Curiosities of Puritan NomenclatureBardsley, Charles Wareing Endell
History
Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature
Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell
Names, Personal -- English
The zealots of Elizabeth's later days began to weary of names that merely
made household words of the apostolic virtues. Many of these sobriquets
had become popular among the unthinking and careless. They began to stamp
their offspring with exhortatory sentences, pious ejaculations, brief
professions of godly sorrow for sin, or exclamations of praise for mercies
received. I am bound to confess, however, that the prevailing tone of
these names is rather contradictory of the picture of gloomy sourness
drawn by the facile pens of Macaulay and Walter Scott. 'Tis true, Anger
and Wrath existed:
"1654. Wroth Rogers to be placed on the Commission of Scandalous
Ministers."--Scobell's "Acts and Ord. Parl.," 1658.
"1680, Dec. 22. Buried Anger Bull, packer."--St. Dionis Backchurch.
I dare say he was familiarly termed Angry Bull, like "Savage Bear," a
gentleman of Kent who was living at the same time, mentioned elsewhere in
these pages. Nevertheless, in the exhortatory names there is a general air
of cheerful assurance.
The most celebrated name of this class is Praise-God Barebone. I cannot
find his baptismal entry. A collection of verses was compiled by one
Fear-God Barbon, of Daventry (Harleian M.S. 7332). This cannot have been
his father, as we have evidence that the leatherseller was born about
1596, and, allowing his parent to be anything over twenty, the date would
be too early for exhortatory names like Fear-God. We may presume,
therefore, he was a brother. Two other brothers are said to have been
entitled respectively, "Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save
Barebone," and "If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned
Barebone." I say "entitled," for I doubt whether either received such a
long string of words in baptism. Brook, in his "History of the Puritans,"
implies they were; Hume says that both were _adopted_ names, and adds, in
regard to the latter, that his acquaintance were so wearied with its
length, that they styled him by the last word as "Damned Barebone." The
editor of _Notes and Queries_ (March 15, 1862) says that, "as his morals
were not of the best," this abbreviated form "appeared to suit him better
than his entire baptismal prefix." Whether the title was given at the font
or adopted, there is no doubt that he was familiarly known as Dr. Damned
Barebone. This was more curt than courteous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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