I recently found information that the name Parker comes from the term "park-keeper". My dad had his 80th birthday a few weeks back and it triggered some research into the family name. In a small booklet about names I found that little tidbit.
Many of today's family names come from professions. Weaver, Baker, Shoemaker, and the like. Some come from physical characteristics; Small, Black, Brown, White. Others are from locations, usually with a "del", "de la", "ville" and such like. And people may have taken just the name of a town way back when. Interesting stuff.
The Parker ranch in Hawaii is the largest ranch in the world (or,at least, it was). Ed Parker's family was related to the Parker ranch people. If the Hawaiian royal lineage had continued into the mid-20th century Ed Parker would have been a prince. I believe it, you could see it in him. History shows that the British colonization put an end to that and that settlers taking land contributed to his end of the family getting nada in terms of the ranch. Probably good for us, since he went off and conquered the world, kenpo-wise or we likely wouldn't be doing this marvelous system of his.
In my family research I've found we have a coat of arms. On my first trip to England the people there were very interested to know what my heritage was and got rather excited when I told them I was mainly English and Irish. Jaki McVicar (ah, Vicar - a church connection) came to me the next day and told me "Your name is in the Domesday book". The book was done by William the Conqueror after 1066 when he conquered England. See, there's a name drawn from a profession. You won't find too many of those today, huh? "Hi. I'm Tom the Conqueror."
William decided a census was necessary and that's how my family name wound up in the book a thousand years ago in England and we developed a coat of arms.
Now on my father's mother's maiden name was Pratt. That's where the Irish comes in. (As an aside here, in English we have no way to know which grandmother or grandfather we are talking about without further clarification. You have to ask the person if they mean their dad's father or their mother's father. In Swedish, for example, they have separate terms for each. Mor-mor means mother's mother. It's a better system.) It seems that a relative named William Pratt came from Ireland thru Canada and then into the United States. It was here that he found his fortune. You would know his better as Boris Karloff. How's that for kenpo trivia!
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Lee Wedlake has been teaching Kenpo Karate for over 35 years and has written a variety of Kenpo Books about different kenpo katas and kenpo concepts. Mr. Wedlake has worked directly with Ed Parker and is generous with his knowledge and his time. He is available for Kenpo Seminars and camps.
Many of today's family names come from professions. Weaver, Baker, Shoemaker, and the like. Some come from physical characteristics; Small, Black, Brown, White. Others are from locations, usually with a "del", "de la", "ville" and such like. And people may have taken just the name of a town way back when. Interesting stuff.
The Parker ranch in Hawaii is the largest ranch in the world (or,at least, it was). Ed Parker's family was related to the Parker ranch people. If the Hawaiian royal lineage had continued into the mid-20th century Ed Parker would have been a prince. I believe it, you could see it in him. History shows that the British colonization put an end to that and that settlers taking land contributed to his end of the family getting nada in terms of the ranch. Probably good for us, since he went off and conquered the world, kenpo-wise or we likely wouldn't be doing this marvelous system of his.
In my family research I've found we have a coat of arms. On my first trip to England the people there were very interested to know what my heritage was and got rather excited when I told them I was mainly English and Irish. Jaki McVicar (ah, Vicar - a church connection) came to me the next day and told me "Your name is in the Domesday book". The book was done by William the Conqueror after 1066 when he conquered England. See, there's a name drawn from a profession. You won't find too many of those today, huh? "Hi. I'm Tom the Conqueror."
William decided a census was necessary and that's how my family name wound up in the book a thousand years ago in England and we developed a coat of arms.
Now on my father's mother's maiden name was Pratt. That's where the Irish comes in. (As an aside here, in English we have no way to know which grandmother or grandfather we are talking about without further clarification. You have to ask the person if they mean their dad's father or their mother's father. In Swedish, for example, they have separate terms for each. Mor-mor means mother's mother. It's a better system.) It seems that a relative named William Pratt came from Ireland thru Canada and then into the United States. It was here that he found his fortune. You would know his better as Boris Karloff. How's that for kenpo trivia!
**************************************
Lee Wedlake has been teaching Kenpo Karate for over 35 years and has written a variety of Kenpo Books about different kenpo katas and kenpo concepts. Mr. Wedlake has worked directly with Ed Parker and is generous with his knowledge and his time. He is available for Kenpo Seminars and camps.
1 comment:
I just don't see the resemblance. Cool trivia though!
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