Family names

[lakewolf]

I was wondering about the origin of family names.

In English, and also in nordic european countries names imply you are the son of somebody, that is to identify you with some clan.. So you have Jackson, Johnson, Richardson, Robertson etc ( and in nordic countries Olsen, Andersen etc )

In German, most family names imply a "beruf" or profession, So you are a member of a professional group like Schuhmacher, Bäker, Meier, Fisher, Köchler etc etc... .

In French family names imply an attribute or characteristic or belonging to some region or place and maybe to identify the appartenance to some society or some Lord. So you have LeBlanc, LeNoir but also DuPont, DuCheval, DeLaCrosse, DuChâteu etc etc...

In Italian names are mostly in plural indicating maybe you are part of a group of equals, so you have Castelli, Cantelli, Brioni, Canali, Guiliani, Pecorini etc...

What do you think ?

 

[Ivan Kipling]

The endings of Greek names must have significance. I'm not able to tell you what these concluding syllables, mean: poulos: Papadopoulos, nos: Livanos, is: Tsangaris, akis: Dimitrakis, as: Halkias. Many more. Might have to do with mainland, vs. island derivation.
In Greece, my surname is associated with shoemakers.

 

[eg1]

Mc/Mac and O' for the Irish; Fitz for Irish/Norman

 

[Bandwagonesque]

"ibn"/"bin" for Arabs = "son"

 

[lakewolf]

Originally Posted by eg1

Mc/Mac and O' for the Irish; Fitz for Irish/Norman

What is the meaning of Mac' and O' ?

And this Fitz is like in Fitzgerald ? what is Fitz ?

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by lakewolf

What is the meaning of Mac' and O' ? And this Fitz is like in Fitzgerald ? what is Fitz ?
"Mac" means son-of. "O'" means grandson-of. Mac is more common in Scotland, whereas Mc is more often found in Ireland. "Fitz" was brought to Ireland by the Normans in 1169. It also means son-of, IIRC.

 

[FLMountainMan]

I believe the "ovitch" found in many Russian names also means "son of" and "eyva" means daughter of", but they are usually used as a middle name

 

[whodini]

Spanish have a similar "son of" which is "de." Most notable example, Don Juan DeMarco.

I wish I knew what it was on my Welsh side of the family. They explained it to me once but I had a hard time understanding them.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by whodini

Spanish have a similar "son of" which is "de." Most notable example, Don Juan DeMarco.

I wish I knew what it was on my Welsh side of the family. They explained it to me once but I had a hard time understanding them.

What's the Welsh surname?

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Bandwagonesque

"ibn"/"bin" for Arabs = "son"

ibn and abu are not really part of last names, they are part of the middle of an arab name.

 

[tiecollector]

Originally Posted by Connemara

"Mac" means son-of. "O'" means grandson-of.

Mac is more common in Scotland, whereas Mc is more often found in Ireland.

"Fitz" was brought to Ireland by the Normans in 1169. It also means son-of, IIRC.

I once heard that Mc or Mac means son-of, but O' meant you were illegitimate, I always thought that was funny. But you are right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_...rname_prefixes
And, Fitz means son-of and must be left over from the Norman invasion.

I'm not sure where this originate from but in Korea there are basically 3 main families, Kim, Park, and Lee. Most have this last name and they all know which one they belong to because they aren't necessarily related.

Interesting to note that Scandinavians usually don't have a family name.

Lotta info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name

 

[texas_jack]

I dated a girl from Nigeria named Busola Alungbusola, or something like that. It meant Busola daughter of Busola. I have no idea how that works but that was how they did names there. She was incredible hot but sadly she was a evangelical christian and wouldn't give it up so I dumped her.

 

[migo]

I know a lot of Indian people's last names are professions.

 

[Andrew V.]

I have a Dutch name that begins with "ver" which I think is a contraction of "van der" (from the).

 

[TheIdler]

Don't forget that many English surnames are also derived from professions (Smith, Baker, Cooper). Other common derivations were from personal characteristics, like Short, or geographic words like Hill or Wood.

Also interesting is the Icelandic system of reflecting the immediate parents' names and not the historic family heritage.