Is there a website that finds origins of last names?

Question

Thanks.

Answer 1

There are several out there, but keep in mind that if you have a rare surname, you may not find your name amongst them.

http://www.swyrich.com/
http://www.houseofnames.com/
http://genealogy.about.com/library/surna...
http://surnames.behindthename.com/...
http://links2history.com/names.htm...
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...

I hope these help. Please keep in mind though that not all names have a "meaning" Surnames, for the most part, drew their meanings from the lives of men in the Middle Ages, and their origins can be divided into four main categories:


OCCUPATIONS
Many names as you probably already know like Baker, Farmer, Miller, and Carpenter are names that reflect the persons trade.

PLACES
Other names especially names in the Netherlands are reflective of places. The prefix "van" means from and "van der" means "from the" like van Heukelem, van Appeldorn, van Dijk, etc. Other examples of place names are Westwood, Parris, Springfield, and Holland.

PATRONYMIC
English and Scandinavian names ending in "son" are patronymic surnames, as are many names prefixed with the Gaelic "Mac," the Norman "Fitz," the Irish "O," and the Welsh "ap."
Examples Erickson, Williamson, and Ellison, O'Neil, O'Brien, Hendriks, Williams, McDonald etc

DESCRIPTIVE
These are derived from a physical or other characteristic of first bearer. They make up an estimated 10% of all surname or family names. These descriptive surnames are thought to have originally evolved as nicknames during the Middle Ages when men created nicknames or pet names for his neighbors and friends based on personality or physical appearance. Examples Strong, Goodman, etc

Without knowing what your last name is, it is hard to tell what your name means. But keep in mind that there are names that don't fit any of these catagories. It is fairly common for different branches of the same family to carry different last names, as the majority of English and American surnames have, in their history, appeared in four to more than a dozen variant spellings. Some people changed their surnames to something totally different. For instance, I had a line that the immigrating ancestor had the surname Hanson from Denmark. Upon arrival he changed the family surname to Fynboh. The only Fynbohs in this country descend from him. Why would he do that? My point is this. Your surname may not have a meaning at all. There are many of us regulars on this board who enjoy helping others. If you feel so inclined, post the name in the form of a question and let us have a stab at it. I hope this long drawn out answer helps. Blessings

Answer 2

Hey Mother Trucker,

Great question. The sites that do tell origins need to be validated with information that can be believed.

If you use Swyrich.com by James Wolf, that site has proven to be accurate with backup information from Family Search by LDS.

So you look up the SURNAME in Swyrich.com, then look it up in Family Search. See if the actual people and dates found agree to some extent by date and location with the results of Swyrich.com.

Be careful of the writeups in Swyrich.com, it seems that every english name Sits in the House of Lords...

Here are some of the other sites also.

Answer 3

Here are some of the ones I found:
http://www.last-names.net/Articles/Origin.asp
http://www.last-names.net/
http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/bl_meaning.htm
http://genealogy.about.com/od/surnames/a/surname_meaning.htm
I googled "origin of last names".

Answer 4

www.houseofnames.com