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I was wondering (and this may sound really dumb), but how did names come to have different variations? Was it just for distinction between different people or what?
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I think that's the case today - rather than think up an original or classic name, people take one that's fashionable - like McKenzie for a girl - and fiddle with the spelling so it comes out Macenzee or something.
But centuries ago people first of all weren't literate mostly and secondly lived in amazingly small communities. The local priest would write the chosen name down, and his education was sometimes unreliable so the spelling could be odd, and he'd also often use the Latin form like Philippus when the parents would only ever call the child Philip or Phil or Pip. So there were very few names in circulation, and the written forms didn't always match the spoken ones. You can see that after a couple of centuries there could be a lot of variation within the same language.
But centuries ago people first of all weren't literate mostly and secondly lived in amazingly small communities. The local priest would write the chosen name down, and his education was sometimes unreliable so the spelling could be odd, and he'd also often use the Latin form like Philippus when the parents would only ever call the child Philip or Phil or Pip. So there were very few names in circulation, and the written forms didn't always match the spoken ones. You can see that after a couple of centuries there could be a lot of variation within the same language.
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And there were also dialectic differences plus language "shifts": i.e. Old English -> Middle English -> Modern English or Old Latin -> Classical Latin -> (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romansch [?]) or the amalgamation of the over 550 (give or take a language) of American Indian languages that were once spoken in North and Central America.
Even within languages (for instance English), there are quite a few dialectic differences (Queen's English, Cockney, Australian, Newfoundlander, Scottish Lowlander, Scottish Highlander, Midwestern American, Boston Brahman, New York City, "Hillbilly", I could just go ON [:rolleyes: while throwing up hands in defeat].) And I believe India has 40 different languages and over 400 dialects! :passes out:
Phyllis (aka Sidhe Uaine or Gaia Euphoria)
Even within languages (for instance English), there are quite a few dialectic differences (Queen's English, Cockney, Australian, Newfoundlander, Scottish Lowlander, Scottish Highlander, Midwestern American, Boston Brahman, New York City, "Hillbilly", I could just go ON [:rolleyes: while throwing up hands in defeat].) And I believe India has 40 different languages and over 400 dialects! :passes out:
Phyllis (aka Sidhe Uaine or Gaia Euphoria)
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Yes, and people have also imported names throughout the times. New names have sounded exotic & interesting, even though people have not always been able to pronounce or spell them correctly, especially if the names were foreign (saints' names, for example). Also, not all languages have the same vowel and consonant sounds, so there's bound to be some variation somewhere along the way. For example, the "th" sound in Katherine is difficult in some parts of the world, so it is replaced by "t" (as in Katarina, Katarzyna, Ekaterina &c.).
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And I read somewhere credible that there are 60,000 first names and legitimate variations (not invented in some trailer park, housing project, or on the Dubya Bee) throughout the world, so this site, as bountiful as it is, would contain less than 20% of them!
- Da.
- Da.
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