SURNAME
\sˈɜːne͡ɪm], \sˈɜːneɪm], \s_ˈɜː_n_eɪ_m]\
Definitions of SURNAME
- 2006 - WordNet 3.0
- 2011 - English Dictionary Database
- 2010 - New Age Dictionary Database
- 1919 - The Winston Simplified Dictionary
- 1899 - The american dictionary of the english language.
- 1894 - The Clarendon dictionary
- 1919 - The Concise Standard Dictionary of the English Language
- 1871 - The Cabinet Dictionary of the English Language
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By Princeton University
By DataStellar Co., Ltd
By Oddity Software
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A name added to a baptismal or Christian name, and used as a family name.
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To give a family name to; call by a family name.
By William Dodge Lewis, Edgar Arthur Singer
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An additional name: a name or appellation added to the baptismal or Christian name, and which becomes a family name. Surnames with us originally designated occupation, estate, place of residence, or some particular thing or event that related to the person. Thus William Rufus, or red; Edmund Ironsides; Robert Smith, or the smith; William Turner. Surnames seem to have been formed at first by adding the name of the father to that of the son, and in this manner several of our surnames were produced. Thus from Thomas William's son we have Thomas Williamson; from John's son we have Johnson, etc. "There still, however, wanted something to ascertain gentility of blood, where it was not marked by the actual tenure of land. This was supplied by two innovations, devised in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the adoption of surnames and of armorial bearings." –Hallam.
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To name or call by an appellation added to the original name: to give a surname to. "Another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."-Is. xliv. 5. "And Simon he surnamed Peter."-Mark. iii. 16.
By Daniel Lyons
By William Hand Browne, Samuel Stehman Haldeman
By James Champlin Fernald