Smith (surname)
 A close-up of a blacksmith at work. Smith became a popular last name for those with this occupation | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsmɪθ/ |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Old English |
| Meaning | derived from smitan, meaning "to smite" |
| Region of origin | England |
| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) | numerous |
| [1][2] | |
Smith is an
2010 census,[8] and more than 500,000 people shared it in the United Kingdom as of 2006.[9] At the turn of the 20th century, the surname was sufficiently prevalent in England to have prompted the statement: "Common to every village in England, north, south, east, and west";[10] and sufficiently common on the (European) continent (in various forms) to be "common in most countries of Europe".[11]
Etymology and history
The name refers to a
Anglo-Saxon times, when inherited surnames were still unknown: Ecceard Smith of County Durham, North East England, was recorded in 975.[12]
A popular misconception holds that at the beginning of the 20th century, when many new immigrants were entering the U.S.,
Anglicised versions of their birth names; the German Schmidt was often Anglicized to Smith not only during the world wars, but also commonly in times of peace, and the Polish equivalent Kowalski
was Anglicized to Smith as well.
Variations
Variations of the surname Smith also remain very common. These include different spellings of the English name, and versions in other languages.
English variations
There is some disagreement about the origins of the numerous variations of the name Smith. The addition of an e at the end of the name is sometimes considered an affectation, but may have arisen either as an attempt to spell smithy or as the Middle English adjectival form of smith,[14] which would have been used in surnames based on location rather than occupation (in other words, for someone living near or at the smithy).[15]
Likewise, the replacement of the i with a y in Smyth or Smythe is also often considered an affectation but may have originally occurred because of the difficulty of reading blackletter text, where Smith might look like Snuth or Simth.[14] However, Charles Bardsley wrote in 1901, "The y in Smyth is the almost invariable spelling in early rolls, so that it cannot exactly be styled a modern affectation."[10]
Some variants (such as
Smithers may in some cases be variants of Smith but in others independent surnames based on a meaning of light and active attributed to smyther.[15] Additional derivatives include Smithman, Smithson and Smithfield (see below).[15] Athersmith may derive from at the Smith.[16]
Other variations focus on specialisms within the profession; for example
wheelsmith[19]
The patronymic practice of attaching son to the end of a name to indicate that the bearer is the child of the original holder has also led to the surnames Smithson and Smisson. Historically, "Smitty" has been a common nickname given to someone with the surname, Smith; in some instances, this usage has passed into "Smitty" being used as a surname itself.[20]
Other languages
Surnames relating to smiths and blacksmiths are found across the world. When relevant, transliterations are included in parentheses and italicised, and adaptations (i.e.
gallicisations
) in brackets. Additionally, brief etymologies are noted if a name used in a certain language derives from another language.
Germanic
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Smit, Smidt |
Danish |
Smed, Smidt (from German) |
Dutch |
Smit, Smid , Smidt
|
Flemish |
Desmet, Smets
|
Frisian |
Smid |
German |
Kowalitz (from Slavic); Schmidt, Schmied,[11] Schmiedel, Schmieden |
Limburgish |
Smeets |
Luxembourgish |
Schmit, Schmitz |
| Yiddish | שמידט (Schmidt), שמיט (Schmitt), שמיץ (Schmitz) |
Romance
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
Catalan |
Farré, Fabra
|
French |
Favre, Faber, Favret |
