The etymology, Italian and American distribution of the names associated with this family history are linked
to left. Click the desired link to find the information you seek.
THE ORIGIN OF SURNAMES - by Kathi Reid
A surname, also known as a last name or family name, is a fixed name shared in common
with the members of a family and is passed down from generation to generation.
The use of a surname is relatively new in history and was adopted in order to legally
distinguish two individuals with the same first name. At first, these last names were not passed down
to the next generation. The Chinese were among the very first cultures to adopt the use of hereditary surnames
about 5000 years ago. In Europe, surnames weren't used until the 10th or 11th centuries
AD in Venice. Gradually throughout Europe, all nobility and gentry adopted surnames until
eventually surnames were used by all Europeans of all classes.
What does my last name mean? If you have ever wondered about the meaning of your last
name, where your family lived, what they did, or how they looked, you may find your
surname may answer some of these questions about your ancestors from many hundreds of years ago.
Surnames were generally derived from one of four sources:
1) Patronymic (from the first name of father)
Peters - son of Peter (English, German)
Peterson - son of Peter (Swedish)
Petersen - son of Peter (Danish)
O'Reilly - grandson of Reilly (Ireland)
Mc- /Mac- - son of (Scottish)
d'- / di- - son of (Italian)
-ez / -es - son of (Spanish / Portuguese)
-wicz - son of (Poland)
Fitz- - son of (Old English)
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2) Lives near locality or place
KirkPatrick - Church (kirk) of St. Patrick
Cliff - steep hill
Fairholm - the fair island
Ashley - field surrounded by ash trees
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3) Occupation or social status
Cooper - barrel maker
Wagner or Waggoner - wagon maker
Knight - knighthood conferred by the king
Smith - blacksmith
Powers - poor or taken a vow of poverty
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4) Nicknames describing person or personality
Reid - red, ruddy complexion or red hair
Stout - Body size
Small - Body size
Armstrong - strong arms
Sharpe - sharp, smart
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Surname spelling has evolved over centuries and until the 20th century, the spelling
of a surname was not fixed. Before then, it was not unusual to see the same person's
surname spelled in different ways from record to record. In the 1800's and before, when
many people were illiterate, names were written by clerks, officials, and priests as
they heard the name pronounced. This lead to different spellings for the same name.
Spelling continued to evolve until this century. So as you are looking for your surname
history, it is important to check out spelling variations.
(The information provided in this section was obtained from the following sources:
mondotrentino.net,
alfemminile.com,
the GENS Project,
Public Profiler,
Cognomix,and
Wikipedia.)
Additional facts are located on these sites, such as the ability to reduce the maps to exact states and towns in order
to view a more detailed accounting of each surname.
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