Which Origin Fits the Name?

You want to know where your last name came from. You want to know what secrets it may hold about your family, about your ancestors’ lives or at least where they lived. You can certainly find out much interesting information about your ancestors from tracing the origin of your surname. There is a good chance your surname indicates where your family originally lived. Or it may tell you what one of your male ancestor’s names was. It may also tell you what your ancestor did for a living. However, it is not as straightforward as it sounds.

There are many pitfalls to encounter when tracing the origin of your surname. First, the spelling of surnames has often been changed over the generations, most likely when your ancestors first came to the United States. Either the immigration authorities did not spell your last name properly on the official documents or, particularly in the case of ethnic groups, the family chose to change the spelling and sound of the name to fit the English-speaking community into which they were trying to fit.

Another common difficulty that arises when trying to trace the origin of your family surname is that one particular name may have more than one possible origin. For example, the name Smith may be derived form the occupation or it may be derived from the word “smethe”, meaning smooth, such as in the town of Smithfield (smooth field) near London, England. It may also come from Smite, which meant a dirty stream, and may indicate that the ancestors lived near the Smite.

With the variety of prefixes and suffixes and alternate spellings, tracing your surname is bound to be an adventure. There are basic rules that accompany the surnames from various places around the world, so familiarize yourself with them. This includes basic knowledge such as Mc and Mac means “the son of” in either Irish or Scottish. The key is to try to trace back to the immigration records of your ancestors and find out how the name was spelled then. You will find where your ancestor immigrated from and this may lead you to the country of origin for the surname. From there, you can find the correct spelling for the name and trace its location in that country.

Regardless of where your surname originated, it may reveal information such as the place where your family lived or what they did for a living. What you find out may surprise you. You may learn that your family has connections of nobility, or they may have been a bunch of thieves. They may have been simple country folk or they may have been rich merchants living in the city. Whatever you find, it will be information you will enjoy sharing with the rest of your family and something you can tell your children and grandchildren so they can pass on their family history.