Galician |
Ferreiro, Ferreira |
Italian |
Ferraro |
| Norman | Lefebvre, Lefèvre
|
Occitan |
Dufaure
|
Portuguese |
Ferreira, Ferreiro |
Romanian |
Feraru, (from Slavic) |
Spanish |
Herrero, Herrera, Ferrera, Ferrero |
Celtic
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
Breton |
ar Gov [ Le Goffic ]
|
Cornish |
an Gov [Angove, Goff, Goffe]; [Trengove] |
Irish |
Mac Gabhann [ MacGowan, McGouran][21]
|
Scottish Gaelic |
Gobha [Gow], Mac a' Ghobhainn [McGowan, MacGowan, McGavin[a]][21] |
Welsh |
Gof [Goff[b]][22] |
Slavic
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
Belarusian |
Кавалевіч ( Kavalyuk), Коваль (Koval )
|
Bosnian |
Kovačić, Kovačević ; Demirdžić (from Ottoman Turkish)
|
Bulgarian |
Ковачевски (Kovačevski), Ковачев (Kovachev), Ковачино (Kovachino) |
Croatian |
, Kovaček |
Czech |
Šmicer (from Bavarian)
|
Kashubian |
Kowalski, Kowalewski |
Macedonian |
Ковачевски (Kovačevski), Ковачев (Kovačev) |
Polish |
Kowal, Kowalewicz, Kowalski, Kowalik, Kowalczyk, Kowalewski, Kuźniar, Kuźniarski; Szmidt (from German) |
Russian |
Ковалевич (Kovalevich), Ковалёв (Kovalyov), Ковальков (Kovalkov), Ковалевский (Kovalevskiy), Кузнецкий (Kuznetskiy), Кузнецов (Kuznetsov), Кузнецовский (Kuznetsovskiy), Кузнечевский (Kuznechevskiy), Кузнеченко (Kuznechenko), Кузнеченков (Kuznechenkov), Кузнечихин (Kuznechikhin); Шмидов (Shmidov) (from German or Yiddish) |
Rusyn |
Ковалькевич (Kovalkevich), Ковалёвич (Kovalyovich), Кузняк (Kuzniak) |
Serbian |
Ковачевић ( Kovač), Ковачев (Kovačev )
|
Slovak |
Kovalík
|
Slovene |
Kovačič
|
Ukrainian |
Ковалевич (Kovalevych), Коваленко (Kovalenko), Ковальчук (Kovalchuk), Коваль (Koval), Ковальков (Kovalkov), Ковалевський (Kovalevskyi), Ковалюк (Kovalyuk) |
Upper Sorbian |
Kowar, Kowarjec |
Other European
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
Albanian |
Nallbani |
Estonian |
Sepp |
Finnish |
Seppä, Seppälä, Seppänen |
Greek |
Σιδεράς (Sideras) |
Hungarian |
Kovács (from Slavic), Koufax (corruption) |
Latvian |
Kalējs; Šmits (from German) |
Lithuanian |
Kalvaitis, Kavaliauskas; Kovalskis (from Slavic) |
South Asian
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
Bengali |
কর্মকার (Karmakar) |
Hindi |
लोहार (Lohar) |
| Kannada | ಕಮ್ಮಾರ (Kammara) |
Malayalam |
കമ്മാരൻ (Kammaaran) |
Nepali |
कामी (Kami) |
Oriya |
କମାର (Kamara) |
Punjabi |
ਲੁਹਾਰ (Lohar) |
Sanskrit |
अयस्काम (Ayaskama), कर्मार (Karmara), लोहकार (Lohakara), व्योकार (Vyokara) |
Tamil |
கம்மாளர் ( Kammalar )
|
Telugu |
కమ్మరి (Kammari) |
Other
| Language | Surnames |
|---|---|
| Arabic | حداد (Haddad) |
Azerbaijani |
Dəmirçi |
Aramaic |
Haddad |
Armenian |
Դարբինյան (Darbinyan, Tarpinyan) |
Balinese |
Pande |
Georgian |
მჭედლიძე (Mchedlidze), მჭედლიშვილი (Mchedlishvili) |
Hebrew |
חדד (Haddad) |
Japanese |
鍛冶屋 (Kajiya) |
Kazakh |
Tömirshi |
| Lingala | Motuli |
Median |
Esmi[citation needed] |
Persian |
زرگر (Zargar) |
Syriac |
ܚܕܕܐ (Hadodo, Hadad, Haddad)[11] |
Tatar |
Tümerche |
Turkish |
Demirci |
Uyghur |
Tömürchi |
See also
- List of people with surname Smith
- List of most common surnames in Europe
- Smith Family (disambiguation)
- Smith (given name)
- Smith (taxonomic authority)
- Smith and Jones (disambiguation)
- Psmith
| Celtic |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Germanic | ||
| Romance | ||
| Semitic | ||
| Slavic |
| |
| Other | ||
| From "spark" rel. to occ. 'smith' | ||
Notes
- ^ Elgin and Galloway
- ^ common in East Anglia in England
References
Citations
- ^ a b Services, Good Stuff IT. "Smith surname meaning, origin, etymology and distribution in Great Britain". Britishsurnames.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "1990 Census Name Files". 30 March 2005. Archived from the original on 30 March 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "SMITH — Surname Meaning and Origin". Genealogy.about.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "UK surnames ranking". Surname Map of UK.
