Nocuous:
“-son is not that usual in Norway, while -sen is very common.”
Is there a Landsmal/Bokmal correlation with -sen/-son in Norway reflecting the Danish influence or is -sen native to Norway as well? I’d assume it didn’t flow from Norway to Denmark.
The Master speaks of Italian surname prefixes.
As for whether it’s possible for a name to be similar to Vander Leck, meet Johnny Vander Meer.
Here’s an exhaustive explanation of the Irish Mac and O prefixes.
Not content with a simple von, some nobles add a zu, as didthis count.
In Dutch too: “zu” becomes “tot”
as in “van Voorst tot Voorst”.
As nobility goes, the tend to be good shooters
For a while, the masthead of the old National Lampoon listed a “Jodi Sh. Doff”. I always wondered what the “Sh.” was about, and it’s stuck with me all these years. Can anybody edify?
(Or maybe it’s a joke that I was whooshed on?)
I’ve noticed that Armenian names often end in ian. I never knew what it meant until I saw the name Josefian, and I guessed that the ian suffix in that case might mean “son of” Josef. Was my surmise correct?
And what about “Per”. I remember from the strongman contests that Magnus Per Magnusson was always picking up very heavy things.
Isn’t “Per” just a christian name in Scandanavia? I’d bet it’s his middle name.
On the Russian name deal, I seem to recall that it is (or was) common for the middle name to be the father’s first name followed by -vich or -vna and that it was common to use both names. Peter Kalashnikov has two kids: Ivan and Galina. The son is called Ivan Petrovich (Kalashnikov) and the daughter is Galina Petrovna (Kalashnikova). Someone correct me if I’m wrong on that one.
I believe that “-ski” (feminine: “-ska”) is an adjectival ending that can be literally taken to mean "of." As such, it can indicate a decent from someone if added to a person's name or (and more commonly, I believe) it can indicate a place of origin if attached to the name of a locality. Also, many families adopted this suffix because it used to indicate a connection to the nobility, although that is no longer the case.
The masculine “–owicz” and the feminine “–owna” are patronymics, meaning “son of” or “daughter of,” respectively.
To make things even more fun, compound suffixes are sometimes used (e.g. you could get “–owiczowna,” describing someone as “the daughter of the son of” or, in other words, the granddaughter of someone.
Yup. In fact - it’s my name.
It’s the Scandinavian form of Peter.
Many European familieas have a von or de added to their names for pretentious reasons. Traditionally the little word denoted nobility. Juan Dominguez, when he made his first small fortune, might change his name to Juan de Casares, if he came from that village. This would give an air of him being of a “better” family, than he really was. I’m over-simplifying.
Also, the -uez in Spanish is ‘son of’. Domnguez, son of Domingo. Rodriguez, son of Rodrigo.
Gaspode:
Very interesting on the -uez in Spanish. What’s the etymology of that ending? Doesn’t seem like any word in spanish that has to do with family relationships.
My ex GF and I are not on speaking terms, so I really don’t know. She is the one with a degree in Spanish Philology, so that’s my source. No way of providing a cite, though.
I find that interesting, in that it would appear (to my untutored eye) that -uez and -wicz are cognates. If true, I wonder how they showed up at diagonally opposite ends of Europe.
I would venture that -uez is a diminutive. So, Dominguez is ‘little Domingo’, i.e. the son of Domingo.
There’s Kil~/Gil~ too (follower of…)
and Mul~ (leader of…)
To further clarify this:
Nic is only used when daddy’s name starts with a vowel, otherwise it is Ni, and the father’s name portion takes an h
If Maire were the daughter of Seoseamh, then her full handle would be
Maire Ni Sheoseamh.
There is also a feminine prefix for “wife of” - bean, but I cannot remember how it affects the husbands portion of the name.
I suppose I will have to wait for an Irish person to come along and tell us.
Another thought - aren’t Icelandic surnamed generated based on Girl Mother’s daughter and Boy Father’s son?
Not a prefix, I know, but a convention not used in English
Magnus and Gudrun have two children, Pal and Bjork, so they are named Pal Magnussen and Bjork Gudrunsdottir.
And I think French “du” (as in “Du Bois” or “Dubois”) which is the masculine of “de la” hasn’t been mentioned yet.
Under Bismarck a guy called “von und zum Stein” was member of the government IIRC.
In Swedish you have “Af” which is similar to “Von” which is also used. These are usually noble names, or made up names 
Usage would be for example, Björn Af Uggla
As for the -sson, -son quesion, -sson is much more common in Sweden. For example, Erikson has about 350 people in Sweden, whereas Eriksson has over 150.000. The proportions for Svenson/Svenson are about the same.