Questions tagged [surnames]
A surname is most commonly defined as a synonym for last name or family name in English.
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What is the origin and meaning of the female given name "Zorado"?
As far as I can tell this name crops up mid 1800s, and (informal analysis) looks like it peaks circa 1890-1915. In the present day I'd say it is extremely rare, but I can find living Zorado women and ...
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Is there a term for last name comma first name?
I'm designing a table in which names are stored. How to best call the columns that store full names in different order? The term "Full Name" seems ambiguous to me.
First Name
Last Name
...
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What's the correct way to write our names? [closed]
Most people who live in my locality write their names with initials at the
end. Usually these initials are abbreviations of long family names, like
Joseph Alex TP, where TP stands for ...
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Is it proper to write a full first name followed by an initial of the last name? [closed]
For example, if my name was John Smith, can I write it as “John S.”?
Also, if I want to start with the initial of the last name, how would I write it? Is it “S. John”?
I’m asking because I’m having my ...
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Correct transliteration of foreign Names with umlauts and other diacritics [duplicate]
I would like to know how names from other languages with umlauts and other diacritics are correctly written in English through transliteration and not translated.
The last name Bühler is often written ...
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What is this naming convention called? [duplicate]
Many historical figures (of antiquity) have names of the form "X the Y". Some real, historical examples are:
Wayland the Smith
William the Conquerer
Attila the Hun
This concept has also ...
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The Miss(es) Joneses
Fowler reads
The Misses Jones is the old-fashioned plural, occasionally used when
formality is required, e.g. in printed lists of guests present, etc.;
otherwise the type the Miss Joneses is now ...
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Finding Meanings of English Names [duplicate]
In Sinhala the name Suminda means calm disposition from the words Samya (calm) + Indu (faculties).
In the case of English, how does one understand the meaning of names? E.g. names like Ann, Tom, Dick, ...
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Is it OK to put last name before first name if the name comes from a culture with such a feature? [closed]
I have recently noticed that my first name goes after my last name in my Stack Exchange account. In my native language (Russian) it is OK to put them in any order. How shall I put my name in English (...
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Should we include the prefix Mrs. when we tell others our real name? [closed]
My question is so simple. We call a man with the prefix Mr. and a married woman with the prefix Mrs., followed by her husband's surname, right? Now, is it grammatically okay to include these prefixes ...
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Why were Scottish & Irish names once rendered with apostrophes instead of "Mac" or "Mc"?
I have noticed in some Victorian and Edwardian texts that Scottish and Irish names beginning with "Mac" or "Mc" are usually written as "M" plus an apostrophe. An example ...
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Why is there a ‘y’ rather than an ‘i’ in the common surname “Taylor?”
The surname “Taylor” is common in the English-speaking world. Wikipedia mentions the following about its history:
Taylor is a surname used in the British Isles of French and Latin origin which ...
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Addressing a person by their last name only [closed]
I've seen a couple of instances where someone is addressed exclusively by their last name (not like "Mr. X" but only "X").
The most prominent example is perhaps MacGyver, whose first name (Angus) is ...
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Initials of surnames with Saint (St.)
When writing the initials of a surname such as "St. John" (I will use the first name of Tom for an example), would those initials be written as 'TSJ' or 'TS' or 'TJ' or are all of these equally common?...
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What are the parts of a name?
For example, in Latin America the full name would be like:
Ana María Gómez Sánchez
In that case, "Gómez" is her dad's last name, and "Sánchez" is her mum's single last name.
Let's pretend Ana ...
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Why is the Turkish president's surname is spelt in English as Erdogan, with g?
I recently got puzzled as to why American journalists spell the surname of the current Turkish president in articles written in English as Erdogan, with g (see, e.g., this article in New York Times). ...
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Capitalisation of foreign names
British mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan has De in his name. But the French physicist Louis de Broglie has de in his name.
Why so? Something to do with being French or British?
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Why isn't Robert Mueller's last name pronounced like Ferris Bueller's? [closed]
Mueller, Mueller, Mueller?
Why isn't Robert Mueller's last name pronounced like "Bueller" of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" fame? Is there a correct pronunciation?
I've been pronouncing it like Bueller ...
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Suffix -smith in surnames
I recall reading once that the "smith" in some surnames stood for something like "the one who works with". For example: Coppersmith, the one who works with copper or deals with copper; Wordsmith has ...
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Plural of East European surnames
Would the collective noun for the Ivanovic family be "Ivanoviches"?
I called the Invanoviches for confirmation.
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How do I go about writing and pronouncing my name if it has non-english letters [closed]
So I'm soon going to England to study and I'm not quite sure how should I write or pronounce my name in English, which includes Lithuanian letters. I can't imagine anyone spelling my full name ...
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What term to use to refer to a late husband's last name after marrying again and taking the new husband's name?
When I married my first husband I took his name and used the term "nee" to quickly refer to my birth name. After my first husband died, I remarried and took my new husband's last name. Now I want to ...
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How do you make a surname show where you live? [closed]
If one wanted to show where they came from, for example:
first name: David
Last name: of the white mountains
Would there be a prefix/suffix? (like the "Mc" in McDonalds)
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Adjective or words to describe a family name evoking a specific origin?
Some last names can be immediately linked to a location or social class, even if they're not of foreign origin.
For example, my family name is evocative of small-time farmers from the south-west ...
