What is the Meaning of North American Last Names?
By B.Dominski
Everyone in the United Stated and Canada has a last name. There are over one and a half million last names just in the United States. Where do these names come from? A large number of last names come from Great Britain. They are of English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish origin. Many derive from the occupations of ancestors, like Carpenter, Cook, Clark (clerk or scholar), and Fletcher (maker of arrows). The most common surname in North America is Smith. Smith derives from ‘blacksmith”, the worker who used to make iron shoes for horses. Smiths also made swards for soldiers, and metal implements. Cooper means “barrel maker”, important work in olden (=old) times when wooden barrels were means of packaging.
Some family names derive from the custom of naming a man by referring to his father. Johnson and Peterson mean “son of John”, “son of Peter”, Mac and Fitz also mean ‘son of” as in Fitzgerald or MacDonald. The O’ in many Irish surnames, like O’Hara or O’Grady, means ‘grandson of.”
Some last names refer to a place or object connected with an ancestor’s home, such as Hill, Field, Church, or Street. Others derive from nicknames describing personal appearance or qualities, such as Short, Big, Smart, Strong, or Longfellow.
Long ago there were no surnames. People used to talk about their neighbours. Sometimes they were confused. “Do you mean David from the river?” “No, I mean David, the strong one.” “Oh, David, Erick’s son.” “No, not David, Erick’s son. David, John’s son!” With time the descriptions became last names: River, Strong, Erickson, Johnson.
The United States and Canada are countries of immigrants, so many last names are not British. Their origins are Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Israeli, Japanese, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, and Swiss, to name just a few. Many of these surnames also have meanings, like the Spanish Rodriguez (‘son of Rodrigo’) and the French Dupont (‘from the bridge’).
The ancestors of most Black Americans were brought from Africa and forced to work as slaves. They lost their African names. American slaves became free in 1865. Many chose their new names, like Jones or Lincoln. Some took African names such as Cudjo for a boy or Juba for a girl, both meaning “born on Tuesday.”
Often people do not know the meaning of their names. Sometimes immigrants came from Canada and the United States, and the officials at the border could not understand their names. So they had to invent new names to put on the documents. Nowadays this seems wrong. In North America today there is more respect for the diversity of cultures.
|
1. What last names mean son of someone? grandson of someone?
2. What other meanings do surnames have?
3. Why did people start using surnames?
4. When did some ancestors of Black Americans choose their names? What names did they choose? Why?
5. What happened at the border to the names of many immigrants in the past? What do Americans and Canadians think of this today?
6. Try to explain the origin of the following surnames:
Robinson MacGregor Hunter Armstrong
Martínes Lightfoot Stone O’Donnell
7. What diverse groups of people live in Russia? Can you explain the origin of some of their surnames?
|
Ask yourself: “Who am I?” You think of your name. Your name is part of your identity. Its sound and meaning come from your family, language and culture. Sometimes people keep their names when they come to study or work in a new culture. Sometimes they change their names, or simply pronounce them differently. Read about the following people who came to study or work in the United State and Canada.
Situation 1.
My name is Loi Nguen, and I’m from Viet Nam. Some people tell me to anglicize my name. They tell me to call myself Larry or Lance. But I don’t want to. My family gave me my name. I am the same person wherever I go. When I meet someone new, I say my name slowly and clearly. I repeat it several times until people understand. Some of my classmates have made a joke about my name. I study law, so they say I’m going to be a loiyer. I don’t care. Let them laugh.
Situation 2.
I’m Jacqueline Matahnbat from Thailand, and I am a student in microbiology. Jacqueline is the name I use here in North America. I always liked that name and enjoy using it. I use my real name, Molvipah, with my family and people from my culture. It is hard for people to say it in English. So I decided to change it. I didn’t like the way people looked at me during introductions. They made faceswhen they tried to pronounce my name. They never said it right. In English I am Jacqueline.
Situation 3.
Hi, I am Jesús Jiménes García from Nicaragua. With my English friends, I am ‘Joe’. I never chose to change my name. It just happened. For my friends it was difficult to say Jesús. They said it was like swearing. In English it sounds disrespectful to say “Jesus”. That is not true in my culture. But now I call myself Joe, and I use only last name, Jiménes, the one from my father. I think it will be easier to get a job with that name.
Situation 4.
My name is Malika and I am from India. In the region I come from, we have only one name. We do not need a first and a last name. This caused problems here at first because North Americans think everyone must have a first and last name. So I invented a new name for myself: V. Malika. The “V” stands for Victory, one of my favourite English words. I sign that for official names. With most people here, I say I am Vicki. My real friends and family call me Malika.
Situation 5.
I’m Hans Warren, a Swiss professor working in the United States. I work at a university laboratory. This work is interesting, but I have trouble with the casual American ways. The technicians do not treat me with respect. They call me Hans all the time, often in front of the students. Even some students don’t call me Mr. Warren, much less Doctor or Professor! I spoke up one day at a lab meeting. I explained about the importance of respect in the workplace. But nobody got the point. Afterwards, I asked another professor about it. She said: “Oh, we know you like to be formal, but we take that with a grain of salt!”
|
1. How many of the students use their real names in an English-speaking country? How many use a different name?
2. Who chose to change to a different name? Why?
3. What do you think of this decision?
4. Who uses a different name because it “just happened”?
5. Who had only one name before coming to North America? Why?
6. Why is Hans unhappy at work? In your opinion, what should Hans do to improve his communication with Americans? Does the similar problem exist in Russia?
7. How many names do you have?
8. Do you know any North American names that seem difficult or strange to people in your culture? Any Russian names with similar stories? Which ones? Why?
9. Choose the statement you agree with and explain why:
a) We should not change our names. It is best to use the name given to us by our family.
b) We should change our names in a new culture because it will help us to be accepted.
c) There is no right or wrong answer about changing names. It depends on the situation.
|
Use the following expressions: