The names of families and individuals enter largely into the composition of local names. They may be easily discovered by the particle ING before HAM, TON, HALL, &c. Thus BIRMING-ham was originally the home of the BEORMINGAS, the descendants of Beorm; BALDING-ham of the BAEDLINGAS; BUCKING-ham of the BUCINGAS; LITTLING-ton was originally the enclosed residence of the LYTHINGAS; ELVING-ton of the ELFINGAS, and KILLING-hall the fortified residence of the CYLINGAS. Professors Leo and Kemble have thrown much light on this subject; the latter writer has furnished us with a valuable list of these family names in his _Saxons in England_. The following extract from the pen of Mr. Wright will be of some service to the students of names:— The family or clan did not always take its name from the chief who obtained the allotment of land; it was often but a branch of a much older family in the land from which the settlement came. Hence we find patronymics in distant parts of England, which would seem to indicate that different members of the same original family had joined in various separate expeditions to Britain; and it is still more curious that this identity of name is found in districts peopled severally by the different races, Angles, Saxons, or Jutes. This admits of two explanations; it shows the close relationship between the three races themselves, and it proves, probably, that when a great chieftain of one race, an Angle, for instance, planned an expedition to Britain, subordinate leaders from the other Saxons, Jutes, or others, were ready to enlist among his followers. Thus we find the BILLINGAS at BILLING-ham in Durham, at BILLING-ley in Yorkshire, at BILLING-hay in Lincolnshire, at BILLING-ton in the counties of Bedford, Stafford, and Lancaster, as well as at other places, all within the district occupied by the Angles. We find a settlement of the same family at BILLING-hurst, in Sussex, and some of them appear to have established themselves in the outskirts of London, and to have given name to BILLINGS-gate. (There was a family of BILLUNG on the Continent; and Hermann Billung was invested with the Duchy of Saxony by Otto I. In 1106 the male line of this house became extinct on the death of the last Billung, Duke Magnus, who left two daughters, Eilike and Wulfhild; Wulfhild was married to Henry of Bavaria, surnamed the Black, a descendant of the Guelph family.) The BOSINGAS are found at BOSING-ham in Kent, and again at the two BOSSINGTONS in Hampshire and Somerset.