History of Christian names

by Charlotte M. Yonge

The precedence must be given to the less on account of its far greater dignity.

There can be no doubt that the cognomen Paullus, or Paulus, the contraction of Pauxillus, originated with one of the Æmilian gens, who was small in stature. It was common in other gentes, though chiefly distinguished among the Æmilii, and was most probably the name by which “Saul of Tarsus” would have been enrolled as a citizen, either from its resemblance to his Jewish name, or from the person who had conferred liberty upon his parents.

English.	French.	Italian.	Portuguese.
Pawl	Pol	Paolo	Paulo
Paul	Paul
	Paulot
Spanish.	Wallachian.	German.	Russian.
Pablo	Pawel	Paul	Pavel
		Dutch.	Pavlenka
		Paultje	Pavluscha
Illyrian.	Lett.	Hungarian.	Lapp.
Pavl	Pavils	Pal	Pava
Pavle		Palko	Pavek
Pavo
FEMININE.
Italian.	Spanish.	Russian.	Illyrian.
Paola	Pala	Paola	Pava
DIMINUTIVE.
Welsh.	Italian.	Spanish.	Slavonic.
Peulan	Paolino	Paulino	Pavlin
FEMININE.
English.	French.	Italian.	German.
Paulina	Pauline	Paolina	Pauline
	Paulette	Paoletta	Slavonic.
			Pavlina

Some, however, imagine that he assumed it out of compliment to the deputy, Sergius Paulus; others, that it was an allusion to his “weakness” of “bodily presence,” or that he took it in his humility, meaning that he was “less than the least of the Apostles.” Be that as it may, he has given it an honour entirely outshining that which is won from the Æmilii, and has spread Paul throughout Europe. The strong presumption that St. Paul preached the Gospel in Spain has rendered Pablo very common there; but, in fact, the name is everywhere more usual than in England, in spite of the tradition that the great Apostle likewise landed here, and the dedication of our great cathedral. Perhaps this may be owing to the fact that twelve other SS. Paul divide the allegiance of the Continent with the Apostle. Paula is not only honoured as his feminine, but as the name of the friend and correspondent of St. Jerome, the mother of Eustochium; and Paola is in consequence found in Italy. Paulinus (the lengthened form) became in Welsh, Pewlin, and also named three saints—among them our first Northumbria, bishop of York; but it has not been followed, except in Italy, by Paolina, and there is, perhaps, a mere diminutive of Paulus. Yet the feminine is far more fashionable; and Paulina, Pauline, Paolina, are the favourite forms everywhere occurring. Perhaps Pauline became the more popular in France for the sake of that favourite grandchild whose Christian name is almost the only one mentioned in Madame de Sévigné’s letters. It was the only form commonly recognized in France; but it seems that the sister of Napoleon was commonly called Paulette in her own family. The direct Italian diminutive always seems to be a greater favourite with the southern blood than its relative from the northern chen.

The adjective of size is another word of universal kindred, though not always with the same meaning. The Sanscrit mahat, and Persian mi or meah, are close connections of the Gothic mikils (which survives in mickle and muckle, and has furnished our much), and of the Greek μεγαλος or μεγας, and Roman magnus and Slavonic magi. All these possibly may be remotely connected with the verb magan (may), which is the source of macht (might) in all Teutonic tongues.

Magnus was an agnomen added as a personal distinction, as in the case of Pompey. It was never a name till long after the Roman empire was over, when Karl der Grösse, as his Franks called him, had been Latinized into Carolus Magnus, and honoured by the French as Charlemagne. St. Olaf of Norway was known to be a great admirer of Charlemagne, whose example he would fain have imitated, and his followers, by way of a pleasant surprise and compliment to him, before they woke him to announce to him the birth of his first son, christened the child, as they thought, after the latter half of the great Emperor Carolus Magnus. That child became a much-beloved monarch, under the denomination of King Magnus Barefoot, from his having established his identity on his return from Ireland, by the ordeal of walking unshod over red-hot ploughshares. In honour of his many excellencies, as King of Norway, the entire North uses his name of Magnus, and transplanted it to Ireland, where it flourished under the form of Manus, until it became the fashion to ‘Anglicize’ it into Manasses. The Scottish islands, where the population is Norse, likewise use Magnus as a baptismal name; and the Lapps have turned it into Manna, or Mannas.

Maximus was likewise properly an individual agnomen of size, or of victory, as with Fabius Maximus; but it came to be a proper name, and was borne by Maximus the Monk, a great Greek ecclesiastic of the sixth century, as well as by many other obscure saints, from whom the Italians derive their Massimo, and the French Maxime, and the Welsh their old Macsen.

Maxentius and Maximinus, both named not only persecuting emperors, but Christian martyrs, whence Maxime and Maximien. Maximilianus was one of the Seven Sleepers, but he is not the origin of the German imperial name. According to Camden, this was a compound invented by the Emperor Frederick VII., and bestowed on his son in his great admiration of Fabius Maximus and Scipio Æmilianus. “The Last of the Knights,” with his wild effrontery and spirited chamois-hunting might be despised by the Italians, as Massimiliano Pochi Danari; but he was beloved by the Austrians as “Our Max.” His great grandson, Maximilian II., contributed to the popularity of his unwieldy name, and Max continues to be one of the favourite German appellations, from the archduke to the peasant, to the present day; and has even thrown out the feminine Maximiliane. The Poles and Illyrians use ks instead of x in spelling it.

Section IX.—Rufus, &c.

Rufus, the red or ruddy, was a cognomen of various families, and was, in fact, one of the adjectives occurring in the nomenclature of almost every nation; and chiefly of those where a touch of Keltic blood has made the hair vary between red and black. Flavius, Fulvius, Rufus, and an occasional Niger, were the Roman names of complexion; and it is curious to find the single instances of Chlorus (the yellow), occurring in the Flavian family. The Biondi of Italy claim to be the Flavii, and thence the Blound, Count de Guisnes, companion of William the Conqueror, took the name now Blount!