The subject matter of the science

In the present lecture we attempt to seek the nationally cultural peculiarities of the English / American proper names. The distinction between names and appellatives (common nouns) is generally clear. Names are used in individual reference; appellatives can be used in reference to all members of a class or to any number of them. The science that studies names in all their aspects is called onomastics. The subject of this science is broad because almost everything can have a name and because the study of names theoretically encompasses all languages, all geographical and cultural regions, and all historical epochs. In the most precise terminology, a set of personal names is called anthroponymy and their study is called anthroponomastics. A set of place-names is called toponymy, and their study is called toponomastics. The term toponymy includes inhabited places, buildings, roads, countries, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, stars, and so on. Names of streets, roads, and the like are called hodonymy; names of bodies of water – hydronymy, names of mountains – oronymy. The study of the objects, connected with fantasy of people is called mythonomy. The study of the objects connected with creative work of artists, writers is called fictonymy (fiction).

2. Nationally cultural peculiarities of the English/American anthroponomastics

Apart from their surname or last name, most British and American children are given two personal names by their parents, a first name and a middle name. These names are sometimes called Christian names or given names. Some people have only one given name, a few have three or more. Outside the family, the expression to be on first name terms suggests that the people concerned have a friendly informal relationship.

When writing their name Americans commonly give their first name and their middle initial, e.g. George M. Cohan. Both given names are used in full only on formal occasions. In Britain many people sign their name on cheques using the initials of both their given names and their surname, e.g. J.E. Brooks, but may write Joanna Brooks at the end of a letter. The full name (=all given names and surname) is usually only required on official forms.

In some families the oldest boy is given the same name as his father. In the US the word junior or senior, or a number, is added after the name and surname to make it clear which person is being referred to. For example, the son of William Jones Sr (Senior) would be called William Jones Jr (Junior) and his son would be called William Jones III (“William Jones the Third”).

Many popular names come from the Bible, e.g. Jacob, Joshua, Matthew, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah, though this does not imply that the people who chose them are religious.

Literature can have a marked influence as seen in the history of use surrounding Alice (after L. Carroll), Rhett (M. Mitchell “Gone …”).

In Britain the names of William and Harry have become common again since the sons of Prince Charles were given these names.

The name Albert grew enormously in popularity towards the end of the XIX c. as a consequence of the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. It does not appear in the list of the top 50 names in 1800, but it had reached the top10 by 1900. Surprisingly Victoria was never intensively used in the XIX c., probably because of the special respect in which this Queen was held, though it became popular during the 1940s.

The first names are used usually as sex distinctive. There are names definitely for boys and definitely for girls. But this distinction is not absolute. Some of them are common for boys and girls. A few examples are the following: Carl, Sessile, Shirley. Some names are differently spelt but pronounced alike. Francis (Drake) – Frances; but most of them differ in spelling and pronunciation: Robert – Roberta; Paul – Pauline; George – Georgia; Patrick – Patricia; Charles – Charlotte. Some names have but a single resonance. Most people know only one Agatha – Christie (1891-1975).

There are also certain names which are almost universally avoided in English-speaking countries because of their taboo status: Judas, Adolf / Adolph, Lucifer.

Some names are author’s inventions. They may have an etymological meaning (as with Shakespeare’s Miranda, in “The Tempest”, which means (“fit to be admired”)) or they may have no obvious meaning at all (as with Wendy, devised by J. M. Barrie* on the basis of a child’s coin age, fwendy-wendy, and used in “Peter Pan” (1904).

Barrie J. M. (1860 - 1937) a Scottish writer of plays and stories, best known for his children’s story Peter Pen, who never grows up but lives in a magic land called Never – Never Land. Peter Pen has a figurative meaning a man whose body or attitudes never seem to change as the years pass; a man who never seems to grow up: the pan of the music business [Longman 1994: 985].

The way in which British surnames have developed is very complicated. Before the Normans arrived, the use of surnames was not really known. Many English surnames were originally connected with a person’s job – Charles Baker, Margaret Thatcher; someone’s size – Jack long, Mary Little; or a family relationship – Robin Williamson (Robin son of William), Peter Richardson. The most common Welsh surnames were all originally Christian names in some form: Dylan Thomas, Roger Davies (a form of David), Geoffrey Jones (from John), David Williams, etc. Many other names come from the tradition of calling a child “son of” his father using the Welsh word ap (or ab). This “p” can be found at the beginning of many common Welsh names, such as Gary Pritchard, which is the same as the English Richardson. Other examples are Prees, Price, Parry, and Pugh.

Welshmen living in England are often called by the nickname “Taffy”. This may come from the River Taff, which runs through the capital Cardiff, or may come from Dafydd, the Welsh form of David. In Welsh English one might hear a John Arthur Jones being differentiated from a John Bryn Jones, with the middle name acting as a kind if surname (and the true surname often elided, with people talking familiarly about “John Arthur” and “John Bryn”).

Years ago all Irish people spoke Gaelic, and this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland, although today all Irish people speak English also. The influence of Irish Gaelic is also found in the names of people. Here some typical Gaelic first names: Sean – same as John; Seamus – same as James; Seanna – same as Joanna; Liam – same as William. Paddy (short for Patrick) and Micky (short for Michael) are not Gaelic names but they are found so often in Ireland.

Nicknames based on a person’s race or country can still be heard but are often highly offensive. In England, for example, men from Scotland used to be addressed as ‘Jock’ or ‘Mac’, people from Ireland was ‘Paddy’ or ‘Mick’ and people from Wales – Tabby or Dai.

Members of immigrant groups in both Britain and the US have had to suffer rude names from the native or mainstream population. Nicknames for people in foreign countries, for example, ‘Yanks’ or ‘Yankees’ for Americans, ‘Frogs’ for the French, ‘Jerries’ for Germans.

The British have nicknames for many other things: a ‘Roller’ is a Roll-Royce car and ‘Marks & Sparks’ is ‘Marks and Spencer’s. The Hammers is a football team (for West Ham United) The Emerald Isle (humor, literary) Ireland, so called because of the greenness of its country areas. In the US all states have nicknames: California – “The Golden State”; Texas – “The Lone Star State”; Wyoming – “The Equality State”.

We should also bear in mind that some names are considered to be speaking ones.

Lady Godiva (11^th century) the wife of an earl (1) of Mercia. According to legend, she asked her husband to lower the taxes on the people of Coventry and he said that he would do so if she rode her horse & naked through the town. She did this, and the taxes were lowered. Everyone was told not to look at Lady Godiva, but one man, “ Peeping Tom of Coventry”, did and he went blind. Notes on the style: He realized that he was watching the lovers like a common Peeping Tom (a person who likes to watch other people when they are doing something private, for example when they are taking their clothes off or kissing someone).

Jekyll and Hyde – a person who has two different natures and can change from one to the other. He’s a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. (from the story “The Strange Case of Dc Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by R.L. Stevenson, in which the main character has one good nature (Dc Jekyll) and one evil nature (Mr Hyde): a Jekyll and Hyde character)