How do u know where certain Last names came from..like where county your ancestors came from?

Answer 1

Google what you want to find, but try putting your search in quotation marks. i found the meaning of my last name in French.

Answer 2

This site
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
will tell you name origins. If you click on "Learn More" it will offer you a trial subscription, so be careful. The name look-up is free. Lots of the people here complain about Ancestry, which is as silly as people who watch the Super Bowl complaining about the Budweiser advertisements.

Name origins are clues, not facts. Lots of French and Germans changed their name to more English-sounding ones when they got to England or the USA.

You find out where your ancestors came from by starting with yourself and tracing back. It is a hobby. It takes longer than a day or two if you do it right.

The Internet isn't God; He knows everything, it doesn't. Some people can find some facts about some ancestors on the Internet, but there are things you cannot find on-line and some of the facts you do find on-line are false.

That is what makes it fun; it is like being a detective, except no sultry blond ever walks into the office, so you can never say "I smelled cheap perfume and trouble". We don't fill people as full of holes as eight pounds of moldy Swiss cheese, either, something the detectives in the books I read do all the time.

The resolved Q are full of links and tips, if you want to take up the sport.

Answer 3

Some names are more likely to show up in a particular country - generally because of language differences. Bauer is German for farmer, and you'll find most Bauers came from German speaking countries. Ski is a common ending for Polish surnames.

And census/directory data has been compiled to show concentrations of names.

However, your surname doesn't necessarily give away your paternal line's country of origin. Many immigrants changed or altered their names in the US. Many German-Americans changed their names during WW1 & 2, so Schmitz became Smith, Bauer to Bower, etc.

Plus, there may have been an adoption, or other name change for any number of reasons. Researching your family from you backward is the only real way to know what country(s) your family really came from.

Answer 4

ask at your library if they have a book on surnames. we have one that lists thousands of last names and explains their meaning and origin.