and what part of the world does it hail from? and do you know how your ancestors came by or chose that name?
Mine is John my ancestors were Welsh and my 8 x great grandfather took it from the name of his father. This is called patronymic naming. It is common in most societies, where somone uses their fathers name as a surname, Ireland we have O'Connor meaning son of Connor, Scottish for son of is Mac, In Europe we have Fitz, Van and in some scandanavian countries some surnames end in son.
A lot of surnames derive from placenames such as Beckham, or Nicknames like Redman.
2007-01-19 13:57:24 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
This is a really cool Q! Mine is Fox. My family came from Germany to the States in the late 1700s. Our original name was Fuchs which is pronounced fox and also means fox (the animal). My ancestor Johan Fuchs (the 1st to immigrate) changed his name to John Fox when he became a citizen.
2007-01-19 15:13:10 · answer #1 · answered by Foxgirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My name is Norwegian Isakson. Before the Norwegian government ordered the surnames to be standard as they are today. A surname was the fathers given name with the appropriate suffix i.e. son, sen, or dater. So quite litterally it would have meant son of Isak.
2007-01-21 08:58:20 · answer #2 · answered by ikeman32 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mine is Lynch, which is Irish but it traces back to when the French settled in western Ireland (older versions are O'Loinichi or something like that)...there was also a Judge Lynch who ruled to hang his own son for committing a crime (I think in the US, not Ireland) and that's how "lynch" also came to be used for hanging -- as in a lynch mob or lynching -- at least I've been told that and read several times although it might be more of a myth.
2007-01-20 00:04:37 · answer #3 · answered by elf2002 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The surname family name also is different nickname.
2007-01-19 14:12:00 · answer #4 · answered by Iamman 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
mine is aljebori and its my tribe name ( i am arabian ) its been took from our grand father name " jabor" and in english they use it in mathematic (aljebra) they took from us its a science that an arabian "alkhawarzmi" scientist envent it and named it refering to its meaning " enforcing "
2007-01-20 01:33:19 · answer #5 · answered by hatota 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my surname is Avital meaning "father of dew" in hebrew
2007-01-19 14:44:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
mine is Martel, it is french, and it means "hammer". first person i know of who had it as their last name was charles martel, the frankish king.
2007-01-19 14:38:50 · answer #7 · answered by Alicia 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
mine is Okechukwu (from my father's side. he is nigerian). it is pronounced (o-k-choo-koo). it means " being close to God" or " neighboring god". i'm not sure how they got it, but that is my last name.
2007-01-19 14:02:09 · answer #8 · answered by ipodlady231 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
mine is german for "flower valley". i do have some german ancestors but not many.
2007-01-19 17:00:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