ISSN 1471-373X

Welcome to the first issue of ‘Gentle Shores’, the newsletter of the Hendy-Dove Family. We hope it provides enjoyable reading for you. Why the name ‘Gentle Shores’? Firstly, the newsletter’s name has been derived from a combination of the meaning of the two family names - Hendy and Dove. According to Reaney, (1967), both names originated as nicknames. Hendy is from the Middle English (the historical period of language used between the old and the new ages - roughly the middle ages, 1000-1400 AD). It is a name relating to moral characteristics. To be ‘hende’ meant you were courteous, kind, well-behaved and gentle. Dove derives from the Old English and refers to one gentle as a dove. Coincidentally therefore, both names refer to gentleness - hence the title of the newsletter. Secondly, ‘Shores’ refers to the famous shores of the Isle of Wight, where our families belonged for many generations. The newsletter is part of the Hendy-Dove Family Web Pages, which can be accessed at:http://www.4unet.co.uk/myhome/mickmcmanus/

’am holden’ quod he, as hende as hounde is in kychene’ (Langland, 1377).

(From The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs)