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Many last names give us clues to how our distant ancestors got their last name, whether it was through their work and the standing they had in the community, for example a Smith or Wright these were skilled workers in their field, or the colour of the skin or hair often led to last names depicting this trait.

A lot have either gone out of fashion or have simply taken on other more modern names, it’s nice to know that a lot of last names have survived to the present day, in the last three chapters of this series I have looked at Smiths and Wrights, Most of the colours including Browns Greys and Whites, We then took a look at the professions such as Thatcher, Butcher and Baker.

To end this look into the origin of names I will delve into how royalty, the nobility and religion came to have the names they have, once again not always as obvious as you might think, let’s take royalty and their titles.

King

This name was attributed long before you might think, when man first started to form groups or tribes, in the British Isles, the tribal leader were called the old English name “Cyning” or the Celt name Cun or Cwn, as in a lot of instants the original name changed to suit the county, and over time in England the name Cun changed to King.

 Knight

A knight was a serving lad, later it would be used by man sworn to serve his lord, usually mounted, as well as serving his lord he would represent him at pageants and often be rewarded by having lands or property’s given to him, or in Sir Lancelot’s case (he spent most of his time rescuing  Queen Guinevere, from evil Barons or fire breathing dragons) He was the king’s champion, or Knight, and ended up not having lands or property’s given to him, but having an adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere, you win some, you lose some, as she might say “Once A King Always A King, Once a Knight Is enough”

Lord

This name came from the title often given to those that were a superior holder of an otherwise generic title for example “Lord Mayor” or “Land Lord” the title could be given by a King or Tribal Leader to a leading dignitary to deal with other matters, for example to make sure the people were housed or fed.

The title has lost most of its royal connections and now is often mocked as someone who thinks he better than others, often call “Lord Muck” of course it’s not just a name with the Nobility but it also has a religious connection, as in a description of gods or deities

Other last names that came with a royal connection were, Duke, Nobel, Prince, Earl and Baron, not to be left out, we have the religious groups, with names such as Bishop, Priest, and Vicar.

Pope

Pope was a name given to a confident or haughty person the name can be traced back to the 7th century, it can be argued that the Latin papa and Greek pappas both translated as father could well be the origin of the word.

Dean

Could well be used for both a first and last name, it was in old English the name for a place or valley and later we given to a religious person who held that area. Monk and Abbott have also the same connections.

Chaplain

Last but by no means the least we have Chaplain, a name with French origins, a Chaplain, Caplain or chapelain. A rough translation would be “charity priest” a man blessed to sing mass on behalf of the souls of the dead.