LESP, Part 3
Literal: Mason, Rich, Wagoner.
Literal-ish: Drake (an unusual word); Keyes (an old spelling for "keys").
Exotic: Allbright [e.g. Madeleine].
Literal, but why did they choose it?: Little, Short, Small/Smalls. I gather that some people chose their surnames, some were born to them, and others had them thrust upon them. But surely at least some people who initially got called, say, "Short" by their neighbors ended up resenting the name and changing it to something else. And if not them, then their descendants.
Two more I personally met: when I was in kindergarten, our class had two Matthews: Matthew Littlefield and Matt Middleton. ("Middleton" is literal-ish: the "ton" means "town".) Appropriately enough, Littlefield was indeed a small kid, and noticeably smaller than Middleton. If only our class had had a Matthew Large who was taller than either of the other two Matts...
Literal-ish: Drake (an unusual word); Keyes (an old spelling for "keys").
Exotic: Allbright [e.g. Madeleine].
Literal, but why did they choose it?: Little, Short, Small/Smalls. I gather that some people chose their surnames, some were born to them, and others had them thrust upon them. But surely at least some people who initially got called, say, "Short" by their neighbors ended up resenting the name and changing it to something else. And if not them, then their descendants.
Two more I personally met: when I was in kindergarten, our class had two Matthews: Matthew Littlefield and Matt Middleton. ("Middleton" is literal-ish: the "ton" means "town".) Appropriately enough, Littlefield was indeed a small kid, and noticeably smaller than Middleton. If only our class had had a Matthew Large who was taller than either of the other two Matts...