American Language Supplement 2
Page 63
The American nomenclature shows nothing like the fearsome batteries of hyphenated surnames that are common in England,11 but it has a compensatory oddity of its own in the intrusion of second capitals into names, e.g., GaNun,1 VirDen,2 KenMore,3 KlenDshoj,4 KleinSmid,5 RossKam,6 RiDant,7 and VisKocil.8 Names that are really two names, separated by a space and not hyphenated, are occasionally encountered, e.g., Be Bee,9 Bel Geddes10 and Ben Ami,11 but the early American custom of hitching territorial or occupational appendices to surnames, e.g., Charles Carroll of Carrollton, John Randolph of Roanoke, John Ridgely of Hampton and Charles Carroll the Barrister, seems to have passed out, and so, save in a few areas, has the custom of affixing father’s initials to distinguish between two cousins of like given-name and surname, e.g., Joseph Brown of A (the son of Albert) and Joseph Brown of D (the son of David).12
“Almost every discarded fashion of spelling,” says John Earle in “The Philology of the English Tongue,”1 “lives on somewhere in proper names.” The early scribes and notaries played hob with them, as Anders Orbeck shows for colonial America in his “Early New England Pronunciation,”2 and many of the variants they propagated survive to this day, e.g., Millar-Millard, Farrar-Farrow, Buckminster-Buckmaster, and Haywood-Hayward. Miss Oursler, before quoted, reports that in the census returns for 1790 Kennedy and McLaughlin were spelled in thirty-two different ways, and Campbell in twenty-seven. Shakespeare’s name, in his day, was spelled in eighty-three.3 George Washington’s forefather, Laurence, was registered at Oxford as Wasshington in 1567; Jefferson was once Jeffreson and Giffersonne; Adams is interchangeable with Addams, Adamson and Addamson; Jackson, in its day, has been Jakson, Jacson, Jackeson, Jakeson and Jaxon; and Lincoln has gone through the forms of Linccolne, Lyncoln, Lincon and Linkhorn.4 On Cape Cod Mayo and Mayhew are forms of the same name,5 and so are Harding and Hardin; Hamblen, Hamlin and Hamline; Merrick and Myrick; Shelley and Sherley; Crow and Crowell; Burge, Birge and Burgass. Any American with an uncommon name is bound to find it grossly misspelled in his correspondence. The Hon. Thad Eure, formerly Secretary of State of North Carolina, was addressed by his constituents as Ure, Euri, Ewar, Uue, Euria, Aure, Yuer, Erra, Eura and Eyre,6 and Wilberforce Eames, the bibliographer, cherished a collection of envelopes directed to Anies, Bames, Earres, Gaines, Rames, Trames, Wames, etc.7
But it is in pronunciation rather than in spelling that surnames suffer their greatest mutations. As we have seen in Chapter VII, Section 1, the general tendency in American pronunciation is to throw the accents forward, so that addréss becomes áddress, but in surnames it is often reversed. Thus Moran, Bernard, Costello, Waddell, Savile, Mahony, Maurice, Jacoby, Sinclair and Purcell, all of which are accented on the first syllable in Britain, are usually accented on the second here.1 Another tendency is toward spelling-pronunciations, so that Crowninshield, which is Crunchell in England, is given the full value of all its syllables here, and Harwood is no longer Harrod, and Heyward is seldom Howard, and Powell is never Po-ell, and St. John is only rarely Sin-jun, and Carew is not Carey. But this tendency is not universal, and in the older parts of the country it meets with many checks. B. W. Green, in his “Word-Book of Virginia Folk Speech,”2 lists a number of curious pronunciations in Tidewater Virginia, e.g., Umsted for Armistead,3 Beard for Baird, Belfur for Balfour, Barnet for Bernard, Blunt for Blount,4 Bowthe for Boothe, Boler for Boulware, Brookenburro for Brockenbrough, Carroll for Callowhill, Kemp for Camp, Granger for Crenshaw, Druit for Drewry, Gouge for Gooch, Horton for Haughton and Hawthorne, Hickerson for Higginson, Munger for Ironmonger, Langon for Langhorne, Murray for Maury, Nazary for Norsworthy, Partrick for Patrick, Turnton for Turlington, Wait for Wyatt, Tolliver for Taliaferro and Darby for Enroughty.
