Origin
MAY : Probably given to a child born in that month. May, in the Saxon, is a daisy, a flower; the fifth month in the year, beginning with January. Gaelic, mai or maith, good, pleasant, fruitful; Mad, Welsh. From Ma we have mai, the earth, the producer; ma, mother, tender, kind.
ABERNETHY : (Gaelic and Celtic.) Local. From a town in Strathern, Scotland, on the river Tay; derived from Aber, as given above, and nethy, in the Gaelic, dangerous. Nith or Nithy, is also the name of a river in the south of Scotland, and the name may have been taken from a town at or near its mouth Abernithy.
AGAN : (Gaelic.) From Eigin, force, violence; hence, strong-handed, active. The name may be local, and named from Agen, a town in Guienne, France; also Agen, Welsh, local, a cleft.
EGAN : (Gaelic.) From Eigin, force, violence; hence, strong-handed, active. The name may be local, and named from Agen, a town in Guienne, France; also Agen, Welsh, local, a cleft.
ALDEN : (Sax.) Local. From ald, old, and den or dun, a hill or town; old-town, or it may be high-own, from alt, high, Gaelic, and dun, a hill, castle, or town.
ALDAINE : (Sax.) Local. From ald, old, and den or dun, a hill or town; old-town, or it may be high-own, from alt, high, Gaelic, and dun, a hill, castle, or town.
AMHERST : (Saxon) Local. From ham, a town or village, and hurst or herst, a wood, the town in the wood, the H by custom, being dropped or silent. It may have been derived from Hamo, who was sheriff in the county of Kent, in the time of William the Conqueror; a descendant of his was called Hamo de Herst, and the Norman de, and the aspirate h being dropped Amherst. Amhurst, the connected grove, or conjoined woods; am, in the British, as a prefix, has the sense of Amb, amphi, circum, i.e., about, surrounding, encompassing; hence, the surrounding grove, or Amhurst.
AMMADON : (Gaelic.) From Amadan, a numskull, a simpleton ; may be so called by way of antiphrasis, because he was wise; as Ptolemy received the surname Philadelphus (from the Greek lover or friend, and brother) because he charged two of his brothers with forming designs against his life, and then caused them to be destroyed.
ANGLE : (Greek;.) From the Greek messenger; also the name of a town in France where the family may have originated.
ANGEL : (Greek;.) From the Greek messenger; also the name of a town in France where the family may have originated.
ANNAN : Local. A river and borough of Scotland. From the Gaelic aon, aon, one, one, or the river that divides the dale in two shares. Amhan, Avon, or An-oun, in Gaelic, may signify the slow running water; a gentle river.
ASOALL : In the Gaelic, means a sheltered place, a bosom, a covert. Aisgiodal or Aisgall was one of the Danish commanders at the battle of Clontarf near Dublin. The name is expressive of courage and strength. From this may be found the name of Hascall. If the name is of British origin, it would signify the sedgy moor, from Hesg, and hal or hayle low grounds, meadows.
ASGALL : In the Gaelic, means a sheltered place, a bosom, a covert. Aisgiodal or Aisgall was one of the Danish commanders at the battle of Clontarf near Dublin. The name is expressive of courage and strength. From this may be found the name of Hascall. If the name is of British origin, it would signify the sedgy moor, from Hesg, and hal or hayle low grounds, meadows.
ASHBURTON : Local. From a town of the same name in Devonshire, England. Burton signifies the town on the hill, and Ashburton the town on the hill covered or surrounded with ash trees. Ash may be, in some cases, a corruption of the Gaelic or Celtic uisge, water.
AUCHINLECK : Local. A parish in Ayrshire, Scotland. The etymology of the name may be found in the Gaelic Ach, an elevation, a mound, or round hill, generally level at the top; and leac, a flat stone, a tombstone. In several parts of Ayrshire may be traced the remains of cairns, encampments, and Druidical circles. Auchinleck appears to have been one of those places where the ancient Celts and Druids held conventions, celebrated their festivals, and performed acts of worship.
