surname

English Online Dictionary. What means surname‎? What does surname mean?

English

Alternative forms

• sirname (archaic, eggcorn)
• sur-name (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivalent to sur- +‎ name.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: sûrʹnām'; IPA^(key): /ˈsɝˌneɪm/
• (UK) enPR: sûʹnām'; IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːˌneɪm/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)neɪm

Noun

surname (plural surnames)

1. The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:surname
2. (obsolete) Synonym of epithet, an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement.
3. (obsolete) Synonym of nickname, an additional name given to a person, place, or thing, a byname.
4. (Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.
5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (Scotland, obsolete) A clan.

Usage notes

• The term surname may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning; most notably in the case of Roman cognomens.
• Both surname and last name are extremely common in all dialects of English, the former being somewhat more preferred in the UK and the latter in the US. However, because of the cultural and gendered associations involved with both terms, the use of family name is increasingly preferred in multicultural contexts.

Hypernyms

• name

Hyponyms

• bride's name, maiden name (surname prior to marriage); patronym, patronymic (a surname specifically referencing one's father's given name); matronym, matronymic (a surname specifically referencing one's mother's given name)

Coordinate terms

• See given name; middle name; epithet, cognomen, nickname; aneponymous

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

surname (third-person singular simple present surnames, present participle surnaming, simple past and past participle surnamed)

1. (transitive) To give a surname to.
2. (transitive) To call by a surname.

Translations

Statistics

The most common surnames in the United States, as of the 2010 census (with number of persons bearing said surname):

1. Smith; 2,442,977

2. Johnson; 1,932,812

3. Williams; 1,625,252

4. Brown; 1,437,026

5. Jones; 1,425,470

6. Garcia; 1,166,120

7. Miller; 1,161,437

8. Davis; 1,116,357

9. Rodriguez; 1,094,924

10. Martinez; 1,060,159

See also

• Name change on Wikipedia
• Wiktionary appendix of surnames

References

Anagrams

• Mansure, manures

Middle English

Alternative forms

• surename, sourname, sorname, syrname, sire name

Etymology

Partial calque of Old French surnoun, from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen; equivalent to sur- +‎ name. Forms beginning with sir-, syr-, etc. represent reanalysis of the first element as sire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsurnaːm(ə)/, /ˈsirnaːm(ə)/

Noun

surname (plural surnames)

1. epithet, nickname
   • c. 1400, "St. John Baptist", 928 in W. M. Metcalfe, Legends of the saints: in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century (1896), II 249:

2. surname, family name
3. alias, appellation
   • c. 1395, Wycliff's Bible, Ecclus. XLVII 19:

Descendants

• English: surname

References

• “surnāme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.