From time to time I define surnames, this as I'm intrigued to know whether anyone with a particular surname is suited to their name. Now I'm not big on poetry but a did enter a recent competition, this simply to show support for a local event. Probably because very few entered I was told the other week I had been lucky enough to be among the winning entries. Now I know the origin of my surname - a combination of 'the farmstead by a pool' and the trade of 'metalworker', neither of which have the slightest connection with writing and certainly not poetry. Hence I thought it worthwhile to see if any poet has a name suggesting he or she was born to the task.
Arnold - obviously began as a personal name, one which can be traced to Proto-Indo-European
or wal which literally meant 'large bird' and 'power' respectively but understood as 'the strength of an eagle'.
Beaumont - is of French derivation and simply means 'beautiful hill'.
Beddoes - is from a Welsh diminutive of
Meredydd which is the same as the modern 'Meredith'. The name means as 'lord of splendour'
Benet - shares a root with the name 'Benedict' meaning 'blessed'.
Betjeman - shares an orign with the above as a corruption of 'Benedict' meaning 'blessed'.
Blake - another corruption, this simply began as 'black' although as a name it could not only refer to one with dark hair or skin but as a nickname meaning someone with quite the opposite features.
Bridges - does indeed mean 'bridge' but is taken from the Belgian place name of Bruges, which does mean 'bridge'. As a surname it is derived from the place name, a reference to someone from Bruges.
Bronte - an Anglicised form of the Gaelic
O Proinntigh or 'descendant of Proinnteach' where
proinn 'banquet' and
teach 'hall, house' and suggesting a generous person.
Brooks - no doubt this began as 'small stream'.
Brown - as with Blake a name drescribing one's colour, be it hair or skin.
Browning - is exactly the same as 'Brown' above.
Bryant - is from Old Breton-Irish and is identical to the name 'Brian' in coming from either 'hill' or 'strong'.
Burns - is the same as 'Brooks' above 'a stream'.
Byron - is a place name, now seen as Byram and meaning 'place of the cattlesheds'.
Campion - is from the French for 'champion'.
Carew - is of Welsh and/or Cornish origins where
caer rhiw 'fort on a slope'.
Carroll - is thought to come from the Irish
cearbh 'hacking' and a nickname for a butcher or warrior.
Chatterton - is another place name where Celtic
cadeir 'chair' precedes Old English
tun 'farmstead'.
Chaucer - is from the French for 'hosier'.
Chesterton - an Old English place name where
caester tun refers to 'the farmstead at the former Roman stronghold'.
Clare - a Celtic river name meaning 'bright, gentle'.
Coleridge - another place name and probably referring to 'the ridge of land where charcoal was obtained'.
Collins - is from the name 'Colin', itself of Irish origin where
cuilein meant 'darling' and used as a term of endearment for a young animal.
Cowper - is a trade name, one who produced a barrel or rub for German
kup was 'a container'.
Cummings - is from a Breton personal name meaning 'bent' or 'crooked' and likely refers more to posture than honesty.
Dante - from the Latin verb
durare 'to endure'.
Davidson - obviously 'son of David', a personal name meaning 'beloved friend'.
Davies - is exactly the same as the above, from 'son of David'.
De la Mare - from the French for 'of the sea'.
Dickinson - obviously 'son of Dick' or Richard, itself meaning 'powerful, strong'.
Dryden - a place name meaning 'the dry valley'.
Eliot - is ultimately from 'Elijah' or 'Jehovah is God'.
Emerson - comes from 'son of Amery', the personal name meaning 'bravery, vigour'.
Flecker - is a variation of 'Fletcher' or 'one who made arrows'.
Fletcher - is, as mentioned above, 'a maker of arrows'.
Goethe - a German variation on Gottfried, itself meaning 'God's protection'.
Gordon - is a Olde Gaelic personal name from
gor dun 'a large fort', where 'large' is used more in the sense of 'spacious' than referring to armament.
Graves - nothing to do with burials, this comes from Old English
graefe meaning 'grove (of trees)'.
Gray - has two origins, either as a nickname for one with grey hair or from the commune in the Calvados department of Normandy of Graye-sur-Mer, itself named for the owner Anchetil de Greye, whose surname probably refers to his mixed Scandinavian-Frankish ancestry. Note the change in spelling, where the North American preference for 'gray' the color represents the earlier and thus traditional form; while we Brits have gone for the colour as 'grey'. Yet another example of a difference which we on the eastern side of the Atlantic blame on our English-speaking friends to the west, when the error (if it is indeed an error) came from the mother country.
Gunn - comes from the Old Scandinavian name
Gunnr meaning 'battle'.
Hardy - from the French
hardi meaning 'bold, courageous'.
Henley - is another place name, one meaning 'the high (as in chief) woodland clearing'.
Herbert - from the personal name it is Germanic in origin from
hari 'host' and
beraht 'bright'.
Herrick - is derived from the Old Scandinavian personal name
Eirikr from
eir 'mercy' and
rik 'power'.
Homer - a trade name, he being 'one who made helmets'.
Hood - is derived from the same source as 'hat' in Proto-Indo-European
kadh meaning 'cover, protect' and it is in this sense it more likely became a surname.
Hopkins - this the 'son of Hob', a personal name from Germanic
Hrodbert, this translating as 'renowned fame', and the basis for the French name 'Robert'.
