Free Tips for Searching Ancestors' Surnames
SURNAMES: FAMILY SEARCH TIPS AND SURNAME ORIGINS Picking a name Naming practices developed differently from region to region and country to country. Yet even today, hereditary The Name Game names tend to fall into one of four categories: patronymic Onomastics, a field of linguistics, is the study of names and (named from the father), occupational, nickname or place naming practices. The American Name Society (ANS) was name. According to Elsdon Smith, author of American Sur- founded in 1951 to promote this field in the United States and names (Genealogical Publishing Co.), a survey of some 7,000 abroad. Its goal is to “find out what really is in a name, and to surnames in America revealed that slightly more than 43 investigate cultural insights, settlement history and linguistic percent of our names derive from places, followed by about characteristics revealed in names.” 32 percent from patronymics, 15 percent from occupations The society publishes NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics, and 9 percent from nicknames. a quarterly journal; the ANS Bulletin; and the Ehrensperger Often the lines blur between the categories. Take the Report, an annual overview of member activities in example of Green. This name could come from one’s clothing onomastics. The society also offers an online discussion or it could be given to one who was inexperienced. It could group, ANS-L. For more information, visit the ANS website at also mean a dweller near the village green, be a shortened <www.wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS>. form of a longer Jewish or German name, or be a translation from another language.
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