Nicknames from Animals, Birds and Fishes

SOME names of animals and birds are still used as more or less offensive descriptions of people, as goat, pig and goose; duck is often affectionate and in some parts of the country has become a common term of address. All are long-established surnames and may have been used at times with a similar meaning, but the interpretation of these nicknames often presents difficulties. They frequently appear in such forms as William le gat 1139, Richard le Pyge 1327 SRSa, Hugh le Gos 1227, clearly nicknames ascribing to the individual the possession of some quality characteristic of the animal or bird. But, like Palfrey, 1 they may be occupational, Goate metonymic for Goater and Goatman ‘goat-herd’, Pigge for the obsolete (Robert) Pighurde 1332 SRSx, and Goose for Gooseman or Gossard ‘goose-herd’. Even when the nickname origin is certain, more than one meaning may be possible. Hare may denote either speed or timidity. Harald Harefoot, the son of Godwin, owed his nickname to his fleetness of foot ‘for he was a good runner’, but already in the fourteenth century the timidity of the hare could be contrasted with the boldness of the lion: ‘liouns in halle, and hares in the feld’ (c1325 NED). Many of these nicknames, too, have other origins: Goate may be local, Peter atte Gote 1327, ‘dweller by the water-course or sluice’; Lamb, sometimes a nickname, Roger le Lamb 1279, may be a personal-name, Lamb dispensator 1161, a short form of Lambert, or a sign-name, William atte Lamme 1320.