A Surname Study in Terre Haute

Abstract：The history of surname can be traced back to 12th century. People divided surnames into four categories：occupational names，nicknames，names of relationship and local names. This study tries to clarify a small number of surnames in Terre Haute，to describe their meanings and origins，and to discover the variation of the same surname，and discuss the significance of it. We can conclude from the study that local names took the largest account of all surnames in Terre Haute，USA.

Keywords：surname study；Terre Haute

中图分类号：G642.0 文献标志码：A ？摇文章编号：1674-9324（2013）37-0132-03

1 Introduction

When I first came to Terre Haute last year，two place names highly caught my attention—Vigo County and Indiana State’s Hulman Center. Later on I searched on the Internet and found the answers that those places were both named after persons’names，or surnames. According to the “Terre Haute，Indiana”（2009），because of Colonel Francis Vigo and Hulman family’s contributions to Terre Haute，people use the Vigo County and Hulman surnames to name some important places as a way to commemorate them. This interesting phenomenon urged me to explore a small group of surnames deeper in the Terre Haute area.

2 Historical Background

“In Europe，surnames began to be used in the 12th century，but it took several centuries before the majority of Europeans had one.The primary purpose of the surname was to further distinguish people from one another”（“Family Name”，2009）.After a century’s development，approximately a third of the male population were named William，John or Richard in the 13th century. In order to identify those different Williams or Johns，people commenced to divide Williams into various categories. Consequently，surnames were developed and passed on by people.

The classification of surnames we can trace back was generally based on four types，as Matthews states：occupational names，nicknames，names of relationship and local names （or place names）（Matthews，1967）. He also claims that “Of the four classes that of locality is the largest，though names of relationship run very close”（Matthews 70）.

The first category is occupational names. Although the number of occupational names is only about 16% of English surnames，it contains the most popular and familiar one，Smith（Matthews 79），which was used to call workers of metal. Many others are like this one，that is，used originally to describe a group of people who worked in a certain place，for example，Taylor.“While Smith’s handiwork controlled the physical world，the Clerk’s abilities stood for intellectual power，and Norman rulers，while using the sword vigorously，were finding more and more use for the pen”（Matthews 81）.

Although the origin of nicknames，unlike other types of names，is rarely possible to trace，they usually draw the most interest due to their fascinating impressions. Reaney mentioned in his book that his headmaster was famous as“Old Bogey”，for his good head of shaggy grey hair and a shaggy grey untidy beard（220）.From time to time，novelists are fond of creating nicknames to make their people more vivid and impressive. However，there are also some nicknames that are very plain statements of fact，like Young and Short，White and Grey，etc.（Matthews 138）.

In addition，names of relationship are important as well.If we look back to several hundred years ago，“among the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians，to whom hereditary surnames were unknown，it was often found convenient to identify a man by describing him son of his father，e.g.son of Alfred” （Reaney 75）. These names were considered as patronymic names，which could also be seen as an example of surname by relationship.

Now we come to the largest type at last. Though names of relationship seem to exist in endless numbers，those derived from place names are even more plentiful. Some surnames like Brook，Lane and Hill tell us the places where our male ancestor was living when he gained the name （Reaney 267）. This category covers an even larger number of surnames that are related to our daily life.

3 Methodology

The purpose of the study

By looking up in four different surname books，I have tried to clarify a small number of surnames in Terre Haute，to describe their meanings and origins，and to discover the variation of the same surname，and discuss the significance of it.

The instrument of the study

A small group of surnames were randomly selected from the Yellow Book of Terre Haute：2008-2009. Due to the large amount of the phone number information in the yellow book，I decided to choose the target names from page 74 to page 80，which include the following surnames：Ferrar，Ferrier，Field，Finn，Fisher，Fitch，Flanders，Flint，Flower，Floyd，Flynn，Ford，Forrest，Forster，France，Frank，Freeman，French，Fox. The four books I am using as sources are English Surnames，The Origin of English Surnames，The Surname Detective：Investigating Surname Distribution in England，1086-present day，and The Story of Surnames.

Findings

Within the expectation，there are not many differences among four sources upon every surname I chose. However，some slight differences still can be seen. The following are the surnames’information，including their types and meanings based on the four books mentioned above.

Surprisingly，one point should not be neglected. Although it was a small amount of surnames chosen randomly from a phone book in Terre Haute，we can still catch that local names，or place names，with six out of eighteen in this study——Field，Fisher，Flanders，Ford，France and French——indeed took the largest account of all，approximately 33%，and they undoubtedly indicated two things：the place of birth or origin，no matter whether it was a place referring to a church，a land，a hill，or a river，etc. One reason may be that humans are living in this world. In other words，people were born to some places，no matter if they had any jobs，relations，hobbies，traveling to another place，immigrating，settling down or not，places always came as the first thing and could stand alone. Another thing is that Matthews declared that “if local names form the largest section of surnames，the biggest group within that subject is formed of the proper names of English villages and other inhabited spots”（Matthews 278）. Another large type of surnames is occupation surnames according to my research in Terre Haute，accounting for 28% （5 out of 18）.

4 Conclusion

The surname of my family“Zhao”has a very interesting historical background. It was from an emperor back in Song Dynasty.At that time，common people wanted to show their respects to the emperor，and they believed the surname“Zhao”should come in the first place of all the family names. It symbolized power and prosperity at that time. However，as time changed，emperors altered，and “Zhao”was not regarded as the most important surname although its position was still in the first of all the Chinese surnames.Like Chinese surnames，English surnames have a long and complicated history with constant changes both in linguistic path and historical path. As previous studies show，we need to know the origins，the meanings，why and how they emerged and evolved，and reasons motivating those growths since surnames have such a tight relation with humans，and they will always accompany us.

Works Cited：

[1]“Family Name.”. n.d.

.12 Dec，

2009.

[2]Matthews，Conotance Macy.English Surnames. New York，1967. Print.

[3]Pine，Leslie Gilbert.The Story of Surnames.Rutland，Vermont：Charles E. Tuttle Co. Inc.，1966. Print.

[4]Reaney，Percy Hide.The Origin of English Surnames. London：Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd，1967. Print.

[5]Rogers，Colin D.The Surname Detective：Investigating Surnames Distribution in English，1086-present Day. Manchester：Manchester University Press，1995. Print.