AVERY : (Gaelic.) From Aimhrea (the mh having the sound of v ), denoting contention or disagreement It may be from Avery, a granary, or from Aviarius, Latin, a bird-keeper.
AYRES : Local. Derived from a river, town, and district of the same name in Scotland. Air, Gaelic. Derivation uncertain. It may come from Iar, west the course in which the river runs; or Air, slaughter, the place of battle. The Celtic Aer, and the Welsh Awyr, signify, radically, to open, expand or flow clearly; to shoot or radiate. In Thorpe's catalogue of the deeds of Battle Abbey, we find the following legendary account of this name: Ayres, formerly Eyre. The first of this family was named Truelove, one of the followers of William the Conqueror. At the battle of Hastings, Duke William was flung from his horse, and his helmet beaten into his face, which Truelove observing, pulled off, and horsed him again. The duke told him 'Thou shalt hereafter from Truelove be called Eyre (or Air), because thou hast given me the air I breathe.' After the battle, the Duke, on inquiry respecting him, found him severely wounded (his leg and thigh having been struck off); he ordered him the utmost care, and on his recovery, gave him lands in Derby, in reward for his services, and the leg and thigh in armor, cut off, for his crest; an honorary badge yet worn by all the Eyres in England.
BABCOCK : Little Bab, or Bartholomew; from Bab, a nickname for Bartholomew, and cock, small, little, a son; cic, cock, el, and et are diminutives, and include the ideas of kindness and tenderness, associated with smallness of slib. It may be from Bob, the nickname for Robert; Bobcock, the son of Robert, Robertson.
BACHELOR : From the Dutch Bock, a book, and leeraar, a doctor of divinity, law, or physic. When applied to persons of a certain military rank, it may be a corruption of Bas chevalier, because lower in dignity than the milites bannereti. Killian adopts the opinion that as the soldier who has once been engaged in battle, is called battalarius, so he who has once been engaged in literary warfare, in public dispute upon any subject. Calepinus thinks that those who took the degree of Bachelor, were so called (Baccalaurei), because a chaplet of laurel berries was placed upon them. The word, however, has probably but one origin, which would account for its various applications.
BAGOT : (Fr.) A stay or walking staff; a gunstick or drumstick, from Bagnette. It may be a corruption oi Bigot (which see). Bagad, in the Welsh, signifies a great many.
BAIN : (Celtic.) Whiteness, fairness. Bain is also a bath or hot-house. The name may be local, from Bain, a town in France.
BAINE : (Celtic.) Whiteness, fairness. Bain is also a bath or hot-house. The name may be local, from Bain, a town in France.
BALLANTYNE : Local. A place of ancient pagan worship among the Celts, whose principal deity was Belen or Baal, the sun. To the honor of this deity, the Celts lighted fires on the 1st of May and Midsummer day. Baalantine signifies the fire of Baal, from Baalen and teine, Gaelic, fire.
BANGS : This name may be a corruption of Banks, or from the French bain, a bath, a hot-house.
BARR : (Celtic.) Local. The top or summit of any thing, any thing round. Bar, Gaelic, an old word for a bard or learned man. Bar, local, a bank of sand or earth, a shoal; the shore of the sea. It may be derived from Barre, a town in France, or from Barr, a parish and village in Ayrshire, Scotland.
BARSTOW : Local. May have various significations. Barr, the top of a hill, and stow, a place or depository. Bar, in the Gaelic, Welsh, and Cornish-British, means the summit or top of any thing. The Gaelic or Irish aran and barr, signify bread, a crop of grain; Welsh, bar, bread, an ear of corn; Saxon, bar and bere, corn, barley. Barstow, a place where grain is stored.
BAUM : (Germ.) A tree. It may be derived from a town in France by that name.
BECKER : (Ger.) From becker, the same as backer, a baker. It may be from becher, a cup or goblet, from bechern, to tipple; der Becher” (Ger.), drinker, a tippler; the same in Dutch.
