Where Surnames
Come From
(From Bill Bryson’s “Mother Tongue”)
Alan D. DeSantis
No Last Name Needed
• For most of history, there was no need for
surnames/last names
• Two “Peters” living in the same town would
be given second names to distinguish
them
Bureaucracy Changes Everything!
• Two events in England led to the creation
and use of last names:
– 1)
– 2)
• These two pieces of medieval bureaucracy
meant
Four Sources
• British surnames (family names)
have four main sources:
–1)
–2)
–3)
–4)
I. Many were identified by
their occupations
I. Occupations
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Archer
Barber
Brewer
Bowman
Bishop
Butcher
Baker
Carpenter
Fletcher
Clark
• Wright –
Meaning
I. Occupations
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hall
Forrester
Fuller
Miller
Shepherd
Smith
Taylor
Turner
King
• Bush-
Meaning
What about Church names?
• Keeping in mind that Catholic priests took
pledges of celibacy, how did names like
Bishop, Monk, Priest, Pope, or Prior
survive?
The Same Throughout Europe
• Tracing non-English names is not so easy,
but with a little translation, they too make
sense.
II. Others were named for
where they lived or a
geographical landmark
identified with them
II. Places
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Devon
Allen
Atwater
French
Lincoln
Kent
Preston
Meaning
II. Places
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Scott
Underwood
Moore
Wood
Ash or Oak
Walsh
Street or Lane
Meaning
Why not more Londons?
(or Farmers)
• If everyone from London was known as
“London,” surnames would be useless
• Consequently, only people who left
London were named for the city
– “Peter from London” or Peter London
III. Some were named after
a distinguishing
characteristic
Nicknames
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Armstrong
Boyd
Campbell
Goldwater
Cox
Brown
Kennedy
Morgan
Russell
Whistler
Whitehead
• Tolstoy
• Machiavelli
• Cicero
Meaning
IV. Finally, many were
identified by their family
relationships
Relations
• Name
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Johnson
Robinson
MacDonald
O'Connor
Thompson
Young
Johansson
Jackson
Brothers
Meaning
First Names as Last Names
• If you have a first name as a last name, the
“son” has probably been dropped.
V. Difficulties in identifying
some last names
and their origins
A. What About Tracing
African American Names?
• Question:
– How do African Americans trace their African names?
• Answer:
– They can’t!
– African slaves were stripped of their surnames
• Last names come from 4 different sources:
1)
2)
3)
4)
B. What About Non-English
Names?
• All of our accentors were immigrants
– Except full-blooded native Americans, of course
• Many (non-English) immigrants’ names were
changed & simplified at their Port of Entries
–
–
–
–
–
–
Pfoersching to Pershing
Wistinghausen to Westinghouse
Pappadimitracoupolos to Pappas
Niewhuis to Newhouse
Kuiper to Cooper
Krankheit to Cronkite
C. Creative Spelling of Names
• Until the late 1600s, there were no codified rules for
spelling
• Spelling was individualized, idiosyncratic, and creative
• Consequently, “Hill” was spelled “Hull,” “Hall,” &
“Holl” depending on one’s dialect and pronunciation