At first sight there appears to be general recognition of the importance of names because so much has been written about them. Eldson C. Smith, in his excellent bibliography of works on personal names listed nearly 3500 books and articles. That was in 1952, and he extends the list with newly published works and new ‘discoveries’ every year in Names, the journal of the American Name Society. Geographical names have also received an enormous amount of attention, but there the matter virtually ends. It is possible to find the occasional books that deal with place names but they are relatively few and far between. What is serious about the situation is that statements about names, by writers on language and similar topics, invariably refer to personal and place names only or pay the merest lip-service to the existence of other nomenclatures. The position is thus very similar to the one that pertained 400 years ago in language studies, when it was only considered necessary to study seriously a handful of the world’s languages. It was assumed that all other languages followed the same pattern as those few, and then minor languages such as English were forced into a mould which was itself based on a misunderstanding [1, p. 16]. How did the older names come into being? We can usefully establish several different categories: the names began either as descriptions, or converted phrases, or they were inventions. They were formed by linking in some way to an existing name, or they were transferred from another naming system. Let us look at each of those categories in turn and consider some examples: DESCRIPTIVE NAMES include generic descriptions such as Charles, ‘a man’, Thomas, ‘a twin’, and direct descriptions such as Adam, ‘of red complexion’. Activity descriptions occur, such as George, ‘a farmer’, as do provenance descriptions: Francis, ‘Frenchman’. Sequential description led to names like Septimus, ‘seventh’. Many names may have been either morally descriptive-Agnes, ‘pure’, Agatha, ‘good’-or were commendatory conversions. CONVERTED NAMES include those which seem to have reflected parental reaction to the birth. Abigail, ‘father rejoiced’, is an intance, as are Benedict, ‘blessed’, Amy, ‘loved’. INVENTED NAMES have often been introduced by writers. They include Fiona, Lorna, Mavis, Miranda, Pamela, Thelma, Vanessa, Wendy. LINK NAMES were frequently formed with Yahweh as an element, as in John, Joan, Joseph and many others. TRANSFERRED NAMES have often been surnames which were themselves transferred place names. Examples are Clifford, Graham, Keith, Leslie, Percy [2, p. 25]. Name usage these days is generally simple, while during the last thousands of years, several distinct first-name periods have occurred. The names that were formed were meant to individualize their bearers, and duplication was avoided. This was partly because a name was felt to contain a person’s spirit. These first name-periods were divided into: Norman Names (with names like Alan, Oliver, Richard, Constance and Emma), Christian names (The protestants turned away from Catholic names such as Mary. Preferring names from the Old Testament such as Aaron, Samuel or Adam), Flower names (appeared at the end of the 19th century: Rose, Lily, Ivy and Violet) and other name-groups of names (such as jewel names – Pearl, Ruby; modern names like Vikki, Mandi, Carolyn, appear in the 1930s). Similar groups of names which do not link with a particular period, are animal names (Leo, Leonard – lion; Orson, Ursula – bear; Deborah, Melissa – bee; Arnold – eagle), and colour names (Candida, Blanche, Bianca – white; Roy, Russell, Ginger – red; Electra, Amber – amber, Boyd, Flavia – yellow, Aurelia – gold; Melanie – black; Douglas – blue) [3, p.43]. The study of the origin of family names is at the same time quite simple and very difficult. Its simplicity consists in the fact that surnames can only come into existence in certain well understood ways. Its difficulty is due to the extraordinary perversions which names undergo in common speech, to the orthographic uncertainty of our ancestors, to the frequent coalescence of two or more names of quite different origin, and to the multitudinous forms which one single name can assume. There was a time when no one had a hereditary surname. The Norman Conquest of 1066 is a convenient point at which we can note the appearance of the first family names, but the Normans certainly did not have a fully developed surname system. Our remote ancestors had single personal names distinguishably by the place of living. There is quite enough legitimate cause for wonderment in the fact that Tyas is letter for letter the same name as Douch, or that strange ways, from a district in Manchester which, lying between the Irwell and the Irk, was formerly subject to floods, is etymologically strong-wash [3, p.52]. Many names are susceptible of two or more explanations. This is especially true of some of our commonest monosyllabic surnames. Bell may be from Anglo-Fr. Le bel (beau), or from a stop sign, or from residence near the church or town bell. Finally, the ancestor may have been a lady called Isabel. The name may also be personal, Anglo-Sax. Bealheard. Bowe may be local, from residence in a row, or it may be an accidental spelling of the nickname Roe, which also survives in the mid, English form Ray. In a very large number of cases there is a considerable choice for the modern bearer of a name. Any Boon or Bone who wishes to assert the provenience of high blood can claim descent from de Bohun. Dance for Dans, and Pearce for Piers. Swain may go back to the father of Canute, who possible tended the swine. But any Goss or Gossett, unwilling to trace his family back to John Goose, may choose the French Josse Gosse. Some Old English personal names have survived as surnames. Edrrich for example, contained the elements of ead and ric, the first meaning ‘prosperity’ or ‘happiness’, the second indicating ‘power’ or ‘rule’. This may well have come about because the mother’s name contained ead (in a name like Edith) and the father’s name ric (in a name like kenrick). Such names most often have been blended simply in order to show parentage. In their modern forms, many elements have more than one possible origin. For example: Darwin dear-friend, Frewer free-shelter, Lemmer people/dear-famous, Youngmay young-servant [4, p.70]. There exist many interpretations about the origin of surnames and our opinion is that no one has the right to change its family name at least from respect to the ancestors. The Romanian Academic Iorgu Iordan considers toponymy to be “a nation’s unwritten history, a real archive that keeps the memory of many events, occurrences and deeds, more or less old or important; actions that took place during decades somehow left a stamp over the popular spirit. To combat this sort of confusion, scholars of English place names collect as many early forms of a name as possible and analyze them in the light of their knowledge of language and dialect, grammar, pronunciation, topography, sound shifts and other relevant factors. Although the generally available dictionaries on the subject may cite anywhere from one to a dozen dated forms for each entry, place name scholars may actually assemble a few dozen to a few thousand examples of early spellings of a name before coming to any conclusions.