Where does the English surname ‘Eighteen’ originate from? Is it English in origin or does it have a non-English origin? Is it from the number or is it etymology different?
I must add I live in Berkshire in the UK where this surname is pretty rare, but I know of several (AFAIK unrelated people) with this surname all from Berkshire. It may just be a fairly localized surname.
What intrigues me though is that I have never heard of any other numbers as surnames, (excepting the thread that inspired this one).
It is a locational surname deriving from any one of the numerous places called Eaton, Eton, and Ayton, found in several counties of England. Most of these places are named from the Olde English words “ea”, meaning river, and “tun”, a farm or settlement. They are variously recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 in the spellings of Etone, Etune, Ettuna, and Ettone. It is therefore easy to see how the later surname spellings developed over the centuries. However there is also a probablity that at least some of the later surname spellings developed from the French name “Etienne” or "Estienne.
“Eighteen” is a very common Hebrew first name since it also spells “life” (Chaim/Haim). Because of that, eighteen in Judaism is considered a lucky number. You give charity in units of eighteen, and it was considered a good time to get married.
Wonder if the surname “Eighteen” has anything to do with this…
Well that’s pretty much answered my question. The largest and most famous twon called ‘Eton’ is in Berkshire. My guess was that it might be from somewhere like ‘Haighton’, so I wasn’t too far off.
The current archbishop of Paris is André Vingt-Trois. His last name in English is “Twenty-Three.” For his case, though, it is believed that his name does come from the number itself. It seems that one of his ancestors was abandoned as an infant.
The legend goes that the ancestor of Spain’s Diezyocho family was a friend of Cervantes. He borrowed the manuscript of Don Quixote and got so into it he read it eighteen times before returning. The spelling as I saw it printed was “Diezyocho;” I don’t know, but that may have been a 17th-century spelling of dieciocho (eighteen). Of course, spelling it diez y ocho makes the etymology transparent.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, neither such lastname exists, or at least neither one has 5 people in any of Spain’s provinces and territories.
I just want to point out that I have never heard of “Eighteen” as a surname. Or any other number, for that matter. The thread title struck me – still strikes me – as surreal. I’ll bet most Dopers feel the same.
The word “chai” has the numerical value of eighteen, but it doesn’t actually mean eighteen. The Hebrew word for eighteen is shmonah-esreh.