breviary, lit. what one carries outside, a
portable prayer-book--

"For on my porthors here I make an oath." (B, 1321.)

But as the name is found without prefix in the Hundred Rolls, it may
have been a nickname conferred on some clericus who was proud of so
rare a possession.

CHAPTER XIV. NORMAN BLOOD

"Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity and wealth that decent
and dignified men now existing boast their descent from these filthy
thieves"

(EMERSON, English Traits, ch. iv.).

Not every Norman or Old French name need be included in the group
described by Emerson when talking down to an uneducated audience. In
fact, it is probable that the majority of genuine French names belong
to a later period; for, although the baron who accompanied the
Conqueror would in many cases keep his old territorial designation,
the minor ruffian would, as a rule, drop the name of the obscure
hamlet from which he came and assume some surname more convenient in
his new surroundings. Local names of Old French origin are usually
taken from the provinces and larger towns which had a meaning for
English ears. I have given examples of such in chapter xi. Of course
it is easy to take a detailed map of Northern France and say, without
offering any proof, that "Avery (Chapter VIII) is from Evreux, Belcher
(Chapter XXI) from Bellecourt, Custance (Chapter X) from Coutances,"
and so on. But any serious student knows this to be idiotic nonsense.
The fact that, except in the small minority composed of the senior
branches of the noblest houses, the surname was not hereditary till
centuries after the Conquest, justifies any bearer of a Norman name
taken from a village or smaller locality in repudiating all connection
with the "filthy thieves" and conjecturing descent from some decent
artisan belonging to one of the later immigrations.

That a considerable number of aristocratic families, and others, bear
an easily recognizable French town or village name is of course well
known, but it will usually be found that such names are derived from
places which are as plentiful in France as our own Ashleys, Barton,
Burton, Langleys, Newtons, Suttons, etc., are in England. In some
cases a local French name has spread in an exceptional manner.
Examples are Baines (Gains, 2 [Footnote: The figures in brackets
indicate the number of times that the French local name occurs in the
Postal Directory. The above is the usual explanation of Baines.