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Page 3 of 5 < 1 2 3 4 5 > Topic Options #22911 - 03/19/01 09:11 AM Re: Common cognomens Geoff old hand Registered: 11/12/00 Posts: 819 Loc: Portland,Oregon, USA On an aside, and meaning no disrepect to anybody, would you call a short man who had the surname Martin a martinet? Well, at least you didn't suggest that he flies around your house catching insects. There is a bird of that name, after all. Top #22912 - 03/19/01 10:32 AM Re: Common cognomens wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 Dear Geoff: I was surprised to find that "martinet" is actually an eponym: mar[ti[net 7m9rt#‘n et$, m9rt4‘n et#8 n. 5after Gen. Jean Martinet, 17th-c. Fr drillmaster6 1 a very strict military disciplinarian 2 any very strict disciplinarian or stickler for rigid regulations Top #22913 - 03/19/01 12:19 PM Re: Common cognomens wow Carpal Tunnel Registered: 11/25/00 Posts: 3439 Loc: New England, USA You'll find chauvanist has an interesting history too. Nicolas Chauvin wow Top #22914 - 03/19/01 01:58 PM Re: Common cognomens of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park I think Johnson heads the list--if you include varients-- jonson, johnsen, etc. an other post suggested checking census data-- but in US, most of the lists came from US Army-- especially during WWII when a broad spectrum of US population was enlisted. Miller was up there too, (again, with varients. mueller, etc) I think it too was above Smith-- the most common italian name (in NYC) is Russo -- the italian "smith" of NY. According to US Army/WWII records-- griffin is #100 in the list of family names. _________________________ my other obsession Top #22915 - 03/19/01 02:11 PM Re: Common cognomens Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Registered: 08/12/00 Posts: 3409 Whoa, Max, not around here! I never heard of a single Quordlepleen (or a married one, either) in all of Louisville. Aah, that's because the family changed the spelling when they got close to the Mason-Dixon line. Round your way, my relatives go by the name "Y'alldepleen" Top #22916 - 03/19/01 04:26 PM Re: Common cognomens Jazzoctopus old hand Registered: 07/03/00 Posts: 1094 Loc: Cincinnati & Loveland, Ohio, U... Davis is a very common last name as well. It's of Welsh origin and I don't really see how it spread so much. Wales isn't very big. Top #22917 - 03/19/01 04:52 PM Re: Common cognomens wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 Surprising that there aren't more Farmers than Smiths. It must have taken a couple dozen farmers to support one smith. Top #22918 - 03/19/01 04:58 PM Re: Common cognomens of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park Well, jazz, sometimes its luck, or healthy genes--My ex can trace his family back to the mayflower-- One of his forefathers married a woman who came over on the mayflower as a child.. the forefathers name was long and hard to pronounce-- so it got changed in the 1640's to Sias-- all the Sias's in the US and Cananda are related to this man-- and there are thousands! (several book have been written-- "the Sias's in America" has several volumes! In my husbands branch-- His great grand father-- was a hard scabble NE farmer-- went to serve in Civil War-- was wounded, and served time in Andersonville prison-- survived that, return to northern NE-- North of Mount Washington-- at the time the northern most town in NH-- where he lived another 50 years-- and father 7 more children-- (for a total, i think of 13-- 12 of whom survived to adulthood! ) Them are good healthy genes! This was not a rich man-- and the climate he lived in made it hard to grow enough food to survive-- but he did, and his kids did-- and going back in history, you see he was typical for his family-- in most generation, more than 50%-- sometime 75% or more of the children survived to adulthood-- in large families of 10 to 13-- this makes a big difference! The Sias's are strong--(His grandmother lived to 103!) So it wouldn't take anything much but a one or two strong Davis males-- marrying some strong women (or going through two or three wifes!) to have a large family-- and soon creating a large population with the same name! _________________________ my other obsession Top #22919 - 03/20/01 02:41 AM Re: Common cognomens Capital Kiwi Carpal Tunnel Registered: 11/13/00 Posts: 3115 Loc: Northamptonshire, England Surprising that there aren't more Farmers than Smiths. It must have taken a couple dozen farmers to support one smith. Perhaps the Farmers just weren't as efficient at spreading their seed as the Smiths! [Ducking from the gutter police emoticon] ["Oooo, 'ullo, Jackie! Wot you doin' 'ere?" emoticon] ["Everybody gotta be somewhere" emoticon] Top #22920 - 03/20/01 05:17 AM Re: Common cognomens maverick Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/15/00 Posts: 4683 It's of Welsh origin I think that may be mistaken, Jazzo – the Anglo-Welsh form is Davies (Anglicised orthography of Dafydd, pronounced Da-veeth); I think Davis is of Jewish origin. Top Page 3 of 5 < 1 2 3 4 5 > Previous Topic Index Next Topic Preview Hop to: General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. 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