6. Names of Anglo-Saxon and Norman period

After the gain of England by Normans in English language Old French diminutive suffixes –el, -in, -on, -ot.get. Diminutive and pet names are created Hamel, Hamelin, Hamelet (Ham –Hamon(d) +el, -el-in, -el-ot)., Bartelot, Bartelet (Bart –Bartholomew +el-et) etc. During the same time for formation of secondary derivatives English suffixes –cock, -kin are used also Adcock , Malkin.These suffixes were productive in XI-XIV centuries, and now they can be met in the surnames which have arisen during the Middle English period: Atkin (Ad –Adam +kin), Babcock –Barbara +cock), Tomkin (Tom –Thomas +kin )etc.

Since XV century hypocoristic man’s and female’s names are formed by means of productive suffixes –ie, for example: Bettie, Betty (Bet –Elizabeth), Jonny (John), Peggy (Peg –Margaret ) etc. Having arisen in Scotland, these suffixes from sphere of proper names have gradually got as well into sphere of common nouns, for example: birdie, bookie, doggie, granny, lassie, nightie, etc.

It is necessary to note, that the tendency to use derivatives also in business conditions, at meetings, sessions, press conferences, in public performances, in a press, etc, now is observed. Derivatives gradually become the legal, official names used together accompanying words of politeness :honourable, reverend, doctor (scientist degree), mister –Mr. etc. For instance, Dr. (doctor) Billy, Hon. (honourable), Jimmie, Rev. (reverend).

1. Aart Anglo-Saxon Male Like an eagle.

2. Abeodan Anglo-Saxon Male Announce.

3. Ablendan Anglo-Saxon Male Blind.

4. Abrecan Anglo-Saxon Male Storm.

5. Acca Anglo-Saxon Female From Acca.

7. Christian influence on names and Puritan name creation

Adam. This is the Hebrew word for “man”. It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew (adam meaning”to be red”, referring to the ruby colour of human skin, or from Assyrian adamu meaning “to make”. According to Genesis in the Old Testament Adam was created from the earth by God (there is a word play on Hebrew (adamah) “earth”.) He and Eve were supposedly the first humans, living happily in the Garden of Eden until Adam ate a forbidden fruit given to him by Eve. As an English Christian name , Adam has been common since the Middle Ages, and it received a boost after the Protestant Reformation.A famous bearer was Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790).

Anna (Ann) . Latinate form of Hannah. The name appears briefly in the New Testament belonging to a prophetess who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. It was a popular name in the Byzantine Empire from an early date , and in the Middle Ages it became common among Western Christians due to veneration of Saint Anna ( usually known as Saint Anne in England.), the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin Mary. In the English –speaking world, this form came into general use in the 18th century, joining Ann and Anne. The name was borne by several Russian royals, including an 18th century empress of Russia ,It was also the name of the main character in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” (1877), a woman forced to choose between her son and her lover.

In the seventeenth century, for some of the most puritanical of the Puritans, even biblical and saints’ names were not pure enough to bestow on their children, and so they turned instead to words that embodied the Christian virtues. These ranged from extreme phrases like Sorry-for-sin and Search-the-Scriptures (which, understandably, never came into general use) to simpler virtue names like Silence and Salvation.

The virtue names that have survived in this country were for the most part the unfussy, one-syllable girls’ names with positive meanings, such as Joy, Hope, Grace and Faith. But then, in the late 1990s, a door was opened to more elaborate examples by the popularity of the TV show Felicity, and its appealing heroine. Felicity (also the name of an American Girl Colonial doll) reached a high point on the girls’ list in 1999, a year after the show debuted, leading parents to consider others long forgotten relics.

Here are the Nameberry picks of the twelve best virtue names:

• Amity—like all the virtue names ending in ity, Amity has an attractive daintiness combined with an admirable meaning—in this case, friendship. It could be a modernized (or antiquated, depending how you look at it) namesake for an Aunt Amy.

• Clarity—we like it much better than Charity or—oh no—Chastity. And Clare makes a nice short form.

• Clemency—Clemency, the name of a character in one of Charles Dicken’s lesser known Christmas novellas, The Battle of Life, can be seen as an offbeat alternative to Clementine.

• Constance was originally used in a religious context which has been lost over the years. There are many Constances found in history and literature: there was Constance of Brittany, mother of young Prince Arthur who appears in Shakespeare’s King John, a daughter of William the Conqueror, and characters in Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer and Dumas’s The Three Musketeers. Constance hasn’t been much heard in the 21st century—probably because of the dated nickname Connie. The Puritans also used Constant.