element ceosol ‘gravel, shingle.’ He had rejected along the way a number of other possibile names, such as Sweezleden, Sweezleback, Sweezlewag, Chuzzletoe, Chuzzleboy, Chubblewig and Chuzzlewig. In the novel occurs the passage: ‘Then Martin is your Christian name?’ said Mr Pinch thoughtfully. ‘Of course it is,’ returned his friend: ‘I wish it was my surname, for my own is not a pretty one, and it takes a long time to sign. Chuzzlewit is my name.’
There is also a discussion in the novel about the family’s history. Toby Chuzzlewit is asked ‘Who was your grandfather?’ to which he replies ‘The Lord No Zoo.’ This is offered as proof that the family is connected to ‘some unknown noble and illustrious House.’
Clapham (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the places so-named because it was a ‘homestead on or near a hillock.’
Clark, Clarke, Clarkin, Clarkson, Clarkstone, Clarson, Clerk, Clerke (Eng) Occupational name of a man, usually a member of a minor religious order who had not taken vows of celibacy and was therefore able to marry, who performed secretarial duties. Later the name came to mean any literate man (in a period when most people, at all levels of society, could neither read nor write). Many of the clerics or clerks, as we would now call them, were in fact only semi-literate by modern standards, often employing their own idiosyncratic spelling systems. Nevertheless, the frequency with which the name now occurs shows that it had high status and was borne proudly as a family name. Some compound names contain ‘clerk’ as an element. BEAUCLERK is a Norman name that describes a ‘handsome cleric’ or one who had especially good handwriting. BUNCLARK was a bon clerc ‘good priest.’ MAUCLERC, by contrast, (also recorded as MANCLARK and MOCKLER) was a ‘bad priest or clerk.’
Andrea Newman, in An Evil Streak, writes: ‘Christopher Clark – the very name has a fine solid English ring to it. Lacking the affectation of a final ‘e,’ it suggests the courage of its own convictions. Insert the prefix ‘Dr’ and you have a pillar of society, the dependable middle-class professional man, dedicated to doing good and making money, and seeing no contradiction between the two.’
A curiosity about the name Clark is that it appears in correct sequence in the Periodic Table. Elements 17–19 inclusive are Cl (chlorine) Ar (argon) and K (potassium). See DUCK.
Clay, Claye, Clayer, Clayman (Eng) Occupational name for someone who worked in a claypit.
Claybrook, Claybrooke (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from the Leicestershire place, so-named because of its ‘clayey brook.’
Claydon, Clayden (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the many places so-named because it was on a ‘clayey hill.’
Claye, Clayer, Clayman see CLAY.
Claypole, Claypool (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from the Lincolnshire place, so-named because of its ‘clayey pool.’
Clayton (Eng) Someone who came from one of the several places so-named because it was a ‘settlement on clayey soil.’
John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, is otherwise known as Tarzan in the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Clement, Clemans, Clemence, Clemens, Clemenson, Clements, Clementson, Clemerson, Cleminson, Clemm, Clemmans, Clemmens, Clemmett, Clemmey, Clemmitt, Clemmow, Clemons, Clemonts, Clempson, Clemson, Climance, Climey, Climpson, Clyma, Clymer (Eng) Descendant of Clement, from a Latin word meaning ‘merciful.’ The name is mentioned only once in the Bible, but it was the name of an early saint and several popes.
Clerke, Clerke see CLARK.
Clifton (Eng) Someone who came from one of the several places so-named because it was a ‘settlement on a hill slope.’
Climance, Climey, Climpson see CLEMENT.
Clocksmith see SMITH.
Clog (Eng) Occupational name of a clog-maker. Names like PATTEN and PATTIN belong here, pattens being a kind of clog worn especially by ecclesiastics.
Clout, Clouter, Cloutman, Cloutt (Eng) Occupational name of someone who used ‘clouts’ or ‘patches’ to repair holes in clothes or utensils.
Clyma, Clymer see CLEMENT.
Cobham (Eng) Descendant of someone who originally came from one of the places so-named because it was ‘Cobba’s or Coffa’s homestead.’
Cock, Cockarill, Cockerell, Cockerill, Cocking, Cocklin, Cockling, Cockrell, Cockrill, Cocks, Cox, Coxe, Coxen, Coxon (Eng) Comparing a young man to a cockerel gave rise to one of the commonest nicknames in medieval times. We might still say that such a person was acting in a ‘cocky’ way. A cock was also much used as a house sign in the days when most people were illiterate, and the numbering of houses was not yet usual. Cock could therefore refer to someone who lived ‘at the sign of the Cock.’ In words like ‘haycock,’ cock means a ‘heap, small hill.’ The word in this sense could have been used as a nickname for a fat man. The fact that there is a type of small ship’s boat called a ‘cock’ means that the name could have referred to someone who was professionally involved with it. Other possible derivations are from a ‘cook,’ or from Welsh coch ‘red,’ or from an Old English personal name Cocca, the meaning of which might be almost any of the above. It is almost impossible, clearly, to say that a family bearing a form of this name derives it from a particular source. One meaning which is not possible is ‘penis,’ since cock only acquired this slang meaning long after the surname-formation period.
Basil Cottle mentions the Coxe spelling only to say that it is ‘very rare and affected.’
Thackeray had long before commented, in Cox’s Diary: ‘Mr Coxe Coxe (that’s the way, double your name, and stick an “e” to the end of it, and you are a gentleman at once). ‘
Codner, Corden, Cordner, Cordon, Cordwent, Corwin (Eng) Occupational name of a ‘cordwainer,’ a leather-worker who took his name from the Spanish town of Corduba, where the leather was made from tanned goat-skins. In the Middle Ages he would have been employed by the wealthy to make shoes.
Cohen, Coen, Cohan, Cohn (Jewish) From Hebrew kohen ‘priest.’
Cointance see QUAINTANCE.
Colcock see NICHOLAS.
Coldtart see COLT.
Cole see NICHOLAS.
Coleman, Colman, Coulman (Eng, Irish) Irish families of this name had an ancestor named Colmán, a diminutive form of Columb, from Latin columba ‘dove.’ The name was very popular in the Ireland of the Middle Ages, thanks to various saints named either Columba or Columban. In an English context the name refers to the occupation of a charcoal burner, or to the servant of a man named Cole.
Colin, Colkin, Coll, Collard, Colle, Collens, Collerson, Collet, Collete, Collett see NICHOLAS.
Collar, Colleer, Coller see COLLIER.
Colley,
