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What Can Your Surname Tell You?

At least for purposes of research, just
about every genealogist rues the
ancestor whose last name is common,
and therefore hard to trace, and
rejoices in their ancestors with more
unusual names. While an unusual
surname undeniably can make
genealogical research easier, it doesn't
corner the market on interesting and
informative origins.
In Western Europe, surnames first
came about in Medieval times as
civilizations grew larger and it became
necessary to distinguish between
people.
Sometimes, names were based on
occupation: a blacksmith may have
been "John le Smith" (John the Smith)
which became, over the generations,
"Smith," and a person named Appleby
lived by or tended the apple orchard.
Celebrity Robin Leach's ancestor was
probably a physician (because in
medieval times, physicians used
leeches to bleed people). Actor
Christopher Reeve's ancestor, the one
to first take the surname, was most
likely a sheriff, and Sarah Jessica
Parker's early medieval ancestor
probably tended a park.
Other surnames were based on
location: an Acker, which comes from
"acre," lived near a field, and a Hall
lived in or worked in a hall of a
Medieval nobleman's house. And it
doesn't take much imagination to
figure out what a forebear named
Young or Strong or Gray looked like.
Higher social status surnames are
more rare today — how many
Rothschilds (from the German "red
shield") did you go to school with? —
and lower status ones fairly common.
Lower social status people were also
sometimes given unfortunate names
by others, such as "Tew" (Welsh for
"fat") or "Dullard," which means a
hard or conceited man.
And in many parts of the world
surnames derived from men's names.
A person named Robertson is
descended from someone who was the
"son of Robert," and a MacDonald is
from a Scottish "son of Donald."
Armenian names of this sort generally
end in "-ian," Polish ones in "-ski," and
Irish ones are put together a little
differently, starting with the prefix
"Fitz-."
In Spanish-speaking parts of the
world, people often take both their
mother and father's surnames. And
some families still use family or
"house" names that are not surnames
at all, like the royal Windsors or
Plantagenets.
Asian surnames have different stories.
Most of the approximately 100,000
Japanese surnames in use today only
date from 1868 and the Meiji
Restoration, when surnames were
mandated for the first time. There are
just a few hundred common Chinese
surnames, and 20 of them (which
reflect an entire clan or were adopted
by nobles) are shared by half the
population. There are about 250
Korean surnames, three of them
comprising almost half the Korean
population, and just about 100
Vietnamese ones, with three making
up 60 percent of all names in that
country.
More than 2,600 members at the UK-
based Guild of One-Name Studies
devote their genealogical research to
about 8,400 "one-name studies,"
meaning they study everything known
about a particular surname, whether
the people they research are related
biologically or linked to other family
trees they are studying. Focusing in on
a family surname can be a useful way
to break through a genealogical brick
wall, and most guild members are easy
to reach and willing to share
information (generally they ask, in
return, for you to share your data on a
name).

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