Page 50 - Foy

people adopted many names in an effort to make themselves seem more
important. One person had thirty-six names.
After the fall of Rome, multiple names in Europe largely disappeared for a few
centuries. In about the tenth century, Venetian noblemen began to adopt family
names. That custom was soon followed by the Irish, the French, the English, and
then the Germans and other Europeans.

The number of different names used by European man was not large. In a list
of all the known Anglo-Saxon names compiled in England in 1295 AD, eighteen
percent of all males were named WILLIAM, sixteen percent JOHN, ten percent
RICHARD, and seven percent ROBERT. All other males shared some twenty-
eight other names.

ALICE and JOAN were the most popular names for women at that time, but in
a male-dominated society few women's names were ever recorded.

As populations grew, a need arose to separate two or more villagers with the
same name. A second, descriptive name was added to the first. These second
names usually came from nicknames, occupations, trades, first names of parents
or locations, and addresses.

Before the second name was added, having only one name caused some
misunderstandings. Imagine a conversation between two people about "JOHN"
but each speaker has a different JOHN in mind:

"A horse stepped on JOHN’s foot."
"JOHN from the hill?"
"No, John from the dale."

"JOHN, the son of WILLIAM?"
"No, JOHN the son of ROBERT."

"JOHN the smith?"
"No, JOHN the tailor."

"JOHN the long?"
"No, JOHN the bald."

Ch. 3 Pg. 2