BELLAMY : Local. From Bellesme, a town of France; or it may be Belami, French, a dear and excellent friend; from bel, fair or beautiful, and ami, a friend or companion.
BIGALOW : Bygglu, in the Welsh, signifies to hector, to bully. In the Cor. Br., Bygel is a herdsman, a shepherd, and the name may have been applied to the commander of an army.
BLOOD : In the Dutch, signifies timorous, cowardly; a simpleton. Lower informs us that Godkin, Blood (S'blood), and Sacre, may be regarded as clipped oaths, and given as names to the persons in the habit of using them; and that in the neighborhood of a fashionable square in London, are now living surgeons whose names are Churchyard, Death, Blood, and Slaughter.
BORLAND : (Cor. Br.) Local. The high land; the swelling or rising land; from bor, swelling, rising, and lemd. If from the Saxon, it signifies the land belonging to the common people. Bordlands were lands which the lords kept in their hands for the maintenance of their board or table. Borland is the name of a village in Fifeshire, Scotland, whence the family may have originated.
BOSTWICK : (Cor. Br.) Local. The house near the haven or creek; from Bos, a house, and wick, a haven or creek. It may be from the Dutch Bosch, a wood, and wick, the town in the wood. Boswick, in the Cornish-British, is the dwelling near the harbor or village.
BRANDRETH : Bailey defines this name the curb of a well, but I think the name is local, and may be derived aa follows: Bran, both Welsh and Gaelic, signifies a swift river, and dreth, the sandy shore or strand. Brandreth may also mean the sandy shore frequented by wild-fowl, from Bran, a crow, and dreth, as above. Brwyndreth, in Welsh, denotes the shore abounding with rushes, from brwyn, rushes, and treth, the shore. I prefer, however, to use Bran in the sense of dark, black, and then we have the dark shore, or water, or a place on the shore of the river Bran.
BRISBAN : This name is local, and may signify the Mount or Hill of Judgment, a place where courts were held and law administered, among the Celts and Britons, from the Cornish-British brez or brys, a judgment, a trial at law, and ban, a hill, a mount In Gaelic, Breasban signifies the royal mount; Briosgabhain, the rapid river; Brisbeinn, the broken hill or cliff.
BRISBIN : This name is local, and may signify the Mount or Hill of Judgment, a place where courts were held and law administered, among the Celts and Britons, from the Cornish-British brez or brys, a judgment, a trial at law, and ban, a hill, a mount In Gaelic, Breasban signifies the royal mount; Briosgabhain, the rapid river; Brisbeinn, the broken hill or cliff.
BUCHAN : Local. A district of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The derivation of the name is uncertain. It may be from the Gaelic boc, bocan, deer; a place abounding in deer.
BUCK : Such names as Lyon, Bull, Buck, etc., may have been borrowed from armorial bearings, the shields and banners of war, or for a resemblance to those animals noted for courage, agility, or swiftness, or from signs and emblems over shops and inns.
BUCKLIN : (Gaelic) Local. From Buccklyn, a town in Sterlingshire, Scotland. The name may be derived from Boc, plural, Buic, a roe-buck, deer, and linne, a pool or lake.
BUDDINGTON : Local. The flourishing town, or Boddington, the dwelling town. Buttington, a place on the Severn, England, which may indicate the town on the limit, boundary, or extremity.
BULL : A well-known animal, powerful, fierce, and violent. The name may have originated from the sign of a shop or inn, as John at the Bull. Bul, in Saxon, is a brooch, a stud, a bracelet.
BURDEN : Lower says this name is probably a corruption of bourdon, a pilgrim's staff, a very appropriate sign for a wayside hostelry. It may be local, derived from Bour, a house (from the Saxon bure, a bed-chamber), and den, a valley the house in the valley.
BURRELL : Borel is used by Chaucer in the sense of lay, as borel-clerks lay-clerks. It may be a corruption of Borrail (which see).
CALDWELL : Local. Col-wold, the wood of hazels; or it may be Cold-well, a cold spring.
