According to the various historical documents I was leafing through yesterday, surnames originally designated a person’s occupation. They also may have described a particular event that related to that person. For instance, John the blacksmith came to be known as John Smith. Or, Michael Little would be so named because he was small in stature. Tom Underhill lived at the bottom of the hill. Jim Baker was a baker… and so on.
Really makes you wonder what was going on in the Dickinson clan way back when.
On a similar note, have you heard of the guy from Illinois who was granted to have his name changed to “In God” (first name) “We Trust” (last name)?
I do recall something about that.
Hehe…reminds me of a kid I went to grade school with…Richard Whipper….someone’s parents need to be beaten…badly.
Heywood is a neat name….depending on who he’s introducing himself to. He might get a surprising affirmative from a questionable “new friend”.
That’s gotta be a paper from Alabama 😉
I asked Mike Hunt about it and he remembered a fellow who called his self WOrld B. Free. Now that is funny.
Efen – Yes, yes they do.
ETW – Heywood is neat. But when you couple that with Jablome, well, your just asking for trouble…(or fun!)
Slick – I have no idea
Mal – I was talking to I.P. Freely, and he was telling me of a guy he knows named Peter Dragon.