Surames and Their Meaning

Even since the 12th century, surnames have been in use in Europe. From time to time you probably have wondered yourself how certain surnames come into existence. Basically, four different factors are responsible for the development of most surnames and family names. Here we put them together.

Origin

Some surnames derive from a person’s origin, i.e. the city or country where a person comes from or the place where they lived. Surnames such as West or Hill belong in that category.

First Name

Surnames may also develop from first names. In order to tell two people with identical first names apart, first name of another family member is added to the first name of the person in question. Examples are Scott or Adams.

Profession

Creating names that derive from professions were also very popular. Good examples are Baker, Taylor, Carter, or Cook.

Nickname

Surnames evolving out of nicknames are comparable to our nicknames today. In both cases, certain features that appear to characterize the person serve to create the surname. This may also be the seasons. See, for instance, Summer, Brown, White.

The table below lists quite a number of names and their meaning. It illustrates quite well that certain surnames have their equivalent in a number of different languages:

Quelle: Visually.

This post is also available in: German