VARIETIES IN A NAME. 179 is said to have been the daughter of an Earl of Cornwall, and mother of St. David, the famous Archbishop of Menevia (now called St. David's), the patron saint of Wales. The waters of this holy well were supposed to cure insanity. Her chapel has passed away, and her name, too, is passing away from her pretty well, which is often now called the 'Piskies'' (or the Fairies') Well; and yet there was an ample choice amongst the many forms which her name has assumed in various chronicles :— St. Nun, Nunne, Nonnet, Nunnites, Nunice, Nynnina, Neomena, and Niemyne. And after all these variations of her name4 other chroniclers speak of the mother of St. David as a nun, called by the name of Malearia.⁕ CHAPTER IX. Antiquity of our baptismal names — Bible names the favourites in England - Art of name-making died out — Names connected with French and English revolutions characteristic — English diminutives of names: their love for them of ancient date- Christian converts clinging to old - Origin of the popularity of some names — Peter, Catharine, Paul, and Margaret — Successive causes influencing the adoption of names Our patron saints Heroes and saints, honoured men and women, romances, &c. Names beginning with Z Suggestions for new names from the Spanish, &c. Nameless creditors names Names amongst Africans, North American Indians, Hindus Jews and Arabians. WITH but very few exceptions, all our bap tismal names are older than—as a people —we are ourselves. Modern nations have done comparatively nothing to increase the treasury of individual names. Christianity—with its sublime inspirations, its deep and far-spreading influence over thoughts and words and deeds—has made but a very slender addition to the store. It is by names borrowed from the Assyrian, the Persian, the Hebrew, the Greek, the Roman, the Celt, and the Goth, that Christian Europe enrols her children in the vast army of Christ. To this rule the small exception will be found in a few names of Spanish, Italian, and French invention, of which the greater number have been derived from the Latin. The religious element, which is more strongly developed in Spain than in any other Roman Catholic country, there assumes with regard to names a different form from its simple manifestation in England. Our open Bibles have given to us our favourite names—of women's names especially, those most universally in use are all of Hebrew origin. Our poorer classes seldom care to go beyond 'Bible names,'⁕ as they are most expressively called, for in that their charm enduring for many centuries consists, wholly irrespective of signification. The great body of our people look upon names as typical of those that have borne them, and therefore it is that while Protestant England shrinks from undue homage to the Virgin Mary, her name, as that of the 'blessed among women,' the mother of our Lord, is heard in every house throughout the land; and almost as common among them is the name of the 'beloved' disciple John. The sweet name of Mary, as 'Marie' or 'Maria,1 is also the universal favourite in Roman Catholic countries; it is constantly prefixed to 'Bible names.' Amongst soldiers, sailors, agriculturists, and mechanics, even such names as Josiah, Jeremiah, Jesse, Noah, Obadiah, &c., may be commonly found; and Keziah, Rachel, and Ruth amongst the women of the same class. What joy to think that possibly a knowledge of the signification of such names may be blessed to some at least as an occasional reminder! Jeremiah, 'one who gives glory to Jehovah,' or God; Obad-iah, 'the servant of God." other names, and not unfrequently even to those of men. We read that in part of Bavaria Maria is affixed to every woman's name, and Johann to that of every man.⁕ The musical Spanish name, Dolores, signifying sorrow, almost a synonyme with Mary, was adopted as commemorative of the sorrows of the Virgin mother: in spite of its sad meaning it is an especial favourite. In Italy and Spain—also introduced in honour of the Madonna-we find commonly used the names of Immaculata, Concepcion, and Annunziata, signifying the Annunciation. In connection with this last is the still prettier, simpler name, Ave, a favourite name amongst them. Derived from the Hebrew 'haveh,' so beautiful an idea attaches itself to this word, that it may well have become a popular name. In this first word of the angel Gabriel's salutation to the Virgin are reversed, both in Hebrew and Latin, the letters which compose our first mother's name, Hevah, Eva; and thus it becomes significant of the rolling back of the curse entailed by her upon mankind, by the blessing which at that moment Mary, as the mother of the Redeemer, was appointed to convey. Some of these foreign Roman Catholic names jar painfully upon English ears. Unfitted surely * Rev. J. Robertson's Narrative of Mission to Danish Islands. NAMES OF CHRISTIAN ORIGIN. 183 for familiar use are the names, common amongst Spanish women, of Jesusa, and its diminutive Jesusita, and the yet more solemn appellation of Trinidada. But others of these continental names unused by us refer to religious festivals in our church. The French Domenique, Italian Domenico, Spanish Domingo, signifies the Lord's day,' or 'belonging to the Lord.' Pascal, almost a saintly name, is from the Hebrew Pascha, passage, the Jews' Passover and our Easter. Epiphanie, Epiphany, from the Greek, to appear, to shine, as a woman's name had its French diminutive Tiphaine, rendered in English by Tiffany, as in the old lines referring to one of the Breton knights who came to England in William the Conqueror's time: * William de Coningsby Came out of Brittany, With his wife Tiffany, And his dog Hardigras. In the name of Evangeline, Evangelista (from the Gr., sig. bringer of good news), there is a sound of joy-bells ringing; and sweeter still, from moonlit Bethlehem softly echoes the angel's song in the lovely name of Nathalie, sig. the Nativity. * From Theophania, the ancient name of the festival of Epiphany. Out of this word, when it became a name—a name ever a fertile source for a legend—sprang an imaginary personage, Theophania, the supposed mother of the three kings of the East. Balverte. |