More fascinating but completely undocumented information--which is not
considered true at present.
QUOTE
James Turner, in his "History of the Anglo-Saxons," dwells
interestingly on the origin of names from some root or simple form, and
which by some suffix or addition of a word becomes a compound, but which
leaves the sense exactly where it was before. Names compounded with Man,
says Forsteman, a foremost authority on the origin and meaning of personal
and surnames, are of vast antiquite. We trace them, says another eminent
authority, Ferguson ("Science of Surnames"), "to our Aryan
ancestors"--to
the creadle of the human race, from which began the awe-inspiring onward
and ever onward march which after its descent into the valley of the
Tigris spread its branches over India, Europe, Britain, and, crossing the
broad Atlantic, founded and reared the mightiest republic in the history
of the world.
Man, without Aryan forefathers, meant something far beyond the
mere man as we now apply it. With them it implied elevation of mind,
noble qualities, superior wisdom and manly, heroic traits, and, as a
compound in names, give a clue to their sources, significations, and vast
antiquity. "Carman," says Lower, in "Ptronymica Britannica," a
dictionary
of family names of the United Kingdom, "and Seaman are very ancient
personal names." "Carman," he says, "is not derived from the
occupation." ... both Carman and Seaman as personal names are found as
early as the fifth century before Christ, and therefore have a record of
twenty-five hundred years.
UNQUOTE