Chapter XIV Norman Blood
“Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity and wealth that decent and dignified men now existing boast their descent from these filthy thieves”
(EMERSON, English Traits, ch. iv.).
Not every Norman or Old French name need be included in the group described by Emerson when talking down to an uneducated audience. In fact, it is probable that the majority of genuine French names belong to a later period; for, although the baron who accompanied the Conqueror would in many cases keep his old territorial designation, the minor ruffian would, as a rule, drop the name of the obscure hamlet from which he came and assume some surname more convenient in his new surroundings. Local names of Old French origin are usually taken from the provinces and larger towns which had a meaning for English ears. I have given examples of such in chapter xi. Of course it is easy to take a detailed map of Northern France and say, without offering any proof, that “Avery (Chapter VIII) is from Evreux, Belcher (Chapter XXI) from Bellecourt, Custance (Chapter X) from Coutances,” and so on. But any serious student knows this to be idiotic nonsense. The fact that, except in the small minority composed of the senior branches of the noblest houses, the surname was not hereditary till centuries after the Conquest, justifies any bearer of a Norman name taken from a village or smaller locality in repudiating all connection with the “filthy thieves” and conjecturing descent from some decent artisan belonging to one of the later immigrations.
That a considerable number of aristocratic families, and others, bear an easily recognizable French town or village name is of course well known, but it will usually be found that such names are derived from places which are as plentiful in France as our own Ashleys, Barton, Burton, Langleys, Newtons, Suttons, etc., are in England. In some cases a local French name has spread in an exceptional manner. Examples are Baines (Gains, 2 1 ), Gurney (Gournai, 6), Vernon (3). But usually in such cases we find a large number of spots which may have given rise to the surname, e.g. Beaumont (46, without counting Belmont), Dampier (Dampierre, i.e. St. Peter’s, 28), Daubeney, Dabney (Aubigné, 4, Aubigny, 17), Ferrers (Ferriéres, 22), Nevill (Neuville, 58), Nugent (Nogent, 17), Villiers (58). This last name, representing Vulgar Lat. villarium, is the origin of Ger. -weiler, so common in German village names along the old Roman roads, e.g. Badenweiler, Froschweiler, etc.
When we come to those surnames of this class which have remained somewhat more exclusive, we generally find that the place-name is also comparatively rare. Thus Hawtrey is from Hauterive (7), Pinpoint from Pierrepont (5), Furneaux from Fourneaux (5), Vipont and Vipan from Vieux-Pont (3), and there are three places called Percy.
The following have two possible birthplaces each—Bellew or Pellew (Belleau), Cantelo (Canteloup 2), Mauleverer (Maulévrier), Mompesson (Mont Pinçon or Pinchon), Montmorency, Mortimer (Morte-mer). The following are unique—Carteret, Doll 3 (Dol), Fiennes, Furnival (Fournival), Greville, Harcourt, Melville (Meleville), Montresor, Mowbray (Monbrai), Sackville (Sacquenville), Venables. These names are taken at random, but the same line of investigation can be followed up by any reader who thinks it worth while.
Notes
1 The figures in brackets indicate the number of times that the French local name occurs in the Postal Directory. The above is the usual explanation of Baines. found with de in the Hundred Rolls. But I think it was sometimes a nickname, bones, applied to a thin man. I find William Banes in Lancashire in 1252; cf. Langbain.
2 But the doublet Chanteloup is common.
3 This may also be a metronymic, from Dorothy.