end with -cles, but most of them are not well known because they never actually wrote their thoughts down or their works have been lost. Here is a partial list of generally ignored Greek philosophers:
Bicycles
Spectacles
Particles
Tentacles
Debacles
Icicles
Circles
Cubicles
Obstacles
Carbuncles

Most modern thinkers appear to be scholars of the work of Testicles, at least judging by how much utter bollocks is being spoken.

 

[bilby]

Personal features: White, Black, Little,

Noting that many are ironic reversals - a particularly large man might be known as 'Tiny', for example; Or the common Australian nickname 'Blue' or 'Bluey' denoting a person with red hair.

 

[lpetrich]

Personal features: White, Black, Little,

Noting that many are ironic reversals - a particularly large man might be known as 'Tiny', for example; Or the common Australian nickname 'Blue' or 'Bluey' denoting a person with red hair.

A side effect of those names being frozen across the generations. That's why "Smith" is a common last name, even though most metalworking these days is done by machines in factories.

 

[bigfield]

Here are some I discovered:

Goldilocks = blonde/golden haired
Papa bear = ursine father, boar
Mama bear = ursine mother, sow
Baby bear = ursine juvenile, cub

 

[Keith&Co.]

I sometimes wonder what my dog has named me....

 

[Swammerdami]

(I think the Anglo-Saxon-Jute warlords Hengist and Horsa are generally assumed to be mythical, no?)

Some comments about surnames:

Although surnames precede personal names in Japan and Korea, it is common for Koreans or Japanese to reverse this order (i.e. agree with Western convention) when publishing in English or visiting the West. Confusing?

Southeast Asian countries use the personal/surname ordering of the West. Some Western tourists (e.g. John Smith) get the wrong idea when addressed as "Mister John." Thais don't think John is the surname; they're just following their own custom of always denoting people by their personal name. (By the way, just as some Westerners insist on a Biblical name as personal name, it is common for Thai personal names — but not nicknames which are in more common usage than the official registered personal name — to be taken from ancient Pali texts. This is the reason why very few traditional personal (non-nickname) Thai names are written with a tone mark.)

While noble families have had surnames for many centuries, inherited surnames for commoners are relatively new and were often imposed by government edict, as an aid to police activity, taxation, etc. But often, immediately after such a decree, the family is allowed to choose the surname itself. Some countries (e.g. Burma) still do not use surnames.

In Thailand, where surnames were introduced about a century ago, surnames were required to be unique, so are usually 2 or 3 words concatenated together.

In England there was no uniqueness requirement so families that didn't already have an inherited nickname or place designator (e.g. atte Wode = Atwood) might be allowed to pick their own. Recall a scene from Reservoir Dogs: "Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?" "If you got to pick your own names everyone would want to be Mr. Black."). Is this why White and Black are common English surnames?

One can often guess an English person's agnatic lineage from his surname. A 'Freeman' might descend from someone not obviously free; and so on. A 'Price' is likely to descend from a Welsh 'ap Rhys.'

Roman nobility were usually born with three names or more. In the name 'Gaius Julius Caesar' the three names are analogous to, and in the same order as, the three parts of 'Henry Stuart of Darnley.'

 

[lpetrich]

Bear names? The name Bernard (German Bernhard) is Germanic, and it means "brave bear". Another such name is Ursula (Latin: "little bear (f)"). Also the Russian last name Medvedev (medved' + -ev).

Some more patronymics: Scottish Mac-, Mc-, Irish O', Welsh P- (ap) - all meaning "son (of)".

I haven't been able to find what Armenian -ian/-yan means, but it's very common in Armenian last names. Eurasian Georgian -shvili means "child" and -dze means "son".

 

[Politesse]

Arthur is likely derived from "Bear" (Celtic: "Artos"), though this is speculative and "of Thor" is another possible etymology. Bjorn literally means bear (in Swedish). Orson and Barrett are two common British family names likely derived from bearish roots.

Various derivations of "Bear" are the basis for many family names across Native North America, as some variation of the Bear Clan was found in a great many First Nations cultures. So for instance, the Awaehsaeh family of the Menomineee and the Hųč Hik’ik’árajera family of the Hotsak/Ho-Chunk, and the Makwa family of the Anishnaabe, all of whom occupy mostly upper Wisconsin state today, all have names literally meaning "the bear people" or "the bear folk".

The Armenian suffix -յան is the source of that "-ian/-yan" sound, and is often translated "belonging to" or "in descent from", but out of context is really just the marker for the genitive case which comes from PIE and is consequently found in many European languages. In context, it's also a patronymic, marking descent from a particular father, as with Davidson in English or your various examples above.

 

[lpetrich]

Turning to place names, names of settlements often have a word for a kind of settlement in them: city, town, village. English -ton, -thorpe, -wick, -ham, -ville, German -burg, Scandinavian -vik, Dutch, German, Scandinavian -stad(t), Slavic -grad/-gorod, Classical Greek -polis, Persian -abad, S Asian -pur, ...

