TOPONYMIC SURNAMES AS EVIDENCE OF ORIGIN: SOME MEDIEVAL VIEWS by Benjamin Z. Kedar The significance of medieval toponymic surnames-that is, surnames like de Paeia or Placentius-has been the subject of a lively, if somewhatvehe- ment exchange between Richard W. Emef)' and Robert S. Lopez} Many contemporary historians have assumed that western European toponymic surnames of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries indicate the places of origin of their bearers: in other words, a man called Franciscus de Nicia may be taken to have come from Nice. In Emery's view, this assumption is highly questionable. In some instances, he argues, the surname of the place-name type may point to the origin of the bearer, but thesedo not warrant a generali- zation. For, in the first place, a toponymic surname might have beenadopted to ensurea social or economic advantage: for instance, a spice merchant might have deliberately chosen to call himself de Tripoli. Second, as it becamecom- mon by the late twelfth century to pass on surnames from one generation to another, one has to assume that toponymic surnames, too, had become hereditary; in many cases, therefore, a toponymic surname may be taken to indicate not the origin of the bearer but, at best, that of a remote ancestor. Lopez, however, maintains that the consolidation of surnamesas hereditary family-names had been a drawn-out process,the rate of which varied from regionto region and from one socialclass to another. In most cases this process was far from complete by the end of the thirteenth century. Lopez concedes that in some instances it is doubtful indeed whether a toponymic surname provides a sure proof of origin. As a rule, however, surnames of this type may be considered to denote the origin of the bearer, or of his immediate ancestors. He bases this generalization on the cumulative findings of philologists who have methodically analyzed the extant aggregate of names in a number of geographical areas. 1 R. W. Emery, "The Use of the Surname in the Study of Medieval Economic History," Medievalia et humanislica 7 (1952) 43-50; R. S. Lopez, "Concerning Surnames and Places of Origin," ibid. 8 (1954) 6-16; R. W. Emery, "A Further Note on Medieval Surnames," ibid. 9 (1955) 104-106.