Originally published at: A look at the meaning and origins of Western surnames | Boing Boing
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Mine essentially translates to “heathen.”
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Mine essentially translates to “cherries”.
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Mine is like “son of a merchant”… I think.
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I lived in Germany back in the 90’s and had a neighbor whose name was Hassenoren - basically rabbit ears. We had a few beers in our garden one day and I asked about it, and he explained that way back when - the pope decreed all would have last names. The pope gave the nobility their last names, the bishops the local nobility, the village priests the local peasants. The local priests were operating under the assumption that those with money would make a large contribution to have their names changed - no one wanted to be name Geldwasser (gold water - slang for pee). My neighbor who was a physician - puffed out his chest and explained that as I could see - he came from a long line of cheap bastards.
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While talking about the fact that many surnames were occupations of the name-holder, the narrator of this video opined that this would be a nightmare to do today. So, now I need to recommend the science fiction novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry.
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Mine is “of the ash grove.” Based on our family crest, it’s pretty clear we were peons from way back!
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My surname’s origin is not 100% certain, but most likely means son of horse. The original gaelic spelling was probably something like MacEochaidh. The spelling has been altered over the years to include multiple common and uncommon Irish last names, including McCoy, McCaughey, and my surname, which I altered to create my username here.
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So, your given name is Bojack?
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No, but if I get another dog or cat, that’s definitely going on the list.
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McDonald – Son of Donald. Isn’t that exciting? Oddly enough the family name isn’t based on the man (Somerled) who started the family line in Scotland, but instead on his son Donald.
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[Iceland has entered the chat]
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I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t mention the English family name of “Satan” in the discussion of occupation names. (Which it is, surprisingly. Well, to me, anyways.) It dates back to the religious “mystery plays,” in which apparently performers would have consistent roles - one of which was, of course, Satan.
I’ve read a number of different explanations for my own family name, and I’m not sure how credible some are. The most credible is that it’s derived from a first name - but it’s impossible to know what name, as all that was retained was the first syllable, which apparently was in use for a variety of names at the time, male and female. Another, completely different, explanation I’ve read - and I don’t know if it’s based on serious scholarship - is that it’s a corruption/Anglification of the name for an old pagan god.
I knew someone whose last name was two archaic words (in their language) for “slope.” Presumably their ancestor lived up quite a hill.
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My last name results from an estrangement between my great great grandfather and his father, resulting in the son taking the name of a family friend. Or so it goes.
He was a oilman from Southern California-- so “There will be blood” might be appropriate watching.
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My dad’s maternal grandfather immigrated from Germany and was recorded as having the surname of Becker on his arrival.
We found in an old family bible that the original name was Bäcker, which is better translated to Baker.
There had to have been plenty of family names that shifted on entering the United States.
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In our family, we have a lot of Muellers, or Millers (when Anglicized). I believe Dad’s family was mostly small craftsmen, although I haven’t been able to find out exactly what our patronym refers to. Ditto on Mom’s side of the family. Most likely it refers to a locale, also very popular when naming comes up.
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My family name has similar issues… I’ve seen at least a couple of variants of the original gaelic, and it’s sort of all over the map, too.
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