Free Tips for Searching Ancestors' Surnames
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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. In your genealogy research, you’ll likely come across most what’s of the four main categories of surnames: in a 1 PATRONYMICS: Virtually every culture seemed to have TIP: When searching online genealogy databases, use some form of patronymic system, though some relied on it wildcard characters (such as ? for one letter and * for zero or more heavily than others. In Ireland, the Scottish highlands, more letters) to find variant surname spellings. Wales and Spain the majority of names are patronymics; like- wise in Scandinavia, though these have additional complica- tions as we’ll see later. Here are the most common clues to patronymic names in different cultures: Cook and Cooper. During the Middle Ages, it was useful to • E NGLISH, SCOTTISH, SWEDISH: -son as in Olafson; also -ing distinguish John the baker from John the tailor. The occu- from Anglo-Saxon times as in Browning (“son of Brun,” pations were fairly common across Europe, and their use as which in turn means “brown”); also the prefixFitz- , the surnames took on a decidedly local flavor. Here’s an example nameUnderstanding the secrets of surnames can unlock Norman patronymic form as in Fitzpatrick. using Smith: answers about your ancestors. Here’s how to keep up with • D ANISH, NORWEGIAN: -sen as in Sorensen • FINNISH: Seppanen • S COTTISH: Mc or Mac as in McCall (“son of Cachal”) • FRENCH: Faure, Fernald, Ferris, Le Fevre, Le Febvre the Joneses—and how they got to be named Jones • E NGLISH, WELSH: -s as in Edwards • G AELIC: Gow, Gowan, Goff (or O’Hara or Kovalenko or Santos or … ) in the first place. • I RISH: O’ as in O’Hara (meaning “grandson of Eaghra,” • G ERMAN: Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz which means “bitter or sharp”) • HU NGARIAN: Kovacs • W ELSH: use of ap, or prefix of p- or b- as in Upjohn (“son • I TALIAN: Ferraro • BY BARBARA KRASNER-KHAIT of John”) and Bowen (“son of Owen”) POLISH: Kowalczyk, Kowalik, Kowalski • I TALIAN: prefix of De or Di as in De Carlo • RU SSIAN: Kowalsky, Kuznetsov • U KRAINIAN: -enko as in Kovalenko • SP ANISH: Ferrer, Herrera • SP ANISH: -ez or -es as in Alvarez (“son of Alva”) • S YRIAN: Haddad 3 A FEW YEARS ago, I agreed to help a friend do some To deal with such challenges and to make the most of the • PORT UGUESE: -es or -az as in Gomes (“son of Gomo”) family research. Her parents, Jaques Rodrigues and Maria answers that surnames can suggest, it helps to know and • R OMANIAN: -escu as in Tadescu 3 PLACE NAMES: Surnames sprang from place names in Santos, were from southern Portugal. I thought this would be understand the naming practices in the cultures and geogra- • A RMENIAN: -ian or -yan as in Hovnanian several ways: when someone was associated with or living pretty straightforward. But I soon found out that her father’s phies of your ancestors. • RU SSIAN: -ovich as in Pavlovich near or by a particular hill, brook, bush, dale, valley, island, real surname was Sebastian and her mother’s was Maria. Yes, For starters, remember that last names are a relatively • POLISH: -wicz as in Danielewicz bridge, meadow, road or village; when the person was known Maria Maria. And the further we dug, the more complicated recent invention. Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble not- • TU RKISH: -oglu as in Turnacioglu as coming from a particular locality; and when the individual it got. Surnames changed with every generation. withstanding, humanity didn’t come out of the cave with sur- • G REEK: -opoulos as in Theodoropoulos (“son of Theodore”) owned a manor or village. Place-derived surnames dominate How are you supposed to trace your family’s history if the names attached. In Europe, as the population began to grow • H EBREW: use of ben as in Ben-Yehuda in England and they’re common in Germany and France. names keep changing? Surnames are among the most impor- in the 10th century, it became increasingly difficult to refer to The first time I looked up my maiden name of Krasner in