"New Town" is common: Newtown, Newton, Dutch Nieuwstadt, German Neustadt, Norwegian Nystad, French Villeneuve, Spanish Villanueva, Catalan + Portuguese Vilanova, Italian Villanuova, Latin Villanova, Croatian Novigrad, Polish Nowogród, Russian Novgorod, Greek Neapolis (Naples), Phoenician Qart-Hadasht (Carthage), ...

World’s largest “City” cities | Panethos - looked for "city" and "ciudad" (Spanish) only. Would also have found oodles of burgs and grads and the like.

World’s largest “New” cities | Panethos - looked for anything that looks like "new" - easy for Indo-European languages, since words for "new" are cognate across them, with reconstructed ancestor *newos.

Likely related to *nu, the reconstructed ancestor of English "now", Latin nunc, etc. though not as well represented. For instance, Latin's descendants, the Romance languages, replaced nunc with several different word forms.

 

[Angry Floof]

Another element common in ancient Greek names was Cleo- and -cles meaning "glory".

The names of many Greek philosophers, poets and playwrights end with -cles, but most of them are not well known because they never actually wrote their thoughts down or their works have been lost. Here is a partial list of generally ignored Greek philosophers:
Bicycles
Spectacles
Particles
Tentacles
Debacles
Icicles
Circles
Cubicles
Obstacles
Carbuncles

And even lesser known, poor Testicles.

 

[fromderinside]

"Roll over queen I want to ball." said the lucky bastard.

"If I had two I would be King and you'd be queer." she replied.

 

[lpetrich]

 Roman naming conventions - ancient Rome was unusual in people having combination names, something typical of the present day and recent centuries, but rare before then.

• Praenomen ("forename") -- personal name
• Nomen gentilicum ("family/clan name") or nomen ("name")
• Cognomen ("along-with name") -- extra name, like a nickname. Some Romans used more than one of these.

Latin nômen looks a lot like English "name" - it's an Indo-European cognate.

Ancient Roman grammarians called them the tria nomina ("three names").

Some names were numbers in sequence:  Quintus (praenomen)

Quintus is the Latin word for "fifth", and it falls into a class of similar praenomina including the masculine names Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, Nonus, and Decimus, as well as the feminine names Prima, Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, Sexta, Septima, Octavia, Nona, and Decima. It is generally believed that the name was originally given to a fifth child, a fifth son, or a fifth daughter. However, it has also been argued that Quintus and the other praenomina of this type could refer to the month of the year in which a child was born. It may be that such names were given for both reasons.

 

[lpetrich]

 Personal name - individual name or first name:  Given name - family name for last name:  Surname

People have been using names in addition to their individual names for millennia, but such additional names have been inherited as family names only in the last few centuries in much of the world, though with exceptions like ancient Rome.

 

[lpetrich]

Why do Native Americans have names like Crazy Horse, Swallow Bird, Touch the Clouds, Kicking Bear, Rain in the Face and Sitting Bull? - Quora

How did Native American personal names originally develop (i.e. “Red Cloud” and “Sitting Bull”)? Further, how did the convention of Native Americans taking an Anglo first name and a Native American surname develop (i.e. Jay Silverheels)? - Quora

These are all translations, and I like this answer to the second one:

Christopher Proescher:

Not all Native American personal names are that way.

Cherokee names might be Kamama, or Tsula, Atsila, or even Sequoia. Someone of the Comanche tribe might be named Huupi-phhati, Isataik Lotsee, Mukwooru, or Nadua.

Sitting Bull, a Lakota Indian was actually named Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, which was translated and simplified to “Sitting Bull”. Red Cloud (Maȟpíya Lúta) was also from the Lakota tribe. As you can see, neither had the name we commonly associate with them.

BTW, The Meaning and History of First Names - Behind the Name now has The Meaning and History of Surnames - Behind the Name

 

[lpetrich]

 Theophoric name -- names that mention deities are common. Sometimes the deity names by themselves, but often phrases involving them.

 Theophory in the Bible has a big list of such names. Some of the better-known ones:
Michael - Who is like God?
Nathaniel - God gave
Raphael - God heals
Israel - God fights / Fights with God
Elijah - My god is Yahweh
Jeremiah - God exalts

Mesopotamian ones:
Nebuchadnezzar - May Nabu protect my oldest son
Sennacherib - Sin (a god) has replaced my brothers
Mordechai - servant of Marduk

 List of Arabic theophoric names
Abdullah - servant of Allah
Abd el (X) - servant of (X)
X-ullah - (X) of Allah

Greek and Roman ones
Diodorus - gift of Zeus (the god's name has combining form Di-)
Isidore - gift of Isis
Dennis - (early medieval) short for Dionysius - associated with Dionysus

Christian ones
Amadeus - (Latin) lover of God
Theodore, Dorothy - (Greek) gift of God
Timothy - (Greek) honoring God
Bogdan - (Slavic) gift of God
Boguslav - (Slavic) glory of God

Germanic ones:
Oswald - mighty god
Thorstein - Thor's stone
Ingrid - beloved Ing

From Nigeria,
Igbo Submitted Names - Behind the Name
Okechukwu - God's portion
Nwachukwu - child of God