• GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Frieda: What does the name “Aglet” mean, anyway?

    Braydon: Well, a long time ago, “Aglet” meant “He who puts those tiny little plastic things on shoelaces.” You see, a long time ago, a man’s name was his profession.

    Frieda: Oh, so a man named Fred Carpenter would build houses and John Baker would make bread.

    Braydon: Exactly.

    Ned: So what did John Hancock do?

    [Repossessed (1990)] (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100475/quotes?item=qt0194949)

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    10 days ago

    Last names can come from occupations but they don’t have to. It can also be down to where the family originally came from (a lot of Scottish ancestry names are like that) or they are anglicized versions of names in other languages. Also words change over time, less than 100 years ago no one would have found it funny to be called cockler, it just meant someone that looked after chickens.