Comment by Karellen
3 years ago
> Surnames often don't mean anything.
That depends on where you're from. Often in the English-speaking world, they do.
To take the another commenter's example, "Smith" comes from a word meaning, roughly, "craftsperson", as in "blacksmith". The ancestor that the surname comes from was likely either a blacksmith, or some other type of crafter whose profession can be described as "smithing".
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smith
Likewise, the surname "Wright" comes from a word with a similar meaning, as in "playwright", "wheelwright" or "cartwright".
It's more fair to say those names meant something at some point. Now they just mean you are descended from someone with that surname.
They haven't lost those meanings at all. They may not have any special significance for you, but the meanings of the names remain nonetheless.
When I meet a "Johnson", my mind immediately goes to "John's son" even though "John" is probably a distant ancestor of the person, not their father. The name's meaning has not changed.
"Johnson", and similar names in other languages, can also indicate connection with the early Christian church, not a literal connection with a person named John. "Johnson" in this sense means someone who is a 'son' of John the Baptist (aka, a Christian). Or so I've read.
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> Now they just mean you are descended from someone with that surname.
Adoption exists. I'm the first in my patriline to be born with my surname. So yes, technically I am descended from a person with that surname, but my father wasn't.
Also, changing a name on marriage happens.
You're right. Those events just move you further away from any past meanings of the surname.
Sure, but I hope an etymological dictionary would be within the budgetary means of a bank's compliance department so that they don't have to lean on their customers for it.
Where does the name Dickinson come from?
"son of Richard"
https://www.houseofnames.com/dickinson-family-crest