CHAPTER IX

. THE BIBLE AND THE CALENDAR

" 'O Now you see, brother Toby,' he would say, looking up, 'that Christian names are not such indifferent things;--had Luther here been called by any other name but Martin, he would have been damn'd to all eternity' "

(Tristram Shandy, ch. xxxv).

OLD TESTAMENT NAMES

The use of biblical names as font-names does not date from the Puritans, nor are surnames derived from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob necessarily Jewish. The Old Testament names which were most popular among the medieval peasants from whom we nearly all spring were naturally those connected with the most picturesque episodes of sacred history. Taking as an example the father of all men, we find derived from the name Adam the following: Adams, Adamson, Adcock, Addis, Addison, Adds, Addy, Ade, Ades, Adey, Adis, Ady, Addey, Aday, Adee, Addyman, Adkin, Adkins, Adkinson, Adnett, [Footnote: Adenet (little Adam) le Roi was an Old French epic hero.] Adnitt, Adnet, Adnot, Atkin, Atkins, Atkinson, and the northern Aitken, etc. This list, compiled from Bardsley's Dictionary of Surnames, is certainly not exhaustive. Probably Taddy is rimed on Addy as Taggy is on Aggy (Agnes). To put together all the derivatives of John or Thomas would be a task almost beyond the wit of man. Names in Abb-, App-, may come from either Abraham or Abel, and from Abbs we also have Nabbs. Cain was of course unpopular. Cain, Cane, Kain, when not Manx, is from the town of Caen or from Norman quêne, an oak.

Moses appears in the French form Moyes (Moïse) as early as 1273, and still earlier as Moss. Of the patriarchs the favourites were perhaps Jacob and Joseph, the name Jessop from the latter having been influenced by Ital. Giuseppe. Benjamin has sometimes given Benson and Bennett, but these are generally for Benedict (