Names give the individual person the way to identify him and others; they help one remember who different people are and which families they belong to. When I was born I was christened Norman Elliot Rubin; my middle name was changed hurriedly to Albert, as it was the name of the man who pulled the lever for the electric chair at the prison in my State. As a son of the Chosen people, I was given a Hebrew Name ‘Nahum’ – and my grandmother, who fled the Czar to the ‘Goldena Medina’ burdened me with a Jewish name ‘Noomska’. There I was called Norman Albert Rubin, nee Nahum, Noomska.
Most of the names we call our children today once had a special meaning from the root source – i.e. Mary, the most common girl’s name, comes from the Hebrew name Miriam (bitterness) meaning "Our Lady" or "beloved lady" (’beloved’ derived from the New Testament). John, the most common boy’s name, is derived from Johannes, the Latin form of the Greek name ‘Ioness’, itself derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan meaning "God is gracious". Susan means ‘lily’; Barbara means ‘a foreign stranger’; Phillip is a ‘lover of horses’; Andrew connotes one who is ‘Strong’; and Patricia means ‘of noble birth’. htp://www.behindthename.com
Most people in Western countries today have a first name, the given name; a middle name, simply another name; and a last name of the family (sometimes it is the mother’s maiden mane before she married). Sometimes fathers give their sons in their own right the very same name as their own, adding ‘Junior’ at the end to show that this one is the son and that one is the father. Some middle names denotes the child is the son of the father – Germanic people use ‘Von’ – the Hebrew folk use the Hebraic words ‘Ben’ or ‘Baht’. (The Muslims use "bin" or "ibn" for males and ‘binte’ for females.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/middle+names
Hundreds of years ago and even today, people have received names from the places they lived or the type of work in which they were employed. Many last names reflected a person’s occupation - like Smith, a common name in the U.S., which is derived from ‘blacksmith’. The ‘Cohanim’ were the high priests of the temple and the Chosen people who carry it today are proud of their last name ‘Cohen’. A man or woman who lived on specific hill would be named ‘Hill’; or if one lived on the west of east side of the hill, might be named ‘West’ or ‘East’. The village baker might earn a last name ‘Baker’, the cobbler earned the last name of ‘Shoemaker’ and some folk with outstanding personal characteristic such as a strong or tall body took the quality as their surname – ‘Strong’, ‘Long’. Well, this is where most of the early last names came from. http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/What%20is%20a%20name.htm
In Scotland and Ireland, surnames were often formed by adding a prefix to their father’s name. The Irish addition to a last name, i.e ‘Mac’ ‘Mc’ or ‘O’: for most purposes, taken to mean "son of", as in MacNeill (son of Neil); ‘O’Brien’, grandson of the elder Brien; and McConnel son of the good man Connel. The Scottish ‘Mac’ is quite similar – MacDonald, son of Donald.
Russian middle names are formed by adding ‘ovich’ for the male gender and ‘ovna’ for the fair gender; i.e. ‘Ivanovich’ means the good son of Ivan and ‘Petrovna’ means the fair and beautiful daughter of Peter. Often people’s names are combined with titles with references to monarchy or the church.
Many good folk have nicknames made by shortening the first names – i.e. a youth called Michael may be called ‘Mike’ or ‘Mikey’. Some persons are given nicknames of their special appearance of their behavior patterns or way the way they look. For example a chap with red hair might be given the nickname ‘Red’. Epithets are usually unkind nicknames such as Knuckle Head, and Bozo and in Yiddish - ‘Schmiel’, ‘Nudnick’, which today is part of the American terminology. http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/
Some names have come to be considered masculine or feminine, such as Daniel or Morris to be masculine names, and names such as Alice or Marilyn are of the female gender. A certain classification of names, such as Leslie, Dale, Meredith, Evelyn can be given to either a boy or girl; i.e Leslie Howard, a gifted actor or Evelyn Waugh, the noted author. Pen names and stage names are pseudonyms for talented people like Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) and Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach). Criminals sometimes go by alias like the ‘The Son of Sam’ who would like to go about and carry on their nefarious activities so they will not be discovered.
Famous people who want to travel go incognito, but folks such as we simple souls keep the same name all our lives, never changing (except when lovely ladies take their husband’s last name in marriage).
