Sometimes, surnames give a muddy picture of our family history. For example, the name Dale may mean valley in England, but a study of the area could reveal that it was a city or town in Scotland or Germany.
Surnames fall into four categories: patronymic, occupational, nickname, or place name. Research in linguistics, sociology, and history is advancing the theory that names can tell us much about ancestors.
Origins
Most surnames began as nicknames or descriptive names that described a physical feature, appearance, or personality. For example, someone with dark hair might be called Black or Reid (redhead); a small person could be given the name Little; and a man of great strength might have picked up the name Armstrong—other surname origins from place names such as Heath and Dale or specific places like Preston and Stanley. And still, others are patronymic – those derived from a father or mother like Davidson, Jones, and Peterson.
Some last names, such as Smith (smith), Baker, Shepherd, and Carpenter, also indicate a trade or occupation. It was once common for women to take their husbands’ surname after marriage, and children would also share that same surname. This is now less common but can be found in some families. Other names are toponymic, based on where a person lived or worked. For instance, the surname Chen came from the name of a state in China. Then there are habitational surnames such as Baczewski from the Polish town of Bacze.
Meanings
The meaning of a surname can be as enjoyable as its origin. Some were derived from occupations or physical traits. For example, someone with red hair might have the surname Red or its variants like Reid or Reed. Others came from place names that were known to the locals. These are called toponymic surnames.
Some were even descriptive adjectives. For instance, Bragg was a name given to bold or daring people—other adjectives turned into surnames, including Bright, Smart, and Wise.
It’s important to note that a name was often spelled in different ways throughout history due to variations in the spelling of the language and the tendency of clerks to spell as they heard it. Also, it was not uncommon for siblings to have variants of the same surname.
Etymology
An etymologist is someone who studies the origins of words and their meanings. A surname is a person’s family name or last name, and it can tell you a lot about where your ancestors lived, what they did for a living, what they looked like, and how they got on with each other many centuries ago.
Some surnames refer to a characteristic, for example, the color of hair (Black, Blake, Reid) or a defining feature like crooked legs (Cruikshank). Others are descriptive, such as small, short, and stout. Others relate to a place, for instance, a hill or green, or a village, e.g., Hurst and Southcott, or to a river or valley, e.g., marsh, brook, and bottom. Some are patronymic, referring to a father (Johnson), while others are matronymic, referring to a mother.
There are also occupational surnames. A smith made things like pots, pans, and ironwork; a baker baked bread; a weaver wove cloth; a wheelwright built wheels; a horner made equipment for cattle, e.g., crocks and spoons from cow horns; and a fowler caught birds.
Distribution
Surnames can be a significant clue to where to start in family research, but they don’t tell the whole story. Mapping the distribution of a surname at different points in time can reveal interesting patterns and help to narrow or broaden your research focus.
In contrast, medium-frequency surnames tended to cluster near other surnames of similar frequencies rather than the controls. Similarly, rare surnames were more likely to be outliers surrounded by single haplotype clusters.
However, it is essential to remember that these patterns do not imply a causal link between a surname and Y chromosomes because males share only their father’s Y chromosome. For this reason, it is likely that other factors, such as birth, death, and migration rates, must also be considered to explain the correlation between surnames and their Y-chromosome frequencies.
One-Name Studies
Unlike family historians who closely follow their own families, one-name researchers concentrate on all persons sharing a surname worldwide. Their research covers all occurrences of the name and includes close spelling variants. This macro perspective provides valuable data to genealogists and neonatologists (studying names’ etymology, meaning, and origin).
One-name studies became popular in England and Wales in the late 20th century because details of all births, marriages, and deaths in that country are in the public domain, with online indexes. These resources allow simple profiles to be drawn up for most persons bearing a particular surname without knowing their details or needing to contact them.
Like all genealogy, a one-name study involves collecting and storing vast data. It is, therefore, essential to establish sound backup procedures using a cloud-based service supplemented with offline hard drives and external media. It is also recommended that a registrant develops a study website and uses powerful note-taking software for collating, indexing, and searching large datasets.