HISTORY127 - Personal Names
This blog topic came from Pat and I talking about my last blog article on the history of personal identification - a natural fallout, I guess. I quickly determined that there was a lot to learn here too. After a short introduction, I will discuss the history of personal names in the following sections: ancient times (before writing), early civilizations (after writing), Europe in the Middle Ages, and America (from the 16 th century to the present). I will finish with some suggestions for tracing the origin of your name. To make this all manageable, from the Middle Ages on, I will focus on Europe and America. (There is a wealth of material available on personal naming in other cultures.) And I will focus on family names versus first names. As usual, I will list my principal sources at the end. Introduction A personal name is the set of names by which a person is known. In many cultures, the term ...