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How to deal with changed surnames
I am working on a history of pioneering tradeswomen in which several women's last names change during the two-decade time period. What is the best way to deal with this? Should I include both names at ...
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Initials in Multiple Surnames
I was wondering how one would abbreviate initials in a surname with multiple parts, e.g. Van Heule or Le Var? They're technically separated by the space unlike names like McDonald or O'Leary etc. ...
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Terminal "f" versus "ff" in anglicized Russian surnames
Today, foreign names are anglicized more or less systematically from their original spelling: the Russian surname "Петров" generally becomes "Petrov", not the calqued "Peterson" or the more phonetic "...
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When to expect a *kn*
Here is a personally inspired question, but I hope it finds broader relevance.
Without clear specific roots, what phonetically indicates that a word is spelled with a kn rather than an n?
Recently a ...
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Is it necessary to capitalize the surname if it is used in isolation from the rest of the name (if it is not capitalized within the name itself)?
On the Wikipedia page for Guillermo del Toro, whenever he is referred to as solely "del Toro" (and the name's not at the beginning of a sentence), the "d" in the name is not capitalized:
On May 30, ...
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How should I write "Eastern order" last names in English?
The "Eastern order" of last names (i.e. Surname Forename) is used in many countries and cultures. When writing the name of someone whose name would be in Eastern order in their culture, what is the ...
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How should title and suffix appear when writing last name first?
It's common in business to list persons in order of last-name-first.
Instead of "John W. Van Dyk", write "Van Dyk, John W.".
But what should be the convention when the name has a title or suffix.
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How to translate my name [closed]
I have seen many types of translation/transliteration of my Russian first and last names to English by different people. At the current moment I don't know what to choose when I want to introduce ...
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How widespread is the usage of Senior, Junior, III in British English?
Upon asking about the Spanish equivalences of Senior, Junior and III, I got to know that these are commonly used in United States, but not that much in Britain. Talking about the United Kingdom, a ...
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Name Pronunciation with Apostrophes
I was trying to understand how to properly pronounce certain names. My teaching has said words and names with apostrophes require a separation for a missing letter, like O'Malley would be pronounced ...
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What is the proper way to say “Clinton”?
I have always assumed that Bill and Hillary Clinton's name is pronounced Clin-tun. But during this year's election coverage, I noticed that a great many people pronounce it as Clin-uhn, with no "T" ...
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Possessive form for a surname ending with "z"
What is the proper possessive form for a surname that ends with “z”? Is it z’ or z’s?
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Referring to a character in a text as 'The [Last Name]'
I have scoured the internet and am yet to find the reason why.
I am in process of helping a friend out and would like to know why we refer to them as 'the [Last Name]'. Eg. 'The Beaker slid across the ...
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What does "Mrs" mean when used with a man's name?
As far as I know, the abbreviation "Mrs" is applicable only to women.
Though, when translating an article from an old British paper I found this sentence about marriages:
On the 2nd March, at the ...
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Is "Quinn" a good given name in English culture? [closed]
"Quinn" has a similar pronunciation with my Chinese given name. I wonder if it is a good choice to use "Quinn" as my English given name.
I have know that "Quinn" is from Irish culture and is mainly ...
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Common English Surnames ending in S
A number of common English surnames are the same as common English given names, with the addition of an "S." Examples are Peters, Daniels, Michaels, Matthews, Roberts, Phillips, Isaacs, Williams, etc....
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Why do we write the surname before the first name when writing someone's name?
I do not completely understand the reason behind why we write our surnames before our given names when listing them on documents, usually separated by a comma.
EX: Donald Trump would sign "Trump, ...
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Translating a surname to English - a tough one
Hello Ladies and Gents!
This has been bothering me for the last couple of years. When I was 16-17y old I had a problem with explaining my US/UK friends how to pronounce my surname - "Wieczorek". ...
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Pronunciation of the name, " Leonhard Euler "
In almost every source I know, Euler has been pronounced as /ˈȯi-lər/ . Nevertheless, in a number of books translated to other languages, it is mentioned as: /ˈjuːlər/ . I doubt in it incorrectness, ...
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Specific word denoting the name of a person who has no last name
If my name is "John Doe", then:
My first name is John
My last name is Doe
However, if my name was "John", does a specific term exist to denote a name that has no last name? Or is it just "name"?
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How to abbreviate a double-barrelled surname?
I have the initials D S-K as I have a double-barrelled surname, and this has always been how I have written them. I was recently reading through The Lord of the Rings, and realised that a character's ...
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Should I put my surname after my given name when I introduce myself?
I'm confused about if I should put my surname after my given name or not when I tell a western people what my name is. I would like to use the Pinyin version of my original name instead of choosing a ...
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Which is more appropriate here regarding in names: Junior or the 2nd?
I am from Philippines and I had a childhood friend named after his father, Cipriano Reyes, so my friend's name is Cipriano Reyes II.
But as far as I know, when a child was named after his father ...
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What is the correct plural form of a family name that ends in -i? [closed]
I have just made a family group with my surname which is Karami, and I want to make my surname plural to show this is a family group, so I'm wondering whether I should add -s or -es?
Which one is ...
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Is it okay to ignore putting periods between initials?
My name is Venkatesh MG. M stands for the name of my birth place, which begins with M, and G is an initial derived from my father's name.
Since school, I have been using only these two variations of ...
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Is there a word for a last name that is also a word? If so, what is it?
For example; Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, John Doe, Sweet Brown (all these last names are also words).
