Jack Pudding is in German Hans Wurst,
John Sausage. Only the very commonest names are used in this way,
and, if we had no further evidence, the rustic Dicky bird, Robin
redbreast, Hob goblin, Tom tit, Will o' the Wisp, Jack o' lantern,
etc., would tell us which have been in the past the most popular
English font-names. During the Middle Ages there was a kind of race
among half a dozen favourite names, the prevailing order being John,
William, Thomas, Richard, Robert, with perhaps Hugh as sixth.

Now, for each of these there is a reason. John, a favourite name in
so many languages (Jean, Johann, Giovanni, Juan, Ian, Ivan, etc.), as
the name of the Baptist and of the favoured disciple, defied even the
unpopularity of our one King of that name. The special circumstances
attending the birth and naming of the Baptist probably supplied the
chief factor in its triumph.

For some time after the Conquest William led easily. We usually
adopted the W- form from the north-east of France, but Guillaume has
also supplied a large number of surnames in Gil-, which have got
inextricably mixed up with those derived from Gilbert, Gillian
(Juliana), and Giles. Gilman represents the French dim. Guillemin,
the local-looking Gilliam is simply Guillaume, and Wilmot corresponds
to Fr. Guillemot.

The doubting disciple held a very insignificant place until the shrine
of St. Thomas of Canterbury became one of the holy places of
Christendom. To Thomas belong Macey, Massie, and Masson, dims. of
French aphetic forms, but the first two are also from Old French forms
of Matthew, and Masson is sometimes an alternative form of Mason.

Robert and Richard were both popular Norman names. The first was
greatly helped by Robin Hood and the second by the Lion-Heart.

The name Hugh was borne by several saints, the most famous of whom in
England was the child-martyr, St. Hugh of Lincoln, said to have been
murdered by the Jews C. 1250. It had a dim. Huggin and also the forms
Hew and How, whence Hewett, Hewlett, Howitt, Howlett, etc., while from
the French dim. Huchon we get Hutchin and its derivatives, and also
Houchin. Hugh also appears in the rather small class of names
represented by Littlejohn, Meiklejohn, etc. [Footnote: This formation
seems to be much commoner in French. In the "Bottin" I find
Grandblaise, Grandcollot (Nicolas), Grandgeorge, Grandgerard,
Grandguillaume, Grandguillot, Grandjacques, Grand-jean, Grandperrin
(Pierre), Grandpi