A surname, in short, may be called a matter of convenience; a Christian name, a matter of necessity. The giving two Christian names at baptism did not come generally into use till, owing to the multiplication of the patronymic, a single Christian name became insufficient to identify the individual. Consequently an instance of a double Christian name, previous to the commencement of the eighteenth century, is a rarity. The fifth and sixth earls of Northumberland bore the names of Henry-Algernon Percy. The latter died in 1537.
As to the period at which Christian names were assumed as surnames, your correspondent Ericas is referred to Lower's English Surnames.
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.
Your correspondent Erica will not, I think, find an instance in this country of a person having more than one Christian name before the last century. Charles James Fox and William Wyndham Grenville are the two earliest instances I can find. It is trivial but curious to observe, that in the lists given at the beginning of the Oxford Calendar of the heads of colleges and halls from their several foundations, the first who appears with two Christian names is the venerable president of Magdalene College. Antony Ashley Cooper is only a seeming exception; his surname was Ashley-Cooper, as is proved by his contributing the letter a to the word cabal, the nickname of the ministry of which he formed a part. We find the custom common enough in Germany at the time of the Reformation, and still earlier in Italy. I apprehend that its origin is really in the tria nomina of Roman freemen. It was introduced into this country through our royal family, but I am not aware of any prince who had the benefit of it before Charles James.
I apprehend the passage which Erica quotes from Lord Coke has not the significance which he attributes to it. A man can have but one Christian or baptismal name, of however many single names or words that baptismal name may be composed. I have spoken in this letter of two Christian names, in order to be more intelligible at the expense of correctness.
J. J. H.
Temple.
Lamech's War-song (Vol. vii., p. 432.).—There have been many speculations about the origin and meaning of these lines. I agree with Ewald in Die Poetischen Bücher des Alten Bundes, vol. i., who calls it a "sword-song;" and I imagine it might have been preserved by tradition among the Canaanitish nations, and so quoted by Moses as familiar to the Israelites. I should translate it—
"Adah and Zillah, hear ye my voice!