tant—yet most potentially puzzling—clues to your family’s someone by only a given name. Born of necessity, hereditary 2 OCCUPATIONAL NAMES: Surnames derived from occu- a surname dictionary, I saw that it meant either “beautiful” past. You think you’re researching the Santos family and sud- surnames developed gradually during the 11th through 15th pations figure prominently on the list of America’s most or “fat.” In my mind, there’s a big difference between the denly you’ve got Maria Maria. Or your ancestor Sven Anders- centuries across Europe, generally following commercial common surnames, including Smith, Miller, Taylor, Clark, two. But it wasn’t until Alexander Beider issued his compre- son’s son is named Magnus Svensson. trade routes. Walker, Wright, Baker, Carter, Stewart, Turner, Parker, hensive A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian 20 21 Discover Your Roots < familytreemagazine.com> Empire (Avotaynu) that I learned the name actually meant In our classification scheme, hereditary family names FREE DOWNLOAD someone “from the village of Krasnoe” and that it was com- based on nicknames often describe an ancestor’s appearance Note facts about your family names on a Surname Worksheet mon in certain localities in Belarus. (stature, hair, eyes, complexion, size), a characteristic or trait <familytreemagazine.com/discover-your-roots-summer-2013>. Bob Allen of New York City recently told me of his fam- (strong, bold, brave), financial status, habits or special skills. ily name’s place-relation evolution that took an interesting Nickname-based names were popular in Italy and Portugal. turn. The original name was Greenberg or “green moun- Sometimes, this form was mixed with the patronymic system used, as in the name of singer Jenny Lind. Beginning in the tain.” When his ancestors came from Russia to America, as in the Italian D’Onofrio, “son of a giant.” 20th century, the Swedish government encouraged creation they settled in lower Manhattan on Allen Street, named for Like occupational names, surnames from nicknames vary of new surnames not based on the patronymic system. Ethan Allen (and his Green Mountain men of Vermont), and by language. So, for example, if an ancestor had red hair or a • JEWISH: Even at the time of the mass wave of immigra- changed their name accordingly. ruddy complexion, he might have been called: tion from 1880-1920, hereditary surnames among Eastern Official names of towns and villages began as descriptive • E NGLISH: Read, Rede, Reed, Bay, Gough, Rudd, Ruddy, Ruff, European Jews were relatively new—maybe 100 years old names given to them by neighbors, and the original bearers Russ, Russell, Rust or less. In their villages, they were known as “Yudel the tin- of surnames based on localities were inhabitants of these • S COTTISH: Reid smith” or “Mendel, son of Mordechai.” For millennia, Jews places. Suffixes such as -ton, -wick, -ley, -thorpe, -ham, -land • I RISH: Flynn, Gooch had been using a patronymic naming tradition. and -ford described English locations. For instance, Sedgwick • FRENCH: Larousse, Rouse, Rousseau, Roux The Jews of Spain, who as a result of the Inquisition means “Siggi’s dwelling or dairy farm” and Stratford means • G ERMANY: Roth migrated throughout Europe, the Ottoman Empire and the Most Common US Surnames “Roman road near a river crossing.” Scottish locations turned • HU NGARIAN: Voros Middle East, used hereditary family names as early as the into surnames include Carmichael (“castle of St. Michael”) • I TALIAN: Pintozzi, Purpura, Rossini, Rossetti 11th century. The development of these names was by choice. British surnames still dominate the top 20 list of American and Forbes (“field place”). • S LOVAKIAN: Hudak Not so for their brethren in Eastern Europe. There, sur- surnames, but according to David Word, staff demographer German and Jewish names often added an -er to the name If he had no money, he might have been known as: name adoption was required by government edict, beginning at the US Census Bureau, changes have definitely occurred of the locality, such as Bamberger, Danzinger or Berliner.