Surname Meanings and History

Understanding the history of your ancestors' surnames may help you with your genealogy research and can give you a clue as to your ancestors' lives.

Most surnames fall into four categories:

• Descendants/Given names -- prefixes or suffixes are added to a given name to establish a relationship. e.g. Anderson, O'Connor, Fitzgerald, MacDonald.
• Occupational names -- indicates a person's career. e.g. Baker, Brewer, Miller, Smith.
• Geographic or location names -- derived from where a person lived. This could be a place name, e.g. London, or describe the landscape, e.g. Hill, Pond.  
• Nicknames or descriptive names -- suggest a person's distinguishing characteristic, e.g. Short, Brown, Long, Fairchild.

Name dictionaries use historical documents to trace a name throughout history. Several of the dictionaries in the Genealogy & Local History Room can tell you a name's meaning and etymology and may help you place the name in historical and geographical context.

Some of the best dictionaries for American name research include:

• Dictionary of American Family Names
• Family Names: How Our Surnames Came to America

Also look for dictionaries for your specific ethnic group. For example: 

British: British Family Names: Their Origin and Meaning With Lists of Scandinavian, Frisian, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman Names 

Chinese: In Search of Your Asian Roots: Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames

German: German-American Names

Hispanic: Hispanic Surnames and Family History

Irish: Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames 

Italian: Our Italian Surnames

Jewish: A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History
Polish: Polish Surnames: Origins & Meanings

Look for more name dictionaries in the Genealogy & Local History Room.