CAMPBELL : (Celtic and Gaelic.) Wry-mouth, the man whose mouth inclined a little on one side; from cam, crooked, distorted, and beul, the mouth. This ancient family may be traced as far back as the beginning of the fifth century, and is said to have been possessed of Lochore, in Argyleshire, as early as the time of Fergus II. Sir Colin Campbell, of Lochore, flourished toward the end of the thirteenth century, and was called Sir Colin More, or Colin the Great. His descendants were called by the Irish Mc Callen, that is, the descendants of Colin.
CAREY : Local. From the manor of Cary or Kari, as spelled in the Doomsday Rook, in the parish of St Giles, near Launceston, England. Cary, in the British, signifies beloved, dear. This name may be the same as Carew.
CARY : Local. From the manor of Cary or Kari, as spelled in the Doomsday Rook, in the parish of St Giles, near Launceston, England. Cary, in the British, signifies beloved, dear. This name may be the same as Carew.
CHADWICK : Local. The cottage by the harbor, or sheltered place; from the Saxon Cyte and wick; Cyte signifies a cottage, and wick, a harbor, a sheltered place. It may be so called from the shad fisheries.
COLT : A name given to one of a sportive disposition, or may be taken from the sign of an inn. Will at the Colt.
CRITTENDEN : (Cor. Br. and Welsh.) Local. The cot on the lower hill; from cru, a cot; tarn, lower, and dun or din, a hill; or it may be the chalk hill, from krit, Saxon, chalk.
CROGAN : (Gaelic.) A lean little person; literally, a shell, a pitcher, from krogan; krogan, a castle in North Wales. It may signify a little rock.
CROUNSE : Dutch, kruin, the top or crown; krans, a wreath or garland; Krantz, local, a town in the Duchy of Bremen from which the family may have come.
CULLEN : Local. From the town of Cullen, in Banflfehire, Scotland. The derivation is uncertain. It may be from Cuillean, holly, a place of holly-trees; or Cullin, the place at the neck of the lake, from Cul, a neck, the back of any thing, and lin, a lake, a pond.
CURTIS : An abbreviation of courteous. It may be from Curthose, a name given for wearing short hose, as the name Curtmantle was given to Henry the Second of England, from his introducing the fashion of wearing shorter mantlee than had been previously used.
DICK : The familiar abbreviation of Richard. It may come from the Dutch Dyck, a bank or dike, a bulwark thrown up in the Low Countries against the sea or rivers to prevent inundation.
DOLBEER : Local. Dolbyr, Welsh, the short vale; from dol, a dell, a valley, and byr, short. Dalbyr, local, a town in North Jutland, from which the fiunily may have originated.
DORR : This name may have several significations, according to the language in which it was first given. Dorr, Gaelic, difficult, easily vexed. Dur, Gaelic, persevering, earnest, obstinate. Dorr, Icelandic, a spear. Dor, Cor. British, the earth; also dorre, to break. Doir, local, a woody place. Dar, Welsh, oak.
DURHAM : Local. Acoording to Bailey, this word is derived from the Saxon Dun and holm, a town in a wood. It seems rather to come from the British Dour, water, and holm, land surrounded mostly by water. It may be derived from Dovre, which, in the British and Celtic, signifies a woody place, abounding in oaks; hence Doireholm or Dourham, that is, the place or town surrounded by woods.
DURKEE : In the Gaelic, Duirche is the comparative of Dorch, dark, cloudy, hence dark-complexioned. It may come from Durga, Gaelic, surly, sour, repulsive Durgy, in the Cor. Br., signifies a small turf hedge.
DURGY : In the Gaelic, Duirche is the comparative of Dorch, dark, cloudy, hence dark-complexioned. It may come from Durga, Gaelic, surly, sour, repulsive Durgy, in the Cor. Br., signifies a small turf hedge.
