What's Your Name G3p12

 What's Your Name?

"Hey! You! Third boy from the top of the left side—you dropped your glove!"

"Guess what! I'm invited to a birthday party that the girl with golden hair and brown eyes who wears a red winter coat is giving!"

Oh! Aren't you glad that mothers and fathers give names to their children? It is so much easier and quicker—and friendlier—to say, "John, you dropped your glove!" or, "I'm invited to Betty's birthday party."

Names are the quickest and easiest—and friendliest—way to say who's who.  Another nice thing about names is that they do not change as people do. Yesterday Mary's hair was long. Today her hair is short. But her name is still Mary.

On his birthday Uncle George did not have a beard. At Christmastime he did, but his name is still George.

People are always changing, a little or a lot. But people's first names stay the same.

Another good thing about a name is that it sometimes says something nice about someone.

Girls' names often come from words meaning "pretty", "happy", "loving", ...

Lily comes from the name of this flower. It means that the girl is pretty and sweet like the lily.

Catherine comes from a word meaning "truthful". It says that the woman is an honest lady and loved by all.

Dorothy comes from a word meaning "gift". You know how happy you are when a gift comes your way!

Boys' names are often borrowed from words meaning "strong", "brave", "lucky", ...

Richard comes from a word meaning "brave".

Victor comes from a word meaning "winner".

Charles comes from a word meaning "man of the common people"—a man who works on the land.

There are so many people named Richard or Lily. Without a last name to go with your first name, how could people tell which Richard or which Lily you are?

That's the way it was everywhere a very long time ago. People had only one name. As there got to be more and more people in the world, it became harder and harder to tell them apart. So people began making up last names for themselves—now called family names or surnames.

Sometimes in choosing a last name a man would think about the kind of work he did. If he was a cook he might say, "I am Tom, the cook." Or just plain Tom Cook. If he was a cook for a king, he might become known as Tom Kingcook.

A man who was a carpenter, a tailor, a miller, a baker, a farmer, or a weaver might choose to call himself by one of these names.

One of the most common names in the English language is Smith, which is short for blacksmith. There used to be a blacksmith in every village. Instead of iron, some smiths worked with gold or silver. That produced such names we see today in the phone book as Tom Goldsmith or Tom Silver-smith. Sometimes the names became shortened to Tom Gold or Tom Silver.

Sometimes a man took his last name from his father's first name. Tom was the son of John. So he began calling himself Tom Johnson. A man who was the son of Jack might call himself Jackson.

Often a man got his last name from the place where he lived. James lived on a hill. So people began to call him James Hill. Another James lived by a lake. He became James Lake.

A man was sometimes called by a nickname. A tall man might be called Long Tom or Tom Long, or Tom Longfellow.

A short man might become Little John, and his son was probably called Tom Littlejohn. William who was always thirsty might be called william Drinkwater.

Sometimes colors became last names. A man with red hair might be called Tom Red. But sometimes down through the years, the name was changed. So Tom Read or Reade is still probably a descendant of Tom Red. A man who lived near the village green might have called himself Tom Green.

If Tom had a strong arm, what name might he have? What if he had a big foot?

The last names of people all over the world had similar beginnings. Can you guess how you might have gotten your name?

1. What are the nice things about names?

2. What kind of words do girls' names come from? Give some examples.

3. What kind of words are boys' names borrowed from? Give some examples.

4. What did people begin to do when there got to be more and more people in the world and it became harder and harder to tell them apart?

5. How are some of the ways a man chose a last name? Give some examples.