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Creating Surnames

Main Page
This Web Page tryes to explore the Historical Roots of my Surname.

About Slovenia
The Republic of Slovenia lies at the heart of Europe where the Alps and the Mediterranean meet the Pannonian plains and the mysterious Karst.

History of Surnames
Today, almost everyone has a surname, but this was not always the case...

Creating Surnames
Family names  may have grown out of a person's surroundings or job, or the name of an ancestor.

Mis-spellings
Many of the Surnames we know today, are just mis-spellings of original surnames.

Did you know?
In Turkey, surnames didn't become mandatory until 1933!

E-mail: janez.opara@siol.net

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Visitors since 10.03.1998:

Last updated:
05.01.2003

Occupation
The local house builder, food preparer, grain grinder and suit maker, would be named: John Carpenter, John Cook, John Miller and John Taylor. The person who made barrels was called cooper. The blacksmith was called Smith. Every village had its share of Smiths, Carpenters and Millers. The millers in one town weren't necessarily related to the Millers in the next town.

Location
The John who lived over the hill became known as John Overhill; the one who dwelled near a stream might be dubbed John Brook, Many locational surnames originated as place names. You can tell that a surname is a locational place name if it ends with one of the regular place name elements, such as -hill, -ford, -wood, -brook, -well, and so on. Less easily recognized locational surnames end with -ton, -ham, -wick, -stead meaning a farm, or small settlement. Other common locational endings are -don, (a hill), -bury (a fortification) or -leigh, or -ley (a clearing).

Patronymic (father's name)
Many of these surnames can be recognized by the ten-nination son, such as Williamson, Jackson, etc. Some endings used by other countries to indicate "son" are: Armenians - ian; Danes and Norwegians - sen; Finns - nen; Greeks - poulos; Spaniards - ez; and Poles - wiecz, Prefixes denoting "son" are the Welsh - Ap, the Scots and Irish - Mac, and the Normans - Fitz. So, John the son of Randolph became John fitz-Randolph because "fitz" means son of." In Wales, David the son of John tacked ap" in front of his father's name, and David ap John was soon being called David Upjohn. in Scotland, Gilleain's descendants were known as MacGilleain and later shortened to Madeab, McClean, McLane, and all the other versions.

Characteristic
An unusually small person might be labeled Small, Short, Little or Lyfle, A large man might be named Longfellow, Large, Lang or Long. Many persons having characteristics of a certain animal would be given the animal's name. Examples: a sly person might be named Fox; a good swimmer, Fish; a quiet man, Dove; etc.

Many historians believe that surnames derived from places (locational) were the first to become hereditary. Surnames evolving from nicknames or descriptive traits (characteristic) are also of early origin. Surnames taken from occupations came later, and those of patronymic origin were the last to become hereditary. Even though patronymic names have been in use a long time, they would change with every generation: William's son John would be known as John Williamson, while his son William would be William Johnson. Surnames that are the most fun, the most surprising and sometimes even embarrassing, are the characteristic names. one word of caution, though: do not be distressed if your name originally meant something you consider uncomplimentary.

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