The Romance of Names. Ernest Weekley

Johannis Nigelli. Johnson, Jones, Jennings, etc. The derivatives of John are numerous and not to be distinguished from those of Joan, Jane (Chapter X).

      The above lists illustrate all the simpler ways in which surnames could be formed. At the time of compilation they were not hereditary. Thus the last man on the list is Simon Johnson, but his father was John Neilson, or Nelson (Chapter X), and his son would be—Simpson, Sims, etc. This would go on until, at a period varying with the locality, the wealth and importance of the individual, one name in the line would become accidentally petrified and persist to the present day. The chain could, of course, be broken at any time by the assumption of a name from one of the other three classes (Chapter I).

CHAPTER III SPELLING AND SOUND

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