Horace - another personal name and one with a surprising origin for this represents the Saxon version of Rabin or Robin, itself a pet form of Robert (see Hopkins).
Housman - speaks for itself, this 'man' worked in the 'house' and was really a servant.
Hughes - comes from the personal name 'Hugh', brought to England by the French and loaned from the German 'Hugo' meaning 'bright in mind and spirit'.
Hunt - a trade name, it is a shortened version of 'hunter'.
Jonson - 'son of John', a personal name thought to have its beginnings in the Hebrew 'Jehovah has favoured'.
Keats - comes from the Old English
cyta 'a herdsman'.
Kipling - a place name meaning 'the place of the people of Cyppel'.
Landor - is easy to understand when the meaning of 'washerman' or 'launderer' is seen.
Larkin - a diminutive of 'Laurence', itself meaning 'victory'.
Longfellow - a nickname used to describe someone tall or used ironically for one who was lacking in stature.
Lovelace - is a nickname and not for one who likes lace but actually a corruption for a miserable beggar as it began as 'loveless'.
Lowell - is from the French 'Lou', itself from
lupus 'wolf'.
Macaulay - from an Old Gaelic
Mac-Amhalghaidh. The 'mac' is, of course, 'son' - while the personal name means 'like the willow twig'.
Macbeth - another Gaelic name, this meaning 'son of life'.
Marvell - came to English from French and thought to mean 'a marvel, wonder'.
Masefield - certainly a place name and likely meaning 'great field'.
Meredith - as seen above, this is 'lord of splendour'.
Milton - a place name and as simple a name as they come for this is 'the middle farmstead'.
Moore - another simplistic place name, this is 'moor' or 'uncultivated land'.
Morris - from the personal name but nearly always with the original spelling of 'Maurice' or 'inhabitant of Mauretania'
Nashe - is a place name, one where the original
atten asc has seen a migration of the last letter of the previous word to the beginning of the following one. Thus this place name meant 'at the ash trees'.
Ovid - simply means 'gentle'.
Plath - this is undoubtedly Germanic but could be either 'a maker of breast plates' or topographical in 'the plateau'.
Poe - a variation on 'Peacock', a nickname for anyone considered vain.
Pope - if of English origin it comes from the office of the Roman Catholic church, however if of Scottish beginnings then this is a pointer to a possible Pictish ancestry.
Pound - a 'pound' was an area in which animals were held, but as a surname is more likely to have become Pinder. Thus 'Pound' is from the same as 'pond'.
Prior - is unlikely to be derived from the religious root, here the name is probably a nickname describing someone who appeared to give off a 'superior' air.
Pushkin - derived from the Russian personal name Pushka meaning 'cannon', this began as a nickname for someone who was loud and overly outgoing.
Raleigh - is a place name meaning 'woodland clearing where roe deer are seen'.
Rossetti - is derived from the Italian word for 'red'.
Schiller - is of southern Ashkenazic and became a German nickname for someone with a squint.
Shelley - a place name meaning 'a woodland clearing on or near the shelf of land'.
Sidney - is from a place name meaning 'at the wide island or watermeadow'.
Skelton - a place name meaning 'a farmstead on or near a shelf of land'.
Smart - comes from Old English
smeart 'quick' and used as a nickname for one who was overly brisk or active.
Smith - simple 'a worker in metal'.
Southey - another place name, this meaning 'the southern island'.
Spenser - is derived from Old English
spens 'a larder', thus this referred to someone in a large house working in a job akin to a butler or steward.
Swinburne - a place name meaning 'the river where swine are seen'.
Tasso - is derived from a Germanic word
tat meaning 'deed'.
Teasdale - another place name, one referring to 'the valley of the Tees' where the river name can be defined as 'surging river'.
Tennyson - is actually 'the son of Dennis', the personal name from the Greek Dionysos the god of wine and revelry.
Thompson - 'son of Thomas' with the personal name meaning 'a twin'.
Virgil - a Latin name thought to mean 'vigil'.
Wain - derived from the Germanic for 'cart'.
Watson - 'son of Walter', the personal name meaning 'the ruler of the army'.
Whitman - 'the friend or servant of a man called Hwit', the personal name probably beginning as a reference to one having fair or white hair.
Whittier - two possible origins here: either 'one who made cases' or an abbreviated place name telling of 'the dweller at' and found originally with a second and now lost element.
Wilde - was probably a nickname for it really does mean 'wild man, savage'.
Wolfe - clear enough, this is indeed 'wolf'.
Wordsworth - an excellent name for any writer but actually a corruption of the place name Wadworth, itself referring to 'the enclosure of a man called Wada'.
Wotton - another place name, this meaning 'the farmstead where woad grows'.
Wyatt - from the Old English personal name
Wigheard meaning 'hardy, brave, strong'.
Yeats - from early Germanic which we would read as 'gate' but which referred to the 'way' rather than the gate across same.
So really none of the poets have a name particularly suited to their apparent talents. Not even the Bard himself, for Shakespeare does indeed refer to a person who shakes a spear. However don't take this literally for this should be seen as a nickname for an argumentative or confrontational individual. Perhaps old Bill's ancestors would agree with me when I maintain it ain't poetry unless it rhymes, it's just overly-flowery writing with excessive use of 'enter'.
Thus perhaps I should change my name to Shakespeare. Not that I would ever write anything akin to the man himself, but when it comes to being confrontational..... and it would certainly raise my profile on search engines.