- ^ "Genealogy — Frequently Occurring Surnames From Census 2000". 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ Citation: Brooke, 2006.
- African-AmericanAncestors (2009), pp. 109–110.
- ^ United States Census Bureau. "[1]". 27 December 2016. Accessed 3 November 2019.
- ^ "Surname Profiler". Ucl.ac.uk. 18 January 2006. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ a b Bardsley. English and Welsh Surnames. 1901.
- ^ a b c Citation: Anderson, 1863.
- ^ Citation: Simpson, 2007.
- ^ USCIS Home Page Archived 22 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.
- ^ a b c d Citation: Lower, 1860.
- ^ "Surname Database: Athersmith Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "Surname Database: Arsmith Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "Surname Database: Sixsmith Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "Surname Database: Wildsmith Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ISBN 0399503935.
- ^ a b "Mcgowan Name Meaning & Mcgowan Family History at Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
- ^ "Goff Name Meaning & Goff Family History at Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
Bibliography
- Anderson, William (1863). The Scottish Nation (Volume 3: MAC to ZET). Edinburgh: A. Fullerton & Co. p. 479. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
- Bardsley, Charles Wareing (1901). English and Welsh Surnames. London: ISBN 0-8063-0022-1. Retrieved 3 March 2008. The section heading referenced here reads "Smith, Smyth, Smythe", suggesting these to be the most common variants at the time (1901).
- "Surname Map for Smith in Britain, Ireland and Mann" (map). CelticFamilyMaps.com. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- Brooke, Bob (31 December 2006). "The Mighty Smiths: Dealing With Common Surnames". Everyday Genealogy. Genealogy Today, LLC. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
- CBC News (26 July 2007). "Common surnames". News in Depth. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
- Cottle, Basil (1967). Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books.
- Dorward, David (1998). Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition).
- Geoghegan, Eddie (26 May 2006). "Smith coat of arms and family history". Araltas.com. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
At the outset it is important to mention that the spelling of the name as Smith, Smyth, Smithe, Smythe, etc. is of little historical significance. The use of "i" and "y" and the presence or absence of the terminal "e" merely reflect the writing styles of the day.
- "How Many of Me?". HowManyofMe.com. Archived from the original (database search result) on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
There are 3,053,623 people in the U.S. with the last name Smith.
- )
- O'Kane, Willie (1998). "Surnames of County Monaghan". Irish Roots. 26 (2nd quarter). Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
...certain members of the MacGabhann and O Gabhan septs, usually Anglicised as McGowan, took the name Smith on the basis of the name Mac Gobha, 'son of the smith'.
The URL here is to a reprint on the Irish Ancestors website. Tables of contents for back issues of Irish Roots Magazine are found at https://web.archive.org/web/20091217104309/http://irishroots.ie/Back%20Issues%20List.htm and there are two listings for the title here, one in 'Issue No. 26 (1998 Second quarter)', the other in 'Issue No. 48 (2003 Fourth quarter)'. It is not clear whether the latter is a simple reprint of the former or an update. The reprinted article notes 'From Irish Roots, (No. 28)'. - Simpson, David (30 January 2007). "Surnames of North East England". The North East England History Pages. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
- Smith, Elsdon C. (1997). American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company.
- "Smith surname at YourNotMe". YourNotMe.com. Archived from the original (database search result) on 11 November 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
- US Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100). Retrieved 25 February 2008.
External links
Smith at Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
Data from Wikidata
- Origin and history of the name of Smith, with biographies of all the most noted persons of that name, Chicago, Ill., American Publishers' Association, 1902. via Internet Archive