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Currents
August 2018
Currents
August 2018
> continued from page 18
By: Dr. Joanie McConnell
FAMILY NAMES
Fascinating, Funny and Not So Flattering
Once upon a time, when communities were small,
there was no pressing need for last names. Every-
body knew each other. When
small villages, however, turned
into cities and when people
began to travel far and wide, sur-
names became an important and
convenient way of identifying indi-
viduals.
In the West, surnames can
generally be divided into five cat-
egories. First of all, there are the
so-called patronymic surnames
based on the father’s name. To
indicate this ancestry ID, the suf-
fix –son was added to the first
name. Thus, Wilson is William’s
son, Anderson is Andrew’s son,
and Robinson is Robert’s son.
For patronymic surnames from
Ireland and Scotland, the ances-
tor ID prefix goes before the
name. Irish surnames start with
O’: O’Leary or O’Toole. Scottish
surnames use Mac: MacKenzie
or MacMillan. Names beginning
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with Mc such as McConnell or McDonald can be
either Scottish or Irish – sometimes a dauntingly
dangerous distinction to make.
If your last name begins with Fitz, the ancestry
goes back to the eleventh century when William,
Duke of Normandy, conquered England. Fitz is the
old French word for “son.” So the first Fitzhugh was
the son of Hugh. If your surname happens to be
Fitzroy, then one of your forefathers was “son of the
king. ” Don’t get too proud because this surname
was actually a euphemism for the king’s illegitimate
son!
The second category of surnames indicates pro-
fession or trade. Surnames such as Baker, Butler,
Carpenter, Clark, Smith, Taylor or Weaver require no
explanation. Surnames such as Duke, Earl or King
indicate titles held in the past. Others are clearly reli-
gious in origin: Abbott, Bishop, Monk or Priest.
The third category consists of location names.
Surnames such as Bridge(s), Field(s), Green,
Meadow(s) and Wood(s) tell us that once upon a
continued on page 20 >
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