The odd-looking names _Oyster_ and _Oysterman_ in _Suffolk Surnames_ are probably the German names Oster and Ostermann (_oster_, orientalis) in an anglicised form, the marvellous power of assimilation possessed by the great Republic evincing itself, among other things, in the way in which it anglicises foreign names. Thus the name _Crumpecker_, placed by Bowditch among names from birds, is, we can hardly doubt, a corruption of a German Krumbacher, _i.e._ "a native of Krumbach," of which name there are several places in Germany. So also the ending _thaler_ in German names, from _thal_, valley, is changed into "dollar" as its supposed equivalent. Hence the Americans have _Milldolar, Barndollar_, and _Cashdollar_, corruptions of some such German names as Mühlthaler, Bernthaler, and Käsenthaler, signifying an inhabitant respectively of Mühlthal, of Bernthal, and of Käsenthal. It would seem as if a man coming to this new world, where everything around him is changed--presumably for the better--accepts it as, among other things, a part of the new dispensation, that whereas his name has hitherto been, say Käsenthaler, he shall henceforth answer to the name--perhaps not an inauspicious one--of Cashdollar. FOOTNOTES: [43] There is another name _Snodgrass_, which may be a similar corruption of Snodgast, from the stem _snod_, A.S. _snot_, wise. [44] This however is by no means certain, inasmuch as there is a stem _card_ or _gard_ from which it might be formed, though the corresponding ancient name has not turned up. On the other hand it is to be observed that _wealh_ is not one of the more common endings. [45] Pagan occurs as an A.S. name, (_Thorpe_, p. 648), and may probably be referred to _bagan_, to contend. _Cf._ also Pagingas among the early settlers. [46] According, no doubt, as the ancient name appeared as Thorgaut or Thorgaud. CHAPTER VII. THE OLD FRANKS AND THE PRESENT FRENCH. To any one who takes note of the large proportion of French Christian names which are of German origin, the question, one would think, might naturally suggest itself--If such be the case with Christian names, may it not also be the case with regard to surnames? The Christian names _Albert_, _Adolphe_, _Alfonse_, _Charles_, _Claude_, _Edouard_, _Edmonde_, _Ferdinand_, _Gerard_, _Henri_, _Louis_, _Philibert_, _Robert_, _Richarde_, _Rudolfe_, _Guillaume_, and the women's _Adèle_, _Clotilde_, _Louise_, _Mathilde_, _Hélöise_, and many others, serve to remind us that the French have come of the Franks. That the same holds good also of French surnames I have in a previous work endeavoured to prove in considerable detail, and I will not go over the ground again further than at the end of this chapter to present as an illustration of my views upon the subject one or two stems complete with their branches.