Many surnames have come down from nicknames given to people because of their good or bad qualities. This is the origin of names like _Wise_, _Gay_, _Hardy_, _Friend_, _Truman_, _Makepeace_, _Sweet_, etc. The people who have these names may well believe that the first of their ancestors who bore them was of a gentle and amiable disposition. Names like _Proud_, _Proudfoot_, _Proudman_, _Paillard_ (French for "lie-a-bed") show that the first people who had them were not so well liked, and were considered proud or lazy.
Another way of giving nicknames to people because of something noticeable in their character or appearance was to give them the name of some animal having this quality. The well-known name of _Oliphant_ comes from _elephant_, and was probably first given to some one very large, and perhaps a little ungraceful. _Bullock_ as a surname probably had the same sort of origin. The names _Falcon_, _Hawk_, _Buzzard_, must have been first given to people whose friends and neighbours saw some resemblance to the quickness or fierceness or sureness or some other quality of these birds in them. The names _Jay_, _Peacock_, and _Parrott_ point to showiness and pride and empty talkativeness.
A very great number of surnames are really only old Christian names either with or without an ending added to them. A very common form of surname is a Christian name with _son_ added to it. The first man who handed on the name _Wilson_ (or _Willson_, as it is still sometimes spelt) was himself the "son of Will." Any one can think of many names of this kind--_Williamson_, _Davidson_, _Adamson_, etc. Sometimes the founder of a family had taken his name from his mother. This was the origin of names like _Margerison_ ("Marjorie's son") and _Alison_ ("Alice's son"). This was a very common way of inventing surnames.
The Norman _Fitz_ meant "son of," and the numerous names beginning with _Fitz_ have this origin. _Fitzpatrick_ originally meant the "son of Patrick," _Fitzstephen_ the "son of Stephen," and so on. The Irish prefix _O'_ has the same meaning. The ancestor of all the O'Neills was himself the son of _Neill_. The Scandinavian _Nillson_ is really the same name, though it sounds so different. The Scotch _Mac_ has the same meaning, and so have the Welsh words _map_, _mab_, _ap_, and _ab_.
