Discussion Main / TheMagnificent

I seem to remember that there was an early English king called Ethelred the Unready.

In regard to the question posed in the main text, "Why does someone get named Brown? Because they had brown hair?" Well, yes. Brown, Bruni, Rufus, many surnames like that are traceable to hair colors. Usually starting out as "the Brown" (to distinguish him from someone of the same name who might be blonde).

My family happens to have a rather... extreme version of this in play. Our name is "Schroeck", pronounced "shrek" — yes, like the movie. In fact, it is the same word as the ogre's name: a German (and Yiddish) word for "horror" or "terror". It's a great name for an ogre, but all we can figure is that someone far back in our family tree was a very, very unpleasant person.