Curious Names.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 196, 12 August 1873, Page 7

Curious Names.

(Troy Timex.) In the course of my experience I have met with some singular surnames, us, for instance, Godbelieve, Gotobed, Godolt, Godson, Brandywine, Portwine, ahd Drink water. Hell. Heaven, Death—-a corruption of the old Norman D*AethCoffin, Allhone, Small hones, and Graves. Well beloved, Allgood, Toogood, Goodman, Kind, Love, Dear, Dearlove, and Dearman, Oldman, Youugman, Middleman, Blackman, Whiteman, Hodman, Stiftinan, Greenman, Hardman, Longman, Fuotman. Cheeseman, Bridgeman, Jack mam and Dollman. De Foe has been thought to have invented the name of Crusoe, but there are still Crnsoes in England* Jn the city of Ely there is a market gardtinei called A pplegarden, and at Basnlt, near London—where Warwick, “ the Last of the Barons,” fought and fell—there is a nurseryman named Cutbush. In London there are two firms, respectively, Hidlev and Latimer, and Flint and Steel. Ihe Pointsof the compass are represented by East, West, North, South, Western, j Southern, and Easton. A man servant of onrs once gave his name as Germany, by which designation he was generally known, but his real name was far more aristocratic —Jerinyn. The pronunciation of names is i very arbitrary: thus Cholmondely is Chumj leigh ; Levesou Gower is Lewson Gore ; I Beauchamp, Beecham ; Geoghan, Gagan ; : St, John, bingen j Knollys, Knowles ; | Bandys, Sands ; Wemyss, Wims ; Ciren- | cester, Cister j Oicester, Cister ; Derby, i j Darby j Marylebone, Marrybonej Wor-j cester, Wooster, fheie used to be in | London a dissenting mi lister named Pigg, j and who had three d<-aeons named Hogg, | Bacon, and Hogstiesh. HogsHesh ulti-! mately became Hogflesh ; an aspiring Hogg i in Biggleswade became fii-st Hoggs and! then Archdale. j The difficulty of pronouncing the names j of towns was once experienced by an Irish I friend of ours, whose reverence foi‘ Char I lotto Bronte led him to perform a pilgrim ■ age to the scene of her labou-s. Arrived ■ at Keighley—pronounced Keithlcy—in ■ Yorkshire, he inquired for Ha worth, but | everybody said there was no such place in | the neighbourhood. At last an old grey-1 beard, after laboriously scratching his head, [ said, “ Dos t mean Orth 1” After this the ! way was easily found. In Pall Mall, Lon lon, there is a respect-j able tradesman named Strong-i the-arm, i who, if he be worthy of his cognomen, would be a tough custom-r to box with. At a meeting we once attended with John Noble, the political writer and orator, he remarked, “ Now you will see some fool is sure to make a pun on my name,” and | sure enough a would-be wit did refer to I the fact that a “ Nobleman” was present, i Bnch names as Oldboy, Littleboy, Tallboys, i Littlejohn, Great head, Bedhead, White-1 head, and Great batch, are often a nuisance I We once knew a man named Makin Child, j who certainly obeyed the Divine command | to “increase and multiply.” One of ihej most curious corruptions of names we ever! met with was in Ireland, where L’Espimisse | is known among the lowers orders as 1 Spinach.