The Romance of Names

A chaptered survey of how personal and family names originate and evolve, explaining categories such as patronymics, metronymics, occupational and locative surnames, nicknames and baptismal names. It analyzes spelling and sound variation, medieval documentary evidence, and the influence of language contact — Norman French, Anglo‑Saxon, Celtic and immigrant communities — on name forms. Dedicated sections consider place‑name elements, trades, animals and descriptive sobriquets, and the author uses illustrative examples and a specimen problem to demonstrate methods of etymological interpretation while cautioning against unsupported conjecture.