DUTTON : Local. A village in Cheshire, England, and may have several derivations. Dut-ton, i.e., Dutch-town. Duton, from Du, Cor. Br., side, and ton, the same as dun, a hill, that is, the side of the hill; or Du-ton, the two hills, from Du, two, and ton, a hill. Dhu-ton, Gaelic and Welsh, the black hill.
EAGER : Sharp-set, vehement, earnest The name may be local, from the river Eger, in Bohemia, or Egra, a city on the river Eger.
EDDY : In the Gaelic, Eddee signifies an instructor. The name may be Local. from the Saxon Ed, backwards, and ea, water a current of water running back, a whirlpool. Edd, Welsh, signifies motion, going; Eddu, to go, to move.
FAGG : (Saxon) Fag, variable or many colored; may be bestowed'on the first possessor from his variable disposition. Fag, a laborious drudge.
FERRER : Local. From Ferrieres, a small town of Gastinois, France, so called from the iron mines with which the country abounded; or the name may have originated from the occupation of a farrier or iron-dealer.
FERRERS : Local. From Ferrieres, a small town of Gastinois, France, so called from the iron mines with which the country abounded; or the name may have originated from the occupation of a farrier or iron-dealer.
GARDINER : This name may be derived from the same roots as Gairden. It is probably, however, the same as Gardener, the orthography having been changed. Camden says, Wise was the man that told my Lord Bishop (Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester) that his name was not Gardener as the English pronounce it, but Gardiner, with the French accent, and therefore a gentleman. The principal family of the Gardiners in this country derive their descent from Lion Gardiner, a native of Scotland, who served under General Fairfax in the Low Countries as an engineer. He was sent to this country in 1635, by Lords Say and Sele, Brooke, and others, to build a fort, and make a settlement on their grant at the mouth of the Connecticut river. He built the fort at Saybrook, which name he gave to it after the names of his patrons Lords Say and Brooke. His eldest son, David, born at Fort Saybrook, in 1636, was the first white child born in Connecticut He afterward bought from the Indians the island in Long Island Sound, called by them Monchonack, and by the English the Isle of Wight, paying for it. as the old records say, a black dog, a gun, and some Dutch blankets. He removed there with his family, and gave it the name of Gardiner's Island. The island still remains in the possession of the family, having descended in a direct line from Lion Gardiner.
GILLETT : From Guillot, the French diminutive for William. The family may have come with William the Conqueror into England, from Gillette, a town in Piedmont, France. Gillette, the son of Giles.
GODARD : (German) God-like disposition. The name may be local, from Goddard, a mountain in Switzerland.
GODENOT : (Fr.) A Jack in the box,” a puppet, a little ugly man. The name may be local, and come from Gudenaw, a town on the Lower Rhine, Germany.
GODENO : (Fr.) A Jack in the box,” a puppet, a little ugly man. The name may be local, and come from Gudenaw, a town on the Lower Rhine, Germany.
GORDON : Ghurtduine, Gaelic, a fierce man; Gwrddyn, Welsh, a strong man; Cawrdyn, Welsh, a bero, a giant. Some have derived the Gordons from Gordinia, in Thessaly; others say they are descendants of the Gorduni mentioned by Caesar in his Commentaries. The name appears to be local, and may be derived from a town in France of that name, in the Department of Lot It signifies in Gaelic the round hill, or the hill that surrounds, from Gour, round, and dun, a hill or fort
GRANT : On this name Playfair remarks that it may be derived from the Saxon, Irish, or French. In the Saxon, Grant signifies crooked or bowed. Thus Cambridge, the town and University in England so called, signifies a crooked bridge, or rather a bridge upon Cam River, or the crooked and winding river. The Saxons called this town Grant Bridge, Cam in the British, and Grant in the Saxon, being of the same signification, crooked. So Mons Gramphius, the Grampian Hill, was called by the Saxons Granz Ben, or the crooked hill, but we can not see how from this Saxon word the surname should be borrowed. In the old Irish, Grandha signifies ugly, ill-favored. Grande signifies dark or swarthy. Grant and Ciar signify much the same thing, or are synonymous words, and there being a tribe of the Grants called Clan Chiaran, it is the same as Clan Grant Thus the surname might have been taken from a progenitor that was Chiar or Grant, that is to say, a swarthy or gray-headed man, and, though, in time, Grant became the common and prevailing surname, yet some always retained the other name, Chiaran, and are called Clan Chiaran. In the French Grand signifies great, brave, valorous, and from thence many are inclined to think that the surname Grant is taken from Grand, which in the Irish is sounded short, and thereby the letter d at the end of the word is changed into t, and thus Grand into Grant. The surname, it seems, was thus understood in England about five hundred years ago, for Richard Grant was made Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1229, and is, in Mr. Anderson's (Genealogical Tables, as well as by others, expressly called Richard Grant. But the English historians of that time, writing in Latin, call him Richardus Magnus, which plainly shows that they took Grant to be the same with the French Grand, and the Latin Magnus. To which let us add, that in the old writs, the article the is put before the surname Grant.
