“Many pub names have been corrupted over the centuries. The Pig and Whistle is said to have its roots in peg (a drinking vessel) and wassail (a festive drink.) The Goat and Compasses is sometimes said to come from “God Encompasseth Us.” The Elephant and Castle, originally a pub and now a district of London, may have been the Infanta de Castile. The Old Bull and Bush, a famous pub on Hampstead Heath, is said to come from Boulogne Bouche and is to commemorate a battle in France. Some of these derivations may be fanciful, but there is solid evidence to show that the Dog and Bacon was once the Dorking Beacon, that the Cat and Fiddle was once the Caterine la Fidèle (at least it is recorded as such in the Domesday Book), and that the Ostrich Inn in Buckinghamshire began life as the Hospice Inn.”
– Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue, p. 200 (Caterine la Fidèle refers to “Catherine the Faithful” – Catherine of Aragorn – the first wife of King Henry VIII. Infanta de Castile means “Daughter of the King of Castile.”)