What does your Surname literally mean?

[Xyan]

My surname's CHNG... or ZHUANG in pinyin. It means "host" or "mansion".

 

[Tiigon]

I don't know anything about my surname.

 

[Rossiya]

I have absolutely no idea whatsoever and I actually tried to research it for months.

I can't even guess what language it is from. In its current form, it sounds "mostly" Romanian, but I'm not sure if that's the origin of it. Could very well be, but could also just as well not be. Basically, again, I have no idea.

Jew.

As for me, my surnames mean:

of the Reds
big cock
one of good faith, or one who laughs
one who lives at a temple on a hill

 

[Mirc]

Jew.

What do you mean?

 

[Rossiya]

What do you mean?

When somebody can not find any meaning of their surname anywhere, it usually turns out that the name is originally Jewish.

From my personal experience anyway. (Although I am not Jewish in any way myself)

 

[bhsup]

Its original spelling before immigration butchered it when my family moved from Canada to the USA in the 1800s was apparently French for "surprise" or "surprising" or something like that. I like to think one of my ancestors streaked the court of Louis XX or something like that. SURPRISE!

 

[damnation]

I have two.
McClintock = Son of some Gaelic dude with good hair

Smith =

son of <first name>.

originating from some part of Scandinavia (father's side only is known), then moved down to Denmark (where ther is a <first name> hamlet) and then to Germany. at some point we ended up with the -sen instead of the -son.

-sen is the Norwegian and Danish version, -son is Swedish

 

[raketooy]

There's a village in Finland with that name and that's probably where my name originates. Don't know more about the name. It's a quite unusual Finnish name in that it is only four letters and it has no obvious meaning.

 

[Annex]

'Simpleton' or something humiliatingly embarrassing like that.

Eh, yup. According to ancestry.com:

Nickname from Middle English finch &#8216;finch&#8217; (Old English finc). In the Middle Ages this bird had a reputation for stupidity. It may perhaps also in part represent a metonymic occupational name for someone who caught finches and sold them as songsters or for the cooking pot. The surname is found in all parts of Britain but is most common in Lancashire. See also Fink.

 

[Mirc]

When somebody can not find any meaning of their surname anywhere, it usually turns out that the name is originally Jewish.

From my personal experience anyway. (Although I am not Jewish in any way myself)

Would be very surprising, as the region where my paternal father is from has always had one of the lowest (if not THE lowest) percentage of Jews in the past 100 years or so. (famous for not being affected by the Holocaust during WW2 because there were pretty much none there, etc)

Anything is possible though. I just doubt it because I don't know anyone related to me who is one, and Jews in Romania generally have surnames following certain patterns (usually patronyms originating in names of animals, feelings, and also sometimes foreign-sounding names).

It's probably just as good as a guess as any other. I just don't know, and don't really have a clue, so I won't accept or dismiss any theory.

 

[scherbchen]

Meadow lands surrounded by water.

best hippie name... ever.

 

[scherbchen]

-sen is the Norwegian and Danish version, -son is Swedish

ah, thanks.

 

[emzie]

Swiss German is such an odd dialect that I'm not quite sure. The surname looks and sounds like a mash of high (hoch) and school (schule) to me. I thought possibly a teacher at an old university but my German isn't that great and I have no clue how far "schule" goes back as a word.

 

[mrt144]

Anyone know about Treyens? I certainly don't.

 

[Harald]

Mine simply means son of Sven I guess. It was quite common to be named after your father and when that practise ended I guess the last father to name his children after himself(first name) was called Sven.

 

[mitsho]

Swiss German is such an odd dialect that I'm not quite sure. The surname looks and sounds like a mash of high (hoch) and school (schule) to me. I thought possibly a teacher at an old university but my German isn't that great and I have no clue how far "schule" goes back as a word.

I'm Swiss German, may I help you? ;-) I know that Schuler is a Swiss surname that is not that rare (but I would put it in the bottom half regarding spreading), I've never heard of Hochschuler?

 

[RedRalph]

According to a coffee mug my dad has: Protector.

Same as mine then. yours the one that beginds with 'W' or with 'Ph'?

 

[emzie]

I'm Swiss German, may I help you? ;-) I know that Schuler is a Swiss surname that is not that rare (but I would put it in the bottom half regarding spreading), I've never heard of Hochschuler?

"[snip]" it's kinda a mash up and change the e to i, like I've heard a lot of Swiss words end with. Drop the "S" and mash it into the end of Hoch and you can kinda see it....

edit: when I run for political office and the other guy googles my name looking for dirt and he finds this place... I'm screwed.

 

[Taliesin]

My name just means 'worker,' and my first name is also a kind of job.

More excitingly, my mom bears the name of a Leeds suburb.

 

[Rossiya]

More excitingly, my mom bears the name of a Leeds suburb.

London ?