"England had now once more (A.D. 1100) a King born on her own soil, a Queen of the blood of the hero Eadmund, a King and Queen whose children would trace to AElfred by two descents. Norman insolence mocked at the English King and his English Lady under the English names of Godric and Godgifu." [Footnote: "Godricum eum, et comparem Godgivam appellantes" (William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum).]
(FREEMAN, Norman Conquest, v. 170.)
In dealing with surnames we begin after the Conquest, for the simple reason that there were no surnames before. Occasionally an important person has come down in history with a nickname, e.g. Edmund Iron-side, Harold Harefoot, Edward the Confessor; but this is exceptional, and the Anglo-Saxon, as a rule, was satisfied with one name. It is probable that very many of the names in use before the Conquest, whether of English or Scandinavian origin, were chosen because of their etymological meaning, e.g. that the name Beornheard (Bernard, Barnard, Barnett) was given to a boy in the hope that he would grow up a warrior strong, just as his sister might be called AEthelgifu, noble gift. The formation of these old names is both interesting and, like all Germanic nomenclature, poetic.
[FORMATION OF ANGLO-SAXON NAMES]
As a rule the name consists of two elements, and the number of those elements which appear with great frequency is rather limited. Some themes occur only in the first half of the name, e.g. Aethel-, whence Aethelstan, later Alston; AElf-, whence AElfgar, now Elgar and Agar (AEthel- and AElf- soon got confused, so that Allvey, Elvey may represent both AEthelwig and AElfwig, or perhaps in some cases Ealdwig); Cuth-, whence Cuthbeald, now Cobbold [Footnote: This is also the origin of Cupples, and probably of Keble and Nibbles. It shares Cobbett and Cubitt with Cuthbeorht.]; Cyne-, whence Cynebeald now Kimball and Kemble, both of which are also local, Folc-, whence Folcheard and Folchere, now Folkard and Fulcher; Gund-, whence Gundred, now Gundry and Grundy (Metathesis, Chapter III); Os-, whence Osbert, Osborn,
Other themes only occur as the second half of the name. Such are -gifu, in Godgifu, i.e. Godiva, whence Goodeve; -lac in Guthlac, now Goodlake and Goodluck (Chapter XXI); -laf in Deorlaf, now Dearlove; -wacer in Eoforwacer, now Earwaker.
Other themes, and perhaps the greater number, may occur indifferently first and second, e.g. beald, god, here, sige, weald, win, wulf or ulf. Thus we have complete reversals in Beald-wine, whence Baldwin, and Wine-beald, whence Winbolt, Here-weald, whence Herald, Harold, Harrod, and Weald-here, whence Walter (Chapter I). With these we may compare Gold-man and Man-gold, the latter of which has given Mangles. So also we have Sige-heard, whence Siggers, and Wulf-sige, now Wolsey, Wulf-noth, now the imitative Wallnutt, and Beorht-wulf, later Bardolph and Bardell. The famous name Havelock was borne by the hero of a medieval epic, "Havelock the Dane," but Dunstan is usually for the local Dunston. On the other hand, Winston is a personal name, Wine-stan, whence Winstanley.
These examples show that the pre-Norman names are by no means unrepresented in the twentieth century, but, in this matter, one must proceed with caution. To take as examples the two names that head this chapter, there is no doubt that Goderic and Godiva are now represented by Goodrich and Goodeve, but these may also belong to the small group mentioned in Chapter VI, and stand for good Richard and good Eve. Also Goodrich comes in some cases from Goodrich, formerly Gotheridge, in Hereford, which has also given Gutteridge.
Moreover, it must not be forgotten that our medieval nomenclature is preponderantly French, as the early rolls show beyond dispute, so that, even where a modern name appears susceptible of an Anglo-Saxon explanation, it is often safer to refer it to the Old French cognate; for the Germanic names introduced into France by the Frankish conquerors, and the Scandinavian names which passed into Normandy, contained very much the same elements as our own native names, but underwent a different phonetic development. Thus I would rather explain Bawden, Bowden, Boulders, Boden, and the dims. Body and Bodkin, as Old French variants from the Old Ger. Baldawin than as coming directly from Anglo-Saxon. Boyden undoubtedly goes back to Old Fr. Baudouin.
Practically all the names given in Gower's lines (Chapter V), and many others to which I have ascribed a continental origin, are found occasionally in England before the Conquest, but the weight of evidence shows that they were either adopted in England as French names or were corrupted in form by the Norman scribes and officials. To take other examples, our Tibbald, Tibbles, Tibbs suggest the Fr. Thibaut rather than the natural development of Anglo-Sax. Thiudbeald, i.e. Theobald; and Ralph, Relf, Roff, etc., show the regular Old French development of Raedwulf, Radolf. Tibaut Wauter, i.e. Theobald Walter, who lived in Lancashire in 1242, had both his names in an old French form.