The Witch-Cult in Western Europe
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- 1662. Kinross-shire. Crook of Devon
- 1662. Hartford, Conn.
- 1662. Bute
- 1664. Somerset
- 1673. Northumberland
- 1697 Renfrewshire. Bargarran
- B. NAMES OF WITCHES
111662. Auldearne1. Barbara Ronald 2. Bessie Hay 3. Bessie Wilson 4. Elspet Nishie 5. Issobell Gowdie 6. Issobell Nicoll 7. Janet Breadheid 8. Janet Burnet 9. John Taylor 10. John Young [officer] 11. Jean Marten [the Maiden] 12. Margret Brodie 13. Margret Wilson 121662. Kinross-shire. Crook of Devon1. Agnes Brugh 2. Agnes Murie 3. Agnes Pittendreich 4. Bessie Henderson 5. Bessie Nell 6. Christian Grieve 7. Isabel Rutherford 8. Janet Brugh 9. Janet Paton (of Crook) 10. Janet Paton (of Kilduff) 11. Margaret Huggon 12. Margaret Litster 13. Robert Wilson 131662. Hartford, Conn.[Though the published records are incomplete, the number of names surviving suggests that a Coven existed here.] 1. Andrew Sanford 2. Elizabeth Seager 3. James Walkley 4. Judith Varlet 5. Mary Sanford 6. Nathaniel Greensmith 7. Rebecca Greensmith 8. William Ayres 9. Goodwife Ayres 10. Goodwife Grant 11. Goodwife Palmer 12. Goodwife Sanford 141662. Bute1. Agnes . . . in Gortenis 2. Annie Heyman [the Maiden] 3. Cirstine Ballantyne [the Maiden] 4. Donald McCartour 5. Elspet Galie 6. Elspeth Gray 7. Elspet NcWilliam 8. Elspeth Spence 9. Issobell More McKaw 10. Issobell NcNeill 11. Issobell NcNicoll 12. Jonet McConachie 13. Jonet McNeill 14. Jonet McNickell 15. Jonet Isack 16. Jonet Morison 17. Jonet Nicoll 18. John Galy 19. Kathrine Cristell 20. Kathrine Frissell 21. Kathrine McWilliam 22. Kathrine Moore 23. Kathrine Stewart 24. Margaret McNeill 25. Margaret McNickell 26. Margaret Ncilduy 27. Margaret NcLevin 28. Margaret NcWilliam 29. Margaret Smith 30. Marie McKaw 31. Marie More NcCuill 32. Marie Stewart 33. Patrick McKaw [Besides eleven other incomplete names, of which five can be identified as being already mentioned above, leaving six to add to that number, i. e. thirty-nine in all.] 151664. Somerset[In the first Coven I have put the names which occur most frequently together in the evidence.] 1 1. Alice Duke 2. Alice Green 3. Anne Bishop [officer], 4. Catharine Green 5. Christian Green 6. Dinah Warberton 7. Dorothy Warberton 8. Elizabeth Stile 9. Henry Walter 10. Jone Syms 11. Mary Green 12. Mary Penny 13. Mary Warberton 2 2. James Bush 3. John Combes 4. John Vining 5. Julian Cox 6. Margaret Agar [officer?] 7. Margaret Clarke 8. Rachel King 9. Richard Dickes 10. Richard Larmen 11. Thomas Bolster 12. Thomas Dunning 13. . . . Durnford 161673. Northumberland1. Anne Driden 2. Anne Foster 3. Anne Usher 4. Elizabeth Pickering 5. John Crauforth 6. Lucy Thompson 7. Margaret Aynsley 8. Margarett (whose surname she knowes not) 9. Michael Aynsley 10. William Wright 11-13. And three more, whose names she, knowes not 171697 Renfrewshire. Bargarran1. Agnes Naismith 2. Alexander Anderson 3. James Lindsay 4. Janet Rodgers 5. Janet Wagh 6. Jean Fulton [officer] 7. John Lindsay 8. John Reid 9. Katherine Campbel 10. Margaret Fulton 11. Margaret Laing 12. Margaret Rodgers 13. Martha Semple B. NAMES OF WITCHES[Guernsey being a law unto itself in the matter of names, the following remarks refer only to England and Scotland.] The lists of witch-names bring to light several facts as regards the women. One of these is the entire absence of Saxon names, such as Gertrude, Edith, Hilda; Old Testament names are so few in number as to be negligible; Scandinavian names are not found; the essentially Puritan names, such as Temperance, hardly occur; but the great mass of the names fall under eight heads with their dialectical differences: 1, Ann (Annis, Agnes, Annabel); 2, Alice (Alison); 3, Christian (Christen, Cirstine) 4, Elizabeth (Elspet, Isobel, Bessie); 5, Ellen (Elinor, Helen) 6, Joan (Jane, Janet, Jonet) 7, Margaret (Marget, Meg, Marjorie); 8, Marion (Mary). At first sight the list suggests New Testament and Greek influence and though I am not prepared to dispute this, I would point out (1) that there was a British goddess called Anna, which may account not only for all the forms of Ann but also for the terminations in Alison and Marion; (2) that the name Christian clearly indicates the presence of another religion; (3) that there is at present nothing to prove that Isobel is a variant of Elizabeth--it is quite possible that Isobel was the original name and that the missionaries 'Christianized' it as Elizabeth; (4) that Helen was a pre-Christian name in Great Britain (s) that Margaret may have been originally Marget, the spelling and pronunciation being influenced by the Greek form; and as g and y are dialectically interchangeable, Marget would be the same as, or closely allied to, the Finnish Marjatta. If Christianity had obtained the hold on the people which the ecclesiastical writers would have its believe, the name Mary should surely have been the most common, but it hardly occurs in Great Britain before 1645, while Marion is hardly used after that date. This looks as though Marion were the earlier form, and Mary may therefore be merely the contraction of the longer name. As regards the name Joan I can offer no explanations or suggestions. I can only call attention to its overwhelming preponderance in comparison with the others. In the lists the names are arranged without regard to local differences of spelling. The surnames are in alphabetical order.
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