ORIGINS: Labor and deLivery

Family names are interesting because they can say everything about us, or nothing at all. When they say nothing, it’s usually because the meaning has been lost over time. While watching an English drama (Downton Abbey, quel surprise) that featured the importance of a servant’s livery, I realized that I had no idea what that term meant outside of a horse’s tack and bridle. So in looking up the word “livery” it led me to a new understanding of English surnames and where they originated.

“Livery” is derived from the Latin word “to deliver”. In the feudal system, the landowner was your master, and it was his responsibility to see to the welfare of the people who worked his land, defended it, and served in his household. The “delivery” according to the Oxford Dictionary was in the landlord’s “dispensing of food, provisions, and clothing” as well as an “allowance of provender” for his horse. As such, the people of a household wore a uniform to denote who their master was and what they did for him— to keep them apart, like teams. So when you see Shakespearean actors walking about in colorful leotards, there is an historical reason for it, and is not simply to provide more spectacle on stage. Your livery told everyone that your master saw to all of your needs including the clothes on your back, and what your role was in obedience to him, and that you were sworn to defend his honor when you went out into public. These are heavy responsibilities on both sides.

Tybalt, Romeo and Mercutio in garb separating them even in death
from Romeo & Juliet, Cape Town City Ballet, 1975

But before this time of formally delineated identities and allegiances, Old English family names often came from nature, in Gaelic, Welsh, or Celtic words that were not in the Romanized Brittanic lingua franca, and fell out of widespread use. The surnames identified a person as being part of a clan that came from a specific area. That area might have a prominent natural feature that became central to how others referred to this clan, such as a rocky outcropping or crag (Craig) or a clearing in a forest (ley) of ash trees (Ashley). If a group of people had generally sworn their allegiance to a local clan originated by a man with a red beard, then his appellation became theirs, regardless of their own hair color or gender. If they are a descendant from a leader named Donald (from the Gaelic, meaning “world ruler”), then they are a Mac or an O’ or a Donaldson.

Tartan from Clan MacBeth, meaning "son of life"

We’ll come back to these location, land formation, or ancestral origin names again. But since it is Labor Day, we will explore the names that refer to one’s work.

See Part 2