This is another case of three different names, but with basically the same meaning. There is a Peter Biles reporting from South Africa on BBC International and I got curious as his name does not immediately make sense in modern English. The Oxford Names Companion could immediately deliver an explanation. The name comes from Old English “bil” or “bile”, which means bill or beak of a bird. The word has then been used in a transferred sense for someone that lived on high ground or on a promontory.
Just a short while earlier, a member of the family “de Vivenot” had explained his name to me. The first part comes from French “vivre” – “to live” and the second from French “haut” – “high”. Here we then have another family living high. Since the first Vivenot’s were bishops, it is not completely clear if they were living high in a literal sense or more in a figurative.
Two is good but three is more of a collection. I then stumbled upon “Goya” in the Oxford Names Companion and was given the third. The famous painter had his name derived from the Basque word “goi”, meaning “top”, "a" is a definite article. Still according to the Companion, the name was used for people living at the top of a hill or just in the upper part of a community.
To add more cream to the custard, I also took a look for German high livers but failed to find any. The famous family “Hohenzollern” was an early candidate. “Hohen” definitively has to with something high. The name, however, seems so old that the meaning of the “zollern” part has been lost on the way.
Just a short while earlier, a member of the family “de Vivenot” had explained his name to me. The first part comes from French “vivre” – “to live” and the second from French “haut” – “high”. Here we then have another family living high. Since the first Vivenot’s were bishops, it is not completely clear if they were living high in a literal sense or more in a figurative.
Two is good but three is more of a collection. I then stumbled upon “Goya” in the Oxford Names Companion and was given the third. The famous painter had his name derived from the Basque word “goi”, meaning “top”, "a" is a definite article. Still according to the Companion, the name was used for people living at the top of a hill or just in the upper part of a community.
To add more cream to the custard, I also took a look for German high livers but failed to find any. The famous family “Hohenzollern” was an early candidate. “Hohen” definitively has to with something high. The name, however, seems so old that the meaning of the “zollern” part has been lost on the way.
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