By Brian W. Hutchison

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Romeo and Juliet (1595), by William Shakespeare.

What’s In a Name? – This is included in one of the most widely quoted phrases in English. Every casual writer about names feels that he must use the phrase at least once in his article if, indeed, he does not make it the title of his sketch. Shakespeare’s assertion has had an influence on the thinking of many – that names really do not matter. Most of us are interested in names and how their origins derived. Surnames are fossilized echoes of ancient voices of ancestors singling out each other in fields, castles, manor halls, monasteries, and medieval villages.