Names » About Surnames

American-French Genealogical Society - Surname Variations

BBC - Family History - What's In a Name? Your Link to the Past

English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations

English last name meanings from the 1875 book by Charles Wareing Bardsley. Completely free.

GenealogyMagazine.com - Surnames Derived From English Occupations

Our family did not consciously choose our family names, writes Myra Vanderpool Gormley. Hereditary surnames came into being primarily because the eternal tax collectors needed a way to identify people.

GenealogyMagazine.com - Was Your Ancestor Courteous -- Or Did He Just Wear Short Stockings?: Same Surname, Different Meaning

Of American surnames most frequently appearing in the Social Security Death Index, Curtis ranks at 267 of 50,000. Its derivation is often linked to the word courteous; a characteristic

GenealogyMagazine.com - Weaselhead, Devil and Drunkard: Surnames Originating as Insults

An article by James Pylant. Surnames developed gradually and casually in the Middle Ages, not through a formal or legal system. In a growing population, there was a need to distinguish people with the same common first names within a village or town, and last names came about as a means of sorting who was who on the tax lists. But oftentimes our ancestors were saddled with surnames originating as uncomplimentary nicknames.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars - Not Who He Once Was: Tips for Finding Your Name-Changing Ancestor $

By Mary Kircher Roddy, CG. Legacy Family Tree Webinars are available with a monthly or annual webinar membership subscription.

ScotlandsPeople - Surnames

Select Surname List

History and genealogy of the 100 most common surnames in the English-speaking world - from Adams to Young.

Select Surname Website

Website covers 120 surnames of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish origin. Each website page gives a history and genealogy of the surname.

Sir James Ware on the Surnames of the Ancient Irish

A short artilce on Irish surnames by the historian Sir James Ware.

Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution

Graphs showing surname distribution through the UK. Search for Meanings & Distribution of over 170,000 Surnames

The 'Muls' and 'Gils': Some Irish Surnames

An examination of the origin and meaning of Irish surnames beginning with the prefixes 'Mul' and 'Gil', amongst other names.

The Geography of Surnames

The Geography of surnames web site is devoted to the study of English, Scottish and Irish surnames. Surnames will be examined from a geographic perspective, focusing on their distribution, patterns and origins.

The Internet Surname Database

A database of surname origins produced by Name Origin Research Limited. They do accept user input for surnames not currently covered. As of 2011, the database contains 49,352 surnames. This database originated from a book published by Michael Brook.

ThoughtCo - Where Do Surnames Come From?

Find meanings, origins, and related genealogy resources for hundreds of surnames from around the world.