How to Find the Meanings of Surnames
Depending on the uniqueness of your surname it may be difficult or easy to determine its meaning. This can be very rewarding information. Knowing the meaning behind your last name leads to a better understanding of your family, what country your ancestors came from and ultimately more about you.
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Instructions
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Seeking Out Family Resources
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Ask a knowledgeable family member about the meaning of your last name. Your journey may end here if this information and where your family came is already known.
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Go to a family Bible or book. Some families write books about ancestors, listing and naming descendants of these ancestors. In others there may be what is termed a family Bible in which the first members to settle in the U.S. or a particular region in the U.S. are written in blank pages in the Bible. Then each generation adds their own names to the listing. This data may give a clue as to what your family name means as the original spelling and later Anglicanized or simplified alterations may be in the Bible.
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Look through old family papers and news articles or books that refer to an ancestor which may help illuminate the meaning of your surname.
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Learn about the language of your surname. For instance, if your last name is van Buren, which is Dutch, it would be helpful to learn that "van" in Dutch means "from." "Buren" relates to a town in the Netherlands, according to Arthur C.M. Kelly in his book "Names, Names, & More Names: Locating Your Dutch Ancestors in Colonial America."
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Note that African American surnames were often taken from the last names of slave masters and retained after emancipation, according to African American studies professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. This does not mean that knowing the meaning of the surname is of no value, as there may have been ancestors who were part of the slave master's family. DNA results through genealogy studies involving western and southern Africans may be the best way to determine what your original surname may have been.
Other Off-line Resources
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Go to the local historical society. If your family has lived in the same area for many generations there may be some information about your ancestors there. Surname information may be there as well.
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Buy genealogy books such as the Kindle book "Genealogy Uncovered: Uncover Your Ancestry," edited by S. Mills. The book provides useful information on how to research your family background using the internet and DNA, along with other genealogical information.
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Look at other books written by people who have researched their family history. This may prove helpful if you already know that you are related to them in some way. For instance, rather than having a family Bible, you may know that your distant cousin wrote a published book about your family and it is available at the local bookstore or library. This may be a valuable resource if you are geographically far from your family or were adopted.
Online Resources
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Search for websites dedicated to surname meanings. One such site is SurnameDirectory. Along with family information, it gives data about the ways in which surnames where given. Some last names, for instance, refer to the place a person lived, such as hill and church.
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Look for other websites such as Last Name.net. There are listings of common English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish names and their meanings. Since many Americans have such names this resource may be helpful.
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Search other websites for non-British surnames. For instance, Jewish-Danish surnames can be searched for at JewishGen.org. The site even offers a link to get more information about surnames from this area of Europe. Some of the previously listed websites have information concerning this as well for non-British names. For Hispanic surnames About.com and Search for Ancestors has useful information.
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