how do i find out where my surname comes from?

Question

i am trying to find out where my surname comes from or what it means, are there any websites where you can find out?

Answer 1

www.ancestry.com
At the top, it gives you a range of options - click on Learning Center.
Then, go down to "Learn helpful information and interesting facts about your surname and more" - click on it. This takes you to a search where you can type in your surname, and search for all the following, including meanings:
Civil War Service
Immigration Year
Life Expectancy
Name Distribution (UK)
Name Distribution (US)
Name Meanings
Newspaper Headlines
Occupations
Place of Origin
Ports of Departure

It is free- you may have to create an account with them, I'm not sure, because I have one and it recognizes me when I sign in, but I did not give them a credit card or pay anything.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The Imperial War Museum is actually very helpful - or at least it was. That's where I found out about the origins of my surname first off, then I did some searching based on that, online.

Answer 3

Try this site. It's free and came up with an origin for my surname, which is rather unusual. Many other sites came up with diddly squat.

http://www.surnamedb.com/

Answer 4

If you wanted to find out your surname ,only the way to find FUNGSHUI MASTERS.

Answer 5

Contact the Genealogical Society in London. They should point you in the right direction.

Answer 6

go on google search for

free name origin

Answer 7

you could try google or ask jeeves. they will show sites that you could try. failing that you could try www.genesreunited.co.uk