LESP, Part 3

[uzbradistan]

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

Comments

[uzbradistan]

Heh heh, good one.

[archivecats]

You are assuming that at the time period when the Smalls and Littles acquired their names, the names were considered pejorative. Perhaps at that particular cultural moment, the names were simply descriptors, no more, and their bearers thought no more of them than I would of being called Archivecats Brownhair.

[uzbradistan]

Possibly... But I'd think height was an advantage even more then than it is now...

[archivecats]

Alderman, Whitehead, House, Battle, Coker, Friday, Hooker, Joyner (joiner), Woollen, and more.

[uzbradistan]

All good ones, thanks! I'd been meaning to post "Whitehead" -- I'd thought of Alfred North Whitehead, who has two literal surnames in his name. :)

"Friday" is definitely a curious one, perhaps deserving "exotic" status.

"Goodbody" is an exotic I saw in some movie credits the other day.

I guess "Coker" was some kind of miner? "Collier" counts, anyway.

"Hooker" is an odd one. Obviously, its original meaning was not "prostitute". I've seen claims online that it refers to people who lived on the spur (or "hook"?) of a hill, or people worked with hooks, such as shepherds with crooked staffs.

Speaking of which, "Biggerstaff" is another one I saw in movie credits this weekend. Obviously related to "Bickerstaff". The Internetz claim its meaning has something to do with beekeeping...