SHAKESPEARE SAID, “WHAT’S IN A NAME?”
(ROMEO AND JULIET)
COYNE IS ANGLICIZED FROM THE GAELIC KYNE.
A PASTOR OF THE CORNAMONA PARISH CLAIMED THAT IN THE SAME FAMILY SOME USED COYNE, SOME KYNE!
I WAS AWARE OF THAT EARLY IN LIFE, BUT ONLY IN THE LAST DECADE WAS I AWARE THAT KYNE MEANT “WILD GOOSE!” HAD I KNOWN THAT EARLIER I WOULD HAVE CHANGED MY NAME LEGALLY TO “EMMETT WILD GOOSE”. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE FUN GOING THROUGH LIFE WITH THAT.
I CAN NOW APPRECIATE NAMES LIKE “SITTING BULL”!
I MENTIONED THIS ONE WHEN I GAVE A PRESENTATION IN NYC AFTER INTRODUCING MYSELF. AFTERWARDS, A MAN CAME UP TO ME AND CLAIMED WHILE HE WAS IN INDIA HE MET A MAN WITH THE NAME OF “EMMETT WILD GOOSE”! WAS HE RUFFLING MY FEATHERS?
COYNE CAN BE A FORM OF COHN/COHEN.
THE OLDEST AND PROBABLY THE MOST COMMON JEWISH FAMILY NAME IN EXISTENCE, COHEN INDICATES DESCENT FROM THE BIBLICAL PRIESTLY FAMILY, COHANIM.
I HAVE LIVED IN SEVERAL SOUTHERN STATES AND HAVE TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY THROUGH THE SOUTH. THROUGHOUT THE AREA, WHITES AND BLACKS, WHEN I MENTIONED MY NAME AS "COYNE" OFTEN WOULD CALL ME "COHEN!"
Personally, I find it bemusing that people from a humble hitory would have herardry indicating nobility.
A marketing ploy?
Nobility comes not from caste but character.
(EAC)