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Breathless Moon Site Contents
Part I: Family Tradition |
Part II: Transcriptions |
Part III: Parallel Dimensions |
Part
IV: Odd Bits |
© 2001-2007
Vortex Creations, Inc.
Daniel K.
Burgess, Webmaster
Page last updated:
Wednesday, 16 May 2007 22:48
The Origin Of Family Surnames
It
has been the age-old convention of our most basic instinctive nature to be called by a
familiar or given name. It is through our surname, especially through the
Burgess surname, that we are able to identify and
distinguish ourselves from others. Our ancestors have employed this
practice since the
beginning of our civilized written history some five thousand years ago. Biblical text,
written some several thousand years before the birth of Christ, specifically
identifies certain important individuals by name. Other ancient
non-Christian cultures, such as the Egyptians, Sumerians and Babylonians also
identify individuals with specific names.
Perhaps this practice began during the early days of the caveman, long before the written
history of civilization, when a simple, primitive name was “spoken” by a
guttural grunt uttered a certain way to distinguish one individual from another. Yet as our spoken language developed and grew more complex, given names took on
a distinctive and more personal meaning.
For generations, our early ancestors bore only one name. After all, in
the day when an individual personally knew each neighbor, the world
seemed less crowded and populated. Only one given name was all that was required. With the
passing of time, society grew more civilized, complex and crowded. With this
brave new world emerging, the need for extended names or titles became more
important and eventually mandated. Beginning as a single given name, our
personal identity soon grew to adopt distinctive personally descriptive and family names. As we know and use them
today, family names, or surnames, dates back to no earlier than a thousand
years ago.
In general terms, a surname is an additional name added or appended to our baptismal or given
(first) name. For the
purposes of making our identity more specific or indicating family
relationship or descent, a surname soon became a necessity. Classified according to origin, most surnames fall into
four general groups: (1) those formed from the given name of the sire (father);
(2) those arising from bodily or personal characteristics; (3) those derived
from locality or place of residence; and (4) those derived from occupation
and/or social status.
It is of the latter classification that the Burgess surname came into being and now unfolds
as part of our history. However, because of misinterpretation or personal preference, there are some
instances where the spelling Burgess surname, as well as many others, changed
over the years. To understand this, one must consider and understand the origins of a family surname.
The Beginnings of English Surnames
True family surnames, in the sense
of hereditary appellations, date from England in about the year 1000. Normandy
(in France) is largely responsible for the introduction of surnames to England
during this time. However, there exist records of purely Saxon (English) surnames
prior to the French Norman Conquest early in the history of Great Britain.
During the reign of King Edward, The Confessor (1042-1066) there were Saxon
tenants in Suffolk County of Great Britain bearing such surnames such as Suert Magno, Stigand Soror,
Siuward Rufus, and Leuric Hobbesune (Hobson); and the Domesday records dating
between 1085-1086, exhibit some curious combinations of Saxon (English) forenames with
Norman (French) family surnames. By
the end of the twelfth century, hereditary names had become common in England.
However, even as late as 1465, surnames were not universal or widely accepted in
Great Britain.
Enacted during the reign of King
Edward V of England, a law compelled certain Irish immigrants to adopt surnames
as a method to track and control them more easily King
Edward V proclaimed: "They shall take unto them a surname, either of some Town,
or some Color, as Black or Brown, or some Art or Science, as Smyth or Carpenter,
or some Office, as Cooke or Butler.”
As late as the
beginning of the nineteenth century a strangely comparable decree compelled Jews
in Germany and Austria to add a Germanic surname to the single given names that
they had previously and staunchly used.
Commencing about the time of King Edward, “The Confessor”, (1002-1065) the fourth
class of surnames arose, (i.e. surnames derived from occupation). The earliest
of these seem to have been official names, such as Bishop, Mayor, Alderman,
Reeve, Sheriff, Chamberlain, Chancellor, Chaplain, Deacon, Latimer
(interpreter), Marshall, Sumner (summoner), and Parker (park keeper). Trade and
craft names, although of the same general type, came slightly later in
development.
For example, Currier was a dresser of animal skins, Webster a
weaver, Wainwright a wagon builder, and Baxter a baker. Such names as Smith,
Taylor, Barber, Shepherd, Carter, Mason, and Miller are self-explanatory and
indicated a specific profession. In
France, similarly we have La Farr (iron worker); in Germany, there was Winegar
(vine dresser) and Müller (Miller).