At 01:10 PM 7/23/04, you wrote: >"The Basques gave themselves names like, Guzman (good man), Esquivel >(behind a rock), Chapa (oak tree), Zavala (width)." > >I can understand the name Petros/Pedro/Peter/ - "rock" - but "behind a >rock"? (Ok, "beneath a rock" would be worse.) And Mr. Width strikes me >as odd. There are also cases where a nickname has stuck around as a surname. (I'm of Basque descent, but not pure.) My last name comes from the French side and derives from a nickname given to two brothers fighting alongside Lafayette (still looking for personnel records of the time). It is an alternate spelling of a variation for Sallet "In mediæval armour, a light globular headpiece, either with or without a vizor, and without a crest, the lower part curving outwards behind." [OED 2nd ed.] Go figure.