first only
a few royal or noble families had sur-names, or "super" names; but
gradually, as the populations of the different countries became
larger, it became necessary for people to have surnames, so as to
distinguish those with the same Christian names from each other.

In these days children are generally given for their Christian names
family names, or names which their parents think beautiful or
suitable. (Often the children afterwards do not like their own names
at all.) The Christian names of the children of European countries
come to us from many different languages. Perhaps the greatest number
come to us from the Hebrew, because these Jewish names are, of course,
found in great numbers in the Bible.

The conversion of the countries of Europe to Christianity united them
in their ways of thinking and believing, and they all honoured the
saints. The names of the early saints, whether they were from the
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, or Slavonic, were soon spread
throughout all the countries of Europe, so that now French, German,
English, Italian, Spanish names, and those of the other European
countries, are for the most part the same, only spelt and pronounced a
little differently in the different countries.

The English _William_ is _Guillaume_ in French, _Wilhelm_ in German,
and so on. _John_ is _Jean_ in French, _Johann_ in German, and so on,
with many other names.

But in early times people got their names in a much more interesting
way. Sometimes something which seemed peculiar about a little new-born
baby would suggest a name. _Esau_ was called by this name, which is
only the Hebrew word for "hairy," because he was already covered by
the thick growth of hair on his body which made him so different from
Jacob. The old Roman names _Flavius_ and _Fulvius_ merely meant
"yellow," and the French name _Blanche_, "fair," or "white." Sometimes
the fond parents would give the child a name describing some quality
which they hoped the child would possess when it grew up. The Hebrew
name _David_ means "beloved."

The name _Joseph_ was given by Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, to
the baby who came to her after long waiting. _Joseph_ means
"addition," and Rachel chose this name because she hoped another child
would yet be added to her family. She afterwards had Benjamin, the
best beloved of all Jacob's sons, and then she died.

The name Joseph did not become common in Europe till after the
Reformation,