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Most of us have suffered the indignity of being given a nasty nickname - at summer camp, university or work - that stuck with us for years.

 But imagine if such a nickname followed you throughout your entire life - and then stuck to your children, your grandchildren and the rest of your descendants until the end of time.

Amazingly, name researchers believe that some of our most common surnames likely began just like that: as insults.

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 Michael Adams, a professor of linguistics at Indiana University, said researchers have come across names in old records like "John the Bastard."

And while most Bastards have since found an excuse to change their name, other no-less-insulting surnames remain fairly common.

 Indeed, there is a whole category of names that are believed to have been given to children abandoned to orphanages - including the French name Jette (meaning "thrown out"), the Italian name Esposito (meaning "exposed") and the English name Parrish (meaning someone who was raised at the expense of the community.)

 "I think people took the view that there was nothing they could do about it," said Patrick Hanks, editor of the Dictionary of American Family Names.

Other names are believed to reflect an insulting description of one's features.

 Both the English names Nott and Cave probably described someone who was bald.

A Barrett was a fraud, a Mallory someone unlucky and a Purcell a little pig.

 In France, a Bechard was a gossip.

 And while the name Potvin may describe a particular region of France, lexicographers say it's just as likely an adaptation of the phrase Pot-de-Vin, meaning someone willing to take bribes.

 Similarly insulting are the German names Armann (poor man), Scheunpflug (avoids the plow) and Schiller (cross-eyed).

 "No one said naming was fair," said Adams.

On the bright side, those with insulting last names at least have some rather esteemed company.

 "Shakespeare is probably an obscene name, originally, for a masturbator," said Hanks.

cskelton@png.canwest.com