Surname Origins, Their Source and Significations (1875)

we shall first prove by examples that there are a large number of such. We shall then briefly unfold their origin from our point of view. The feminine of Peter, 'Petronilla,' was a name in familiar use at this time. St. Petronilla, once much besought as a help against fevers, would no doubt add to its popularity. Barnyby Googe says:

The quartane ague and the rest
Doth Pernel take away,

And John preserves his worshippers
From prison every day.

In the above stanza we are supplied with the common sobriquet taken from his name. As 'Pernel' or 'Parnel' it held a high place among the poorer classes. From an ill-repute, however, that attached to it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is now all but extinct as a Christian name, and it is only among our surnames that it is to be met with. It is curious how associations of this kind destroy the chances of popularity among names. 'Peter' was forced into familiarity. 'Pernel' lost caste through its becoming a cant term for women of a certain character. 'Magdalen' is another case in point. The Bible narrative describes her briefly as a penitent sinner. Legend, adding to this, portrayed her beauty, her golden tresses, her rich drapery. Art added touches of its own in the shape of dishevelled hair and swelled eyes, but all to make this centre scene of penitence the moremarked. This, and the early asylums for penitents, of which she became the forced patroness, prevented hername being used as a Christian name at this time — I have never, at least, found an instance. But as a proof how early it had become a term for what I may

PATRONYMIC SURNAMES;

call mental inebriety, a connection which of course it owes to the portrayals alluded to above, I may instancethe name of Thomas le Maddelyn, found in the twelfth century (H. R.), and an evident nickname given to one of a sickly sentimental character. Our present 'Maudlins' and 'Maudlings' may be descended from one so entitled, or locally from some place dedicated to the saint.

Among other female names, 'Constance' bid fair to become very popular. A daughter of William the Conqueror, a daughter of Stephen, and a daughter-in-law of Henry II. were all so called. Chaucer in his 'Man of Lawes Tale' calls his heroine by this title

But Hermegild loved Custance as her life,

And Custance hath so long sojourned there

In orisons, with many a bitter tear,

Til Jesu hath converted, through his grace,

Dame Hermegild.

This must have been its favourite form in the common mouth, for we find it recorded in such names as 'Custance Muscel,' 'Custance Clerk,' 'Robert fil. Custe,' or 'Cus nepta Johannis,' with tolerable frequency. The diminutive 'Cussot' is also to be met with. I need hardly say that in our 'Custances,' Custersons,' ' Cuss's,' and 'Custs,' not to say some of our 'Cousens,' as corruptions of 'Custson,' the remembrance of this once familiar name still survives. Of late years the name proper has again become popular. 'Beatrice' is another instance of a name once common sunk into comparative desuetude. The Norman 'Beton ' was the most favoured pet form. Piers Plowman says (Passus V.): —

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