The Sheriff of Nottingham, Duke of Buckingham, Anne of Cleaves (or Green Gables) ... not their "real" names, but how we'd describe them in English.
Even in nicknames it's as usual to stick the place name on the front (Portland Bill, Pawatuxet Pete, London Jim).
In non-mobile England/Britain (Britain was "England" for a fair chunk of history, aside from the bits that were separate!) you were indeed "Jim the dogshaggercatcher" or "Ivor the Engine" as you were identified by your job within your community, which is possibly why wives were "Mrs. John Smith" as their role in society was as a wife to a man with a job. And this contracted to John Cooper, Bill Shakespear and so on.
The landed gentry were using titles and so were "Lord of Malmesbury" or "Laird of Kilcatholics" or "Duke of Bassey" and "Earl of Heinz", or even "John, 4th Earl of Greytea", as they were mobile and went to court or abroad, and so where they were from was important.
And the only time nowadays we commonly use "Dave from Birmingham" is in radio phone-ins!
I have no answers, just this posting has been very interesting and thought-provoking ... thank you!
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branchandroot
You're right!
Date: 2009-08-25 02:32 pm (UTC)The Sheriff of Nottingham, Duke of Buckingham, Anne of Cleaves (or Green Gables) ... not their "real" names, but how we'd describe them in English.
Even in nicknames it's as usual to stick the place name on the front (Portland Bill, Pawatuxet Pete, London Jim).
In non-mobile England/Britain (Britain was "England" for a fair chunk of history, aside from the bits that were separate!) you were indeed "Jim the dog
shaggercatcher" or "Ivor the Engine" as you were identified by your job within your community, which is possibly why wives were "Mrs. John Smith" as their role in society was as a wife to a man with a job. And this contracted to John Cooper, Bill Shakespear and so on.The landed gentry were using titles and so were "Lord of Malmesbury" or "Laird of Kilcatholics" or "Duke of Bassey" and "Earl of Heinz", or even "John, 4th Earl of Greytea", as they were mobile and went to court or abroad, and so where they were from was important.
And the only time nowadays we commonly use "Dave from Birmingham" is in radio phone-ins!
I have no answers, just this posting has been very interesting and thought-provoking ... thank you!