GRIFFIN : A name given to a noted man, whose qualities or disposition, in some respects, resembled this fabulous creature. Griffurn, in Welsh, is applied to a man having a crooked nose, like a hawk's bill. Gryffyn, in the Cornish British, signifies to give. It may be the same as Griffith.
GROOT : (Dutch.) Local. Large, great, the great man. Groot is also a name of a town in Holland, whence the surname may be derived the great town, De Groot.
GROAT : (Dutch.) Local. Large, great, the great man. Groot is also a name of a town in Holland, whence the surname may be derived the great town, De Groot.
GUNTER : Supposed to be the same as Ingulphus, from In and golpe, Belgic, to swallow down, to devour. The name may be local, and given to a native of Gaunt or Ghent
HALLAM : From Hall, Welsh, salt, and ham, a house or village, from its manufacture in that place, or being situated near the salt water. It may be derived from Hal or Hayle, a moor, and ham, the house on the moor. Halham, the house on the hill, from Hal, Cornish British, a hill.
HAMMOND : Ham-mount, the town or house on the elevation. It may come from Hamon.
HASWELL : (Dutch or Germ.) Hasveldt, from Hase, a river in Westphalia, and veldt, a field, corrupted into well; or from Wald, German, a wood or forest, the forest on the Hase. The name may also signify the misty place, or the Wild or field of hares, from Haas, Dutch, a hare.
HAYMAN : (Sax.) A high man, or may be the same as Hayward (which see).
HICCOCK : The son of Hig or Hugh; cock signifying, little Hig. It may be a corruption of Haycock (which see).
HUBBELL : Local. From Hubba, a Danish chief, and hill-Hubba's-hill or Hubhill. Hub means a heap or a lump, and may indicate a small round hill on the summit of another.
KEEN : Bold, eager, daring; bright, fair; or may he the same as Kean.
KEITH : Local. From the parish and lands of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland. The name Keith is said to be derived from the Gaelic Gaoth, wind, pronounced somewhat similarly to Keith. The old village and kirk are called Arkeith, which may be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard Quoth, signifying high wind, which corresponds to its locality, which is peculiarly exposed to gusts of wind. In some old charters, Keith is written Gith, which still more resembles Gaith. I think the name is derived from the Welsh Caeth, a place surrounded, shut up, inclosed, a deep hollow, a strait. The root of the word is the Welsh Cau, to close, to shut up. Concerning this family, the traditional account is, that they came from G-ermany in the reign of the Emperor Otho, and from the principality of Hesse, from which they were expelled in some revolution. The first person of this family of whom our oldest historians take notice, is Robert De Keith, to whom Malcom II, King of Scotland, gave the barony of Keith, in East Lothian, as a reward for killing Camus, a Danish general, who then invaded Scotland with a numerous army. The battle was fought at Barry, seven miles from Dundee, where an obelisk, called Camus' stone, still preserves the memory of the victory, and it is said the king, dipping his three fingers in the blood of the general, stroked them along the field of the Scotch champion's shield, to whom, besides the landed estate before mentioned, he gave the dignity of Great Marshal of Scotland.
