Ok…maybe it is very obscure.
A friend of mine has the last name Dimet. We had been talking about the meanings of our last names and he had no clue as to his. What it means, where it came from (besides his dad) and so on.
Anyone have a clue or point me to resources to find this out?
One added thing…
The name is supposedly a Russian name that’s been shortened. No idea on the full name but his guess (purely a guess) is Dimetstien.
Could it be short for Dimitriev or something? If so, it just means “son of Dimitri”.
See this site:
http://dougsden.fabpage.com/catalog.html
scroll down under Dimmett Surname History. Appears to be English in origin
This place is so cool…where else can you get answers so fast on something so obscure.
My friends Grandpa immigrated from Latvia in the 1920 so Russian seems a good bet although I suppose it might have come from England, moved to Russia and then to the US. Anyway…keep the ideas coming. My friend was dubious but now he is becoming ightily impressed by this site.
Update:
Friend just called his dad and his dad is positive the family goes WAYYYY back in Russia. He doesn’t know how far so again with the vagueness but they seem committed to the Russian (or Latvian) origin.
Check out some Russian Menonite registires. I have an obscure russian maiden name, and for most of my life never knew where it came from. A few years back, some groups started publishing mennonite registries and I was able to trace it down to the name of a mennonite settlement.
Might help ya out
Cheers!
If it’s a shortened name, you’ll have to do a little digging to be sure. Dimitriev sounds like a good guess, but all it is is a guess. Many times when names get shortened, there are several likely candidates for the original name, although the obvious choice isn’t always the correct one. For example, I have a Hungarian friend with the Americanized last name “Bartish.” The obvious root would be the Hungarian name “Bartos” pronounced “Bartosh.” However, it doesn’t derive from this but rather some other slightly more obscure name which escapes me at the moment.
So…your friend will probably have to start hunting down death and/or marriage certificates, in the hope of finding a reference to the original name. If the change occurred at Ellis Island (very many names changed here,) you’ll probably be able to hunt it down fairly easily. If the change happened in England (possible, as well, but I’m betting that the change happened on the way to the States,) you’ll have to dig through registries there.
When did the Dimet side of your friend’s family come to the States? If a single Dimet came over and got married here, find the marriage certificate and hopefully you’ll have the original name in the space where the groom’s father and mother are named. Otherwise, find the death certificate for the first Dimet over here, and the same information should be found there.
Also try searching around on google using the word “onomastics”.
Not only does it sound cool, it’s also the study of names.
Check out the Social Security Death Index, at ancestry.com. I ran a search on the name Dimet, and it appears that only 6 Dimets with social security numbers have died. Michigan and New York are the locales. Two of them are pre-1900, so I’m guessing they may have been the first ones over. If you request the record for $27, the information includes the deceased father’s and mother’s names.
Alternatively, you can also check: county death certificates and parish records. The latter are usually free, but a donation is customary (say $5 or $10).
Thanks for all the help so far. I have a bit more information:
The guy’s grandfather came to the US the LONG way around. From Latvia he went to Japan, spent a year there then entered the US on the West coast. Unfortunately I don’t know which port he came through but I thnk a safe bet would either be Los Angeles or San Francisco. The other ports that come to mind are San Diego, Portland or Seattle. I suppose anyplace is possible but I’ll shoot for the easier ones first. So…
Anyone have any suggestions on the major immigration spots in the 1920’s on the west coast that I shuold look at first? Better still…does anyone know the names of the immigration offices back then (e.g. Ellis Island in New York)?
It could even be a form of Dimech (Maltese). I went to elementary school with a guy with the last name Dimech. Just a thought. Good luck in your search!
Whack-a-Mole: Angel Island in SF Bay (the north part, off what today is Tiburon in Marin County) was the West Coast version of Ellis Island for quite a while. I don’t have the dates off the top of my head, but it is probably Google-able. I had a math teacher in High School in CA who made the same Siberia-to-CA trip with stops in between as a small refugee child.
I hope the link works!