Names

The study of names is called onomastics, a field which looks at linguistics, history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, philology and other obscure things. 

A first name, or given name, identifies a specific person, differentiating them from other members of a group, such as a family or clan, with whom that person shares a common surname. The name is 'given' to a person, generally at or around the time of birth, and usually by the parents.

Surnames are a hereditary name common to all members of a family. As Ancestry states: ‘Your last name gives you a sense of identify and helps you discover who you are and where you come from.’

All names have meaning: all first names and all surnames. In Western Society we don't generally get to choose our surname, and most people wouldn't even consider changing their name because of the meaning. First names are slightly different, and the amount of 'baby names and their meanings' books available would attest to that. I'm not sure that we actually chose the names of our children based on their meaning, but we certainly looked into the meaning of the names we chose.

So I’m not sure that my 'examining' the names of our ancestors is really all that informative, but it is fun!