Word Finder - surnames

definition

An additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.

definition

An additional name given to a person, place, or thing; a byname or nickname.

definition

The name a person shares with other members of that person's family, distinguished from that person's given name or names; a family name.

definition

(Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.

definition

A clan.

definition

To give a surname to.

definition

To call by a surname.

The official surnames must not, of course, be confused with the popular nicknames which were naturally not recognized by the court, e.g.

Somewhat later the adoption of hereditary surnames and armorial bearings marked the existence of a large and noble class who either from the subdivision of fiefs or from the effects of the custom of primogeniture were very insufficiently provided for.

Inscriptions too from Sicel and Phoenician cities are commonly Greek, even when they commemorate men with Phoenician names, coupled perhaps with Greek surnames.

People of Slav origin being considered unfree, all intermarriage with them tainted the blood; hence nearly all surnames point to Saxon, especially Westphalian, and even Flemish descent.

Then follow the surnames Epiphanes the revealed god, Dicaeus the just, Euergetes the benefactor, all of them essentially Greek in their reference, and also regularly borne by all the kings.

The surnames given to this king by his subjects are of much more than usual accuracy.

There, in the Tze line, towards the end of the 8th century B.C., we find a Kung Kia, whose posterity, according to the rules for the dropping of surnames, became the Kung clan.

You can search it by using your Internet Explorer's browser's E dit, F ind function for keywords or author's surnames.

Double-barrelled surnames should be transcribed as such ONLY when a hyphen appears in the source document.

The earliest hereditary surnames began mostly with landowners taking their name from their property.

The order of his surnames is a controversial matter, and they are sometimes reversed.

They rather lead us to appreciate the motives which caused his contemporaries to bestow on him the honourable surnames "The Great" and "Doctor Universalis."

Rarer colored surnames include Red, a variant form of the surname Reed or Reid, someone who lived in a reedy area.

One of the hottest baby-naming trends is giving children first names that were once only used as surnames.

While given names are chosen with uniqueness in mind, surnames are family names, just as in Western cultures.

These surnames are repeated within the family, from generation to generation, although surnames are often steeped in tradition and history as well.

They also have online message boards where you can discuss surnames and specific ancestors and maybe even find long-lost relatives.

Family names, also known as surnames, are the way that society groups family members together.

This website provides the origin and meaning of almost 50,000 surnames.

Are you looking for some basic information about your family surnames that you can share with your family?

Immigration officers were often unfamiliar with foreign surnames and spelled the name phonetically.

You'll also find tons of information on various surnames, an entire page of links to trace real estate from patents and land grants to deeds and obscure sources.

This will yield results for both the Thompson and Thomson surnames.

Surnames, also known as last names or family names, are passed down from generation to generation.

Surnames that are based on relationship to the father are called patronymic, while surnames based on relationships to the mother are called matronymic.

As you might expect, patronymic surnames are much more common than matronymic surnames.

Surnames based on parental relationships can be constructed in many different ways.

Many English-speaking countries simply added "s" to the father's Christian name to create surnames such as Williams or Daniels.

Scandinavians used "son" to create these types of surnames, as in Johnson or Erikson.

Surnames based on places can indicate what country your ancestors were from or where someone once lived.

Surnames based on occupation are the most common.

Obvious examples of surnames based on occupation include names like Baker, Barber, Carpenter, Carver, Painter, Potter, and Shoemaker.

Roles within the church also gave rise to a number of occupation-related surnames, including Abbott, Bishop, Cannon, Chaplin, Parson, and Sexton.

Sometimes, people created surnames based on distinguishing characteristics of a person.

These nickname-based surnames could reflect aspects of someone's physical appearance or a notable personality trait.

Many researchers believe that people began to adopt surnames in the Middle Ages as a means of differentiating clans and related groups.

Later, the peasant class began to use surnames for the sake of clarity, since there were relatively few first names.

However, women's surnames can be a bit more confusing.

Since many people originally used surnames to differentiate one person from another, they can offer insight into what made your ancestors special.

Brad recently adopted both Maddox and Zahara, legally changing their surnames to Jolie-Pitt.

Many couples are also choosing to give their babies one-syllable names or first names that were once commonly used as surnames.

This, the most celebrated of the Marguerites, bore no less than four surnames.

There does not seem any clear proof that the surnames which the Hellenistic kings in Asia and Egypt bore were necessarily connected with the cult, even if they were used to describe g.Surnames.

Her oldest priestesses, the dew-sisters - Aglauros, Herse, Pandrosos - signify the fertilization of the earth by the dew, and were probably at one time identified with Athena, as surnames of whom both Aglauros and Pandrosos are found.

It is not a list of individuals, but only of family surnames, and it seems to have been intended to show which families had "come over with the Conqueror," and to have been compiled about the 14th century.

As Domesday normally records only the Christian name of an under-tenant, it is vain to seek for the surnames of families claiming a Norman origin; but much has been and is still being done to identify the under-tenants, the great bulk of whom bear foreign names.