Where does that name come from?

June 20, 2007 7:03 AM

Are there any sites/search engines that will allow me to find the origin of a surname? Specifically European names. I'm looking for country and/or language of origin, and any other information a particular surname can reveal.

I'm not talking about family ancestry, like the various pay "family tree" sites a la ancestry.com. I'm just interested in the origins of names themselves. I'm suspecting this would be a gargantuan task for even one language/country, so I'm not expecting much out there.

posted by zardoz to human relations (7 comments total)

Onomastic - of or pertaining to proper names
Try searching for Onomastikon
posted by Fins at 7:17 AM on June 20, 2007

Behind the Surname doesn't have tons of names, especially foreign ones, but there's a chance you might find what you're looking for there.
posted by Arasithil at 7:33 AM on June 20, 2007

Try searching in the native language of that country. For example if I wanted to find out about my Spanish surname, I would use Google with the search, "origen del apellido xxxx".
posted by JJ86 at 7:41 AM on June 20, 2007

This one provided by Ancestry.com has worked well for me, at least for European names.
posted by mjp at 8:22 AM on June 20, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Dictionary of American Family Names by Patrick Hanks is huge, expensive, but the best-researched thing you're possibly going to find. Maybe your library has it.

For example, on the author's last name, it has:
Hanks (6089)
English (Gloucestershire): patronymic from the Middle English personal name Hank, a short form of Hankin.

(6089 is its ranking among most-common surnames).

Then at Hankin:
Hankin (533)
1. English (chiefly Lancashire) and Scottish: from the Middle English personal name Hankin, a pet form of Hann, with the addition of the hypocoristic suffix -kin.
2. English: from Middle English Handekin, a diminutive of the nickname Hand.
3. English: from Middle English Hamekin, a pet form of the personal name Hamo, Hame (see Hammond).
4. Dutch: from a pet form of the personal name Johann(es) (see John).
5. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metronymic from Khanke (a pet form of the Yiddish female personal name Khane; see Hanna), with the Slavic possessive suffix -in.
(GIVEN NAMES Jewish 6%. Yaron (3), Abbe , Isadore , Myer , Yitzhak .)
posted by xueexueg at 10:14 AM on June 20, 2007

I've collected a bunch of name related links at my delicious page. Maybe one of them will help.
posted by dhruva at 7:27 PM on June 20, 2007

Thanks, all for the great responses!
posted by zardoz at 8:58 PM on June 20, 2007