For years many people all over the world have gone miles to trace the origin of their names especially surnames, because they just cannot understand the logic behind the names that were inherited from their fathers. I can think of many names that would have cause tremendous laughter at school for many people. I am thinking of 'John Crowe' and Gethin. To many Jamaicans such surnames are overly disliked based on the fact that we seem to have attached our own interpretations to these names.

Names to laugh at

There are some other names like Cockshot, Gotobed, Deaths, Balls and Schufflebottom that would create great laughter in days gone by, especially at high school. However, one of the things that we have noticed is that some of these names are less popular than in previous years. I was recently reading a report which stated that there had been a 70 per cent drop in the number of people with the name 'Smellie' since 1881. The rationale for this, according to the report, was that many people might have changed their names because it had left them with too many uncomfortable experiences.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how Schufflebottom or Cockshot came about. I just cannot see the logic behind these names, because of their original meaning in English. I would love to know the history behind some of these famous old names. We should, however, note that the meaning of some words in old English is totally different from new English.

My understanding is that 'Daft' in old English was used to describe someone who was mild or meek. In today's English, the same word means stupid or foolish. Hence, that is where our answer lies. People have changed some of these names because they have completely different meanings today than in past centuries. I wonder if the present generation is as concerned with their names or is this no longer of any significance?

I am, etc.,

CRAIG DAVIS

ccraig73@yahoo.com