Volume 14 , Issue 26

Highland, Virginia - Given Names & Surnames

We find in the History of Highland County, Virginia that nearly all the pioneers of Highland were adherents of the Presbyterian or of the Reformed Church. They were zealous Protestants. In naming their boys and girls parents showed a marked preference for names taken from the bible. We find a host of men named Andrew, Jared or Samuel, and a host of women with such names as Anna, Elizabeth, and Martha. Other names, such as Christian, paschal, Valentine and Sophia, are associated with church history.

We also find certain non-biblical names that had been used from time both the British Isles and Germany. Among these were Edward, Frederick, George, William Catharine, Jane and Margaret. Conrad was more distinctly a German name, while Robert was Norman-French. Alexander comes from the Greek language, was a characteristic name among the Scotch, as patrick was among the Irish, and Evan among the Welsh. There was a strong influence of classical study in colonial days that led to such names as Alcinus, Euphemia and Lucinda.

Feminine names were not generally taken front he bible, because biblical personages were more often men than women. Among other scriptural names in great favor were Delilah, Esther, Magadalena, Mary, Rebecca, Sarah and Susanna.

We find a lot of names in common use were the names of grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts that were given to the children, perpetuated from generation to generation, so that sometimes it was/is almost possible to trace aline of descent through the preferences in given names.

Until within a century past, a middle name was seldom employed. When it did occur, it was most generally written in full. Among the Germans, the double name was usually a compound of two given names, while among the English speaking people it was more commonly the entire name of some other person. Our ancestors were much inclined to put the two halves of the name on an equality and not to reduce the middle name to a mere initial.

Also, as the annals of Highland progressed, some of the names in use point to facts in national or state history. Later on the names preferred were very suggestive of certain tendencies of the times.

We find that the initials "G.W." pointed almost unerringly to the Father of his country, while the initials "T.J." and "A.J." pointed with well-nigh equal certainty to Thomas jefferson and Andrew jackson, the two heroes of American Democracy. The initials "R. L." reminds us of the great military leader of the Confederacy. Then there is the beginning notice "H.C." for Henry Clay, where there is little doubt as to the political creed of the parent who bestowed the name, just as the initials of "J.W." were the chances that the parents were followers of John Wesley.

We also found that because of state pride, girls were named Virginia. The names very common in one county may be very rare in another, though. Loftus, originally a surname, was an heirloom in the Pullin family. McBride, in the Gum family, relates to a resident of Hardy with whom the pioneer Gum has business dealings. Peachy, as a given name, appeared to have its origin in the upper Shenandoah Valley.

As to surnames, formerly there was no recognized standard in the spelling of English. Each person was a law to himself. The same name would be spelled in different ways, partly because of personal whims and partly because of individual peculiarities of pronunciation. Some of these variations would acquire a fixed standing and pass current as entirely distinct names. Thus they had in Highland the forms Kincaid and Kinkead. Rexroad in Pendleton became Rexrode in Highland. bodkin had become Botkin apparently through the German mode of pronunciation. Careless or slovenly pronunciation accounts for some variations.

A German or French name, , coming from a foreign tongue with its strange sounds, was almost sure to undergo some change in pronunciation in order to accommodate itself tot he English ear. This often lead to a change in the spelling. HULL for HOHL and SIMMONS for SIEMAN were instances in point. Sometimes the foreign name had been turned into its English equivalent, as when AUGE became EYE and WEISS became WHITE. AS to Highland, we there is no doubt that BYRD is English, that Douglas is Scotch, that Jones is Welsh, that Mauzy is French, that Swecker is German, that Vandevander is Dutch, and that Maloy is Irish.

Scotch Names

Alexander, Armstrong, Beather, Black, Briscoe, Callahan, Campbell, Carlile (Carlisle), Cunningham, Curry, Dinwiddie (Dunwoody), Douglas, Duffield, Ervine (Erwin), Estill, Fisher, Gall, Gibson, Gilmer, Graham (Grimes), Hansel, Helms, Hicklin, Hickman, Hook (Hooke), Jack, Jackson, Janes, Johnson, Jordan, Kinkead (Kincaid), Killingsworth, Lamb, Lewis, Lockridge, Lunsford, Malcomb, McClung, McCoy, McCrea (McCray), McGlaughlin, McNulty Middleton, Miller, Moore, Naigley, Peebles, Pullen (Pullin), Ralston, Redmond, Revercomb, Roby, Ruckman, Samples, Shumate, Sitlington ,Smallridge, Stephenson, Steuart, Strathy, Summers (Sommers), Tharp, Trimble, Vance, Wiley, Whistleman, Whitelaw, Will, Wilson, Wooddell.

English

Benson, Beverage, Bishop, Bradshaw, Brown, Carroll, Chestnut, Chew, Cobb, Corbett, Hicks, Hodge, Holcomb, Marshall, Masters, may, Morton, Oakes, Ryder (Rider), Rymer, Terry, Townsend, Wade, Woods.

Irish

Corrigan, Doyle, Griffin, Houlihan, Kelly, Lowrey, Maloy.

Welsh

Blagg, Davis, Gwin (Gwynn), Johns, Jones, Price, Rogers.

Dutch

Vandevander, Wees.

Italian

Brown (Bruno)

French

Bussard (Boissard [Bwas-sar]), Dever (Devier [Duh-vee]), Devericks (Devereux [Duh-ver-uh]), Matheny (Mathenee [Mah-tay-nay]), Mauzy [Mo-zee], Mullenax (Molyneux [Mull-le-nuh]).

German

Arbogast (Armenkast), Bird - Vogel (Fo-gel), Burner, Colaw (Kohler [Co-ler]), Deihl [Dile}, Eagle (Eakle), Evick Wig [Ayvick] Ever, Fleisher Fleischer (Fli-sher) Flesher or Fletcher, Fox (Folks) Fuchs (Fooks), Gum Gumm (Goom), Halterman Haldemann, Herring Hering, Hevener Hefner, Hidy Heide (Hi-deh), Hinegarner heingartner, Hiner Heiner (Hi-ner), Hull Hohl (Hole), Keister keister or Geyster (Ki-ster or Gi-ster), kramer Kraemer (Kra-mer), lantz lentz, Life Leif (Life), Lightner Lichtner (Liht-ner), Michael, newman Neumann (Noi-man New Man),Nicholas, Peck, Peninger, Rusmisell, Seig, Seiver, Seybert (Sivers) Seifert (Si-fert), Shaffer (Shaffier) Schaefer (Shafer) Shepherd, Shinneberger, Sipe Seip (Sipe), Siple Seipel (Si-pel), Siron, Snyder Schneider (Shni-der) Taylor, Sullenberger, Swecker Schwecker (Shveck-er), Swope Schwoop (Shvope), Wagoner Wagner (Vack-ner) Wagoner, Waybright (Winebright) Weinbrecht Bright Wine, White Weiss (Vise) White, Yeager Jaeger (Yay-ger) Hunter, Zickafoose Zwickenfus (Zvick-en-foos) Crippled Foot.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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