Blair Collection > Surnames & place-names of the Isle of Man

INTRODUCTION.
It is now generalty recognised that the study of
personal nomenclature occupies an important place
amongst the subsidiary sources of historical illustra-
tion. In modern Europe it is to the surnames rather
than to what we call the Christian names that this
illustrative value principally belongs. A complete and
accurate account of the family nomenclature of any
European country — an account including the etymology
of each individual surname, and the locality and ap-
proximate date of its first appearance — would tell us
not a little respecting the ethnological elements exist-
ing in the population of the country, the proportions in
wliich these elements were represented in different
districts, and the habits and occupations of the in-
habitants during the period in which surnames came
into existence. In the case of any of the larger
countries of Europe, however, it is scarcely necessary
to state that no complete history of family names has
ever been written ; indeed, we may venture to regard
the accomplishment of such a task as an impossibility.
Many writers have attempted to treat partially of the