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Free Dictionary of Surname Origins
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"What does my surname mean?" If you have ever asked this question and wondered about the origin of your last name, you will find your surname may answer one of the questions of where your ancestors lived, or what they did for a living, or what was their personality like, or how they looked many hundreds of years ago. Today, a surname, which is also known as a family name and last name, is a hereditary fixed name that you share with your family members. The use of a surname was originally adopted in order to distinguish two individuals with the same first name, and, at first, these last names were not passed down to the next generation. In Europe, the first surnames were first used about eight hundred years ago. People developed individual surnames which, over time, became names that were passed down from generation to generation. Surnames usually originated from one of the five following sources: (although the same surname may have multiple meanings from different sources in different places)
Examples: Prefixes Suffixes
Until the last hundred years or so when the spelling of a surname became standardized, the same person's surname could be spelled differently from record to record. Before the 19th century, when many people were illiterate, the names on records were written by clerks and priests the way they heard the name pronounced. This lead to different spellings for the same name. Spelling continued to change and evolve until the beginning of the 20th century when it became fixed - in large part due to the standardization required by the Social Security Administration in the United States. So as you are looking for your surname history, you may consider researching possible spelling variations. Don't assume your surname was always spelled the way it is spelled today. You can check for alternate spellings of a surname at the soundex (sound-alike) machine. This free online Last Name Dictionary includes the etymology of British, Cornish British, French, German, Hispanic, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, Latin, Celtic, Gaelic, Italian, Chinese and Danish Names.
Essay on the Origin of Surnames by William Arthur, M.A., 1857 The story of names from biblical times until the time the essay was written. © Copyright 1997 - 2013 -- All Rights Reserved. This article may not be copied, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written permission from the author. |
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