KIMBERLEY : Kernperlike, kemper, a veteran, a stouti, warlike man, from the Dutch kamper, a champion, a fighting-man. The name may apply to the qualities of the person, or to the place of a camp or battle, that is, Camper-ley; Cumberley indicates a place among hillft in a narrow valley, from Cum, a vale, a dell.
KINGHORN : Local. A borough in Fifeshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the Gaelic Cean-gorn or gorm, the blue head, from the adjoining promontory. It is fancifully suggested by one writer that as the Scottish kings long had a residence in the neighborhood, the name may have been suggested by the frequent winding of the king's horn when he sallied out to the chase in this neighborhood.
LAYCOCK : Local. A village on the banks of the Avon, in Wiltshire, England. The name may be the same as Lucock that is, little Luke.
LEARNED : Local. (Gaelic.) The green, sheltered place near the sea, from Lear, the sea, and need, a sheltered place. Or it may be a name given for scholarship, John the Learned.
LELAND : Local. Laland, an island in Denmark, the same as Leylande, the ancient manner of spelling the name, and denotes Low lands. In Welsh, Lle is a place, and Lan a church. Lan may signify any kind of inclosure, as Gwin-lan, Perlan, an orchard, a word applied to gardens, houses, castles, or towns.
LESLIE : This family, according to tradition, descended from Bartholomew de Leslyn, a noble Hungarian, who came to Scotland with Queen Margaret, about the year 1067. He was the son of Walter de Leslyn, who had assumed this surnamefrom the castle of Leslyn, in Hungary, where he was born. Bartholomew being in great favor with Malcom Canmore, obtained from that prince grants of several lands in Aberdeenshire, which it is said he called Leslyn, after his own surname. Malcom de Leslyn., who succeeded him, was the progenitor of all the Leslies in Scotland. Robert Verstegan, in his Antiquities, remarks on the word ley: A combat having taken place in Scotland between a noble of the family of Leslie and a foreign knight, in which the Scot was victorious, the following Unes in memory of tho deed, and the place where it happened, are still extant: Between the Less-Ley and the Mair, He slew the knight and left him there. The name may be derived from Lesslo, a maritime territory in Denmark.
MAGOON : (Gaelic.) A corruption of Macgowan, which signifies the son of the smith, from Mat, son, and gow, a smith; or it may be the same as McCoun, from Mat, son, and ceann, a head or chief the son of the chief.
MARTIN : This name may be derived from the Latin martius, warlike, from Mars, the God of War. In the Gaelic, mor is great, and duin, a man. Morduin, a chief, a warrior.
MOON : A corruption of Mohun, or it may be local, from the island Anglesey or Mona, so called, as some suppose, from mwyn, Welsh, mines, from its stone-quarries and mines; others derive it from mon or mona, alone, separated. Mwyn, Welsh, affable, pleasant.
NEEDHAM : Local. From Needham, a market-town in Suffolk, England the village of cattle; Sax., neat, Danish, nod, a herd, and ham, a village. In another sense it may denote the clean, fair town.
NEAL : The same as Neil (which see). Neal may be sometimes a contraction of Nigel.
NEQUAM : (Latin.) Dishonest, lazy. Alexander Nequam, of St Albans, wishing to devote himself to a monastic life, in the abbey of his native town, applied to the ruler of that establishment for admission. The abbot's reply was thus laconically expressed: Si bonus sis, venias, si Nequam, nequaquam. If good; you may come; if wicked, by no means. It is said he changed his name to Neckham, and was admitted into the fraternity.
NOTT : Hnott, Saxon, smooth, round, a nut. Notted, an old word for shorn, polled. The name may have come from wearing the hair short and smooth. A nott hed had he, with a brown visage. Chaucer.
OGILVIE : Local. From the lands of Ogilvie, in Scotland. It may come from the Welsh Ochil, a high place.
PARSALL : Local. Park-hall, the same as Parshall. Parcell may be from par-ciel, by heaven.
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