The last two have attracted much attention from students of names. The Stammvater of the American Taliaferros was Robert of that ilk, who was born in England about 1625 and came to Virginia some time before 1650, where he married, about 1653, Sarah Grymes, the daughter of the Rev. Charles Grymes of Brandon, a large landowner, and left a progeny that married into nearly all the prominent Virginia families of the time. Whether the surname was originally French or Italian is disputed. The French theory connects it with a Norman knight named Taillefer, who came to England with William the Conqueror. The Italian theory, which was supported by Thomas Jefferson and Chancellor George Wythe, connects it with a Venetian musician named Bartolomeo Taliaferro, who immigrated to England in Elizabethan times. Whatever the fact, there are still plenty of Tallifers, Telefers and Tollivers in England, and the American family has produced many men of distinction, e.g., Major General William Booth T. (1822–98), of the Confederate Army; Benjamin and John T. (1750–1821 and 1768–1853), Virginia congressmen; James Piper T. (b. 1847), a Senator from Florida, and Dr. William H. T. (b. 1895), professor of parasitology at the University of Chicago and editor of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Others have been successful lawyers, educators, bankers and business men, and no less than four are in “Who’s Who in America” for 1946–47. Two of the latter note that they pronounce the name Tól-i-ver. This change seems to go back to an early date in England, but the actress Mabel Taliaferro, born in New York in 1887, used Tal-ya-fér-ro. Whether Taliaferro was her family name or only a stage name I do not know.1
There are Enroughtys in Virginia who pronounce their name En-ruff-ty and others who pronounce it Darby. How this confusion arose has been thus described by F. W. Sydnor:
The records [of Henrico county] show one Darby Enroughty to have been living near Four-Mile creek2 in 1690. He had a son named John and one named Darby. Later there were two John Enroughtys living in the same locality, cousins, whose names are frequently found in the records. Double Christian names were rarely used in those days, and it became necessary to distinguish between the two Johns. John Enroughty, the son of John, was known by his Christian name, but John, the son of Darby Enroughty, was designated John Enroughty the son of Darby, John Enroughty of Darby, and at least once as John Darby. The Enroughtys of Henrico and those known as Darby (real name Enroughty) are all descendants of Darby Enroughty. Those bearing the name Enroughty are the descendants of his son John, and those bearing the name of Darby are the descendants of his son Darby.1
This disposes of the legend, current in Virginia, that the original Darby took the name of Enroughty on marrying into the family or on inheriting property from one of its members, but insisted on retaining his own name in society. Also, it reveals the falsity of the theory that the Darby-Enroughtys are really Enroughtys who pronounce the name Darby. They actually bear two names – Enroughty in writing and Darby in speech.2
Lists of English surnames with strange pronunciations often appear in the newspapers, e.g., Chumly for Cholmondelay, Looson-Gore for Levesson-Gower, and Marshbanks for Majoribanks. Some other curious examples follow: 8
Abergavenny
Alcester
Alnwick
Anstruther
Arundel
Ayerst
Ayscough
Bagehot and Bagshot
Barfreeston
Bartelot
Barugh
Abergenny
Awlster
Annick
Anster4
Árrundel5
I-erst
Askew or Asko
Baggot
Barson
Bartlett
Barf
Beauchamp
Beauclerc
Beaulieu
Beaworthy
Bellingham
Belvoir
Bentinck
Bertie
Bicester
Blyth
Bolitho
Bottomley
Beecham6
Bóclare
Bewly
Bowry
Bellinjam
Beaver
Bentick
Barty
Bister
Bly7
Bolytho8
Bumly9
Bourchier
&n
bsp; Bowie
Brahan
Broke
Brougham
Buccleuch
Burghley
Campbell
Cassilis
Cecil
Chalmers
Chandos
Charteris
Claverhouse
Clough
Cockburn
Coghlan
Colclough
Colquhoun
Combe
Compton
Conisborough
Corcoran
Cottenham
Coutts
Cowper
Bowcher
Boh-ie or Bow-ie1
Brawn
Brook
Broo-am
Buklóo
Berly
Cámbel2
Cassels
Sissil3
Chahmers
Shandos
Charters4
Clavers
Cluff
Coburn
Colan or Coglan5
Cokely
Cóhoon
Coom
Cumpton
Cunsbra
Corkran
Cottnam
Coots
Cooper6
Crichton
Croghan
D’Aguilar
Dalzell or Dalziel
Daventry
Decies
De la Mare
De La Pasture
Dillwyn
Drogheda
Dumaresq
Dymoke
Falconer
Featherstonhaugh
Fenwick
Findlay
Foljambe
Foulis
Froude
Gallagher
Galsworthy
Geikie
Geoghegan
Gilkes
Glamis
Cryton7
Crowan
Dágwiller
Dee-áll8
Daintree
Déeshees
Déllamair9
Deláppature
Dillon
Dráweda
Dumérrick
Dimmuck
Fawkner
Fétherstonhaw10
Fennick
Finly
Fooljum
Fowls
Frood
Gállaher
Gawlsworthy
Geeky
Gaygun
Jilks
Glahms
Greaves
Greig
Halkett
Heathcote
Hertford
Hoey
Home
Hotham
Houghton
Houston
Inge
Jekyll
Jervis
Jamieson
Keighley
Keightley
Kerr
Keynes
Kirkby
Kirkcudbright
Knollys
Lascelles
Layard
