surname

• sirname (archaic)
• sur-name (obsolete)

From Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”),^[1] equivalent to sur- +‎ name.

• (US) enPR: sûrʹnām'; IPA^(key): /ˈsɝˌneɪm/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) enPR: sûʹnām'; IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːˌneɪm/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)neɪm

surname (plural surnames)

1. The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:surname

   James is my first name, and Smith is my surname.

   • 1605, William Camden, Remaines, I 32:

     In late yeeres Surnames have beene given for Christian names among vs, and no where else in Christendom.

   • 1876, E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest, V xxv 563:

     The Norman Conquest...brought with it the novelty of family nomenclature, that is to say, the use of hereditary surnames.

2. (obsolete) Synonym of epithet, an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts j:[23]:

     Barsabas (whose syrname was Iustus).

   • 1590, Richard Harvey, Plaine Percevall the peace-maker of England, Sweetly indeuoring with his blunt persuasions to botch vp a reconciliation between Mar-ton and Mar-tother, B3:

     My sirname is Peace-Maker, one that is but poorely regarded in England.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], line 171:

     To his sur-name Coriolanus longs more pride
     Then pitty to our Prayers.

3. (obsolete) Synonym of nickname, an additional name given to a person, place, or thing, a byname.
   • 1638, Abraham Cowley, Davideis, section IV:

     I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname, from a particular place of his worship.

4. (Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.
5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (Scotland, obsolete) A clan.

• The term surname may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning; most notably in the case of Roman cognomens.
• Both surname and last name are extremely common in all dialects of English, the former being somewhat more preferred in the UK and the latter in the US. However, because of the cultural and gendered associations involved with both terms, the use of family name is increasingly preferred in multicultural contexts.

• name

• bride's name, maiden name (surname prior to marriage); patronym, patronymic (a surname specifically referencing one's father's given name); matronym, matronymic (a surname specifically referencing one's mother's given name)

• See given name; middle name; epithet, cognomen, nickname; aneponymous

surname (third-person singular simple present surnames, present participle surnaming, simple past and past participle surnamed)

1. (transitive) To give a surname to.
2. (transitive) To call by a surname.
   • 1905, Howard Pyle, “The Story of Launcelot”, in The Story of the Champions of the Round Table‎^[2], New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 66:

     “Lord,” said Sir Launcelot, “I am hight Launcelot, and am surnamed ‘He of the Lake.’”

The most common surnames in the United States, as of the 2010 census (with number of persons bearing said surname)^[2]:

1. Smith; 2,442,977

2. Johnson; 1,932,812

3. Williams; 1,625,252

4. Brown; 1,437,026

5. Jones; 1,425,470

6. Garcia; 1,166,120

7. Miller; 1,161,437

8. Davis; 1,116,357

9. Rodriguez; 1,094,924

10. Martinez; 1,060,159

• Name change on Wikipedia
• Wiktionary appendix of surnames

• Mansure, manures

• surename, sourname, sorname, syrname, sire name

Partial calque of Old French surnoun, from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen; equivalent to sur- +‎ name. Forms beginning with sir-, syr-, etc. represent reanalysis of the first element as sire.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsurnaːm(ə)/, /ˈsirnaːm(ə)/

surname (plural surnames)

1. epithet, nickname
   • c. 1330, Arthour and Merlin, section 5488:

     Þe .xxxix. Osoman, cert, His surname was: hardi of hert.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1400, "St. John Baptist", 928 in W. M. Metcalfe, Legends of the saints: in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century (1896), II 249:

     Þe thred herrod had alsua til his suornome agrippa.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. surname, family name
   • 1393, William Langland, Piers Plowman, C iv 369:

     Þat is noȝt reisonable...to refusy my syres sorname.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. alias, appellation
   • c. 1395, Wycliff's Bible, Ecclus. XLVII 19:

     In the name of the Lord, to whom the surname [toname in the 1382 ed.] is God of Israel.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• English: surname

• “surnāme, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.