Leicester
Graves
Gregg
Hackett
Hethcot
Hartford
Hoy
Hume
Huthum1
Hawton, Howton or Hoton2
Hooston3
Ing
Jeekel
Jarvis
Jimmisson4
Keethly or Keely
Keetly
Carr
Kayns
Kirby
Kirkóobry
Noles
Lássels
Laird
Lester
Leiston
Leominster
Lea and Ley
Leishman
Le Queux
Leven
Livesey
Loughborough
Lygon
Lympne
M’Eachern
M’Gillycuddy
Mahon
Mainwaring
Marlborough
Maugham
Meagher
Menzies
Meynell
Meyrick
Millais
Molyneaux
Montgomery
Moray
Moule
Layson
Lemster
Lee
Leeshman
Le Kew
Leeven
Livzy
Lufburra
Liggon
Lim
Mackékrun
Maclíkuddy
Mahn5
Mannering
Mawlbra
Mawm
Mayer
Mengiz6
Mennel
Merrick
Míllay
Mullinewks
Muntgummery7
Murry
Mole
Moynihan
Murtagh
Myerscough
Newnes
Norreys
Outram
Pauncefote
Pepys
Petrie
Ponsonby
Pontefract
Portishead
Powys
Pretyman
Pulteney
Raleigh
Rathbone
Rhondda
Rhys
Rolleston
Romney
Rothwell
Ruthven
Sacheverell
Sandys
Sawbridgeworth
Scone
Scrope
Sedburgh
Moynian1
Murta
Maskew
Newnz
Norris
Ootram
Pownsfoot
Peeps2
Peetry
Punsunby
Pumfret
Pozzet
Pó-is
Prittyman
Poltny
Rawly or Rally
Rathbon
Rontha
Reese
Rolston
Rumny
Rowell
Rivven or Ruffen
Sasheverel
Sands
Sapsed3
Scoon
Scroop
Sedber
Selous
Sewell
Seymour
Shrewsbury
Slaithwaite
Sotheby
Southey
Stanhope
St. Clair
St. Maur
Stourton
Strabolgi
Strachan
Straton
Swaffer
Symons
Synge
Teignmouth
Theobold
Touche
Trevelyan
Tyrwhitt
Urquhart
Vaux
Villiers
Waldegrave
Warwick
Wauchope
Wemyss
Selóo
Syooel
Seemer
Shrohsb’ry
Slo-it
Sutheby4
Suthy
Stannup
Sínclair
Seymour
Sturton
Strabogie
Strawn5
Stratton
Swoffer
Simmons
Sing
Tinmuth
Tibbald
Toosh
Trevílian
Tirrit
Erkert
Vox or Vokes
Víllers
Wawlgrave
Worrick
Waukop6
Weems
Wescott
Whalley
Whitefield
Whytham
Wightwick
Wilbraham
Winder
Westcot
Whawly
Whitfield
Whitam
Wittick
Wilbram
>
Win-der1
Wolseley
Wortley
Wriothesley
Wrotham
Wrottesley
Yeats
Youghal
Woolzly
Wertly
Roxly
Rootham
Rotsly
Yayts
Yawl
Regarding the pronunciation of many other British surnames usage differs in different places, and as a result the authorities do not agree. Very often, indeed, the same authority gives two or more forms. Thus “Titles and Forms of Address” says that Devereux, which is an Irish name derived from France, is pronounced both Déveroo and Déveroox (de as in devil), and A. Lloyd James adds Dévveruh (with the neutral vowel at the end) and Dévverecks. Again, Ffoulkes is both Fokes and Fooks,2 Gell takes both the hard and the soft g, Hey gate is both Hay gait and Hay git, Lisle is both Lile and Leel, Onions is both Unnionz and Oníghons, and Coughtrey is variously pronounced Cowtry, Cawtry, Cootry, Cotry and Coftry, with the initial syllables of the first four forms rhyming with how, saw, stew and low. In parts of Scotland Cunningham is pronounced Kinnicum,3 and in Lord Byron’s day he was usually called Birron by his intimates.4 Similar aberrations, of course, are also frequently encountered in the United States. Some of those prevailing in Virginia have been listed; in New Hampshire Pierce is pronounced Purse, and Franklin of that ilk (1804–69), fourteenth President of the United States, was so called by his friends, one of whom, Nathaniel Hathorne, changed the spelling of his own name to Hawthorne in order to bring it into accord with his notion of its euphonious pronunciation.1 Not a few Americans of eminence have borne changed names. John Fiske the historian (1842–1901) was Edmund Fiske Green until 1855, and Henry Wilson, Vice-President under Grant (1812–75), was Jeremiah Jones Colbath until 1833.2
Howard F. Barker says3 that the surnames of the American people have been greatly stabilized by the wholesale regimentation introduced by World War I. Many of the conscripts rounded up for that war had only the vaguest idea of the spelling of their names, and not a few were uncertain as to what their names were, but by the time they were discharged every man had a name that was imbedded firmly in the official records, and he had to stick to it in order to enjoy any of the benefits and usufructs of a veteran. Barker continues:
On the heels of this came the general spread of life insurance, a powerful stabilizing force. Men who had carried $10,000 in insurance during the war were prone to take out at least a few thousand in civil life. Thereby they again wrote themselves down as being specifically Houlihan, Holohan or Holoughan, and stayed that way. Then came the automobile registration. Automobiles not only changed the face of the American landscape; they also went a long way toward stopping changes of family names. Automobile titles soon constituted a formidable body of property records, and annual licenses reinforced them. Every million cars meant another million families named for good. After some years came Social Security, and it was soon followed by other like devices, each involving the registration of millions of names. By 1940 American family nomenclature was vastly more stable than it had been in 1910, or even in 1920.4