# What is the relevance of your surname in modern times? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841 "2005-09-09T16:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/41 "2005-09-10T19:58:37Z")
My surname is an occupation; none of the men in my family happen to be butchers, although my dad used to put in weekend hours at a local butcher shop owned by a family friend. (To be honest, though, he probably did it because of the name - he’s a word nerd.) It’s often misspelled, but none of us are arrowmakers, either. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/42 "2005-09-10T20:07:44Z")
My ancestors in Ireland had a long name that means (depending on the translator) “son of the warrior on the mountain” or “son of the hound on the mountain.” My current family name is the suffic that meant “mountain.” I don’t live on or near a mountain. I never have. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/43 "2005-09-10T20:39:58Z")
My surname basically a major Europeon river with one of the vowels altered. Reminds me where my family came from ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/44 "2005-09-10T20:44:26Z")
> [@TV time](#): > > Mine means “defense” in Hebrew. It is also the name of the Isreali army. Your last name is “Isreali Defense Force”? Doesn’t that become a mouthful? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pensandfeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Pensandfeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pensandfeathers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/45 "2005-09-10T20:51:29Z")
Hmmm…well, The meaning of my surname seems to be “unknown” though it is suggested to be a French variation of the German name _Kastner_ (head hurts…) - which means either ‘steward of a granary’ or ‘joiner or furniture maker.’ Neither apply to anyone in my family. In any case, my surname will always be associated with small planes. My mother’s surname is Irish and means 'hound of the rock’ or ‘lad of the rock.’ Yeah, doesn’t really mean anything now…though we _have_ been known to stand on a few rocks on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/46 "2005-09-10T20:54:58Z")
I’ve been told my surname means my ancestors were bards to the high kings of Ireland. So not only do I demand a united Ireland, but a split into four kingdoms and the monarchy (all four) back again! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/47 "2005-09-11T01:23:05Z")
Well, as far as we’ve been able to figure out, my family name means either ‘worthy of posessing knowledge’ or ‘worth knowing’ _I_ think it’s apropos to my immediate family, but that may require a judgement call that I’m kinduv biased on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/48 "2005-09-11T02:26:11Z")
My family name is King - but it hasn’t meant as much since the revolution ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/49 "2005-09-11T15:10:50Z")
My last name is also an occupation, sometimes with a superfluous “E” tacked onto the end of it. I like the fact I can communicate my name in sign language, without having to fingerspell it. Just a simple, definitive action,[think “flipping over a pancake”], followed by the two-handed sign for “person”. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/50 "2005-09-11T16:50:38Z")
I can’t seem to find a meaning for my last name, but apparently it dates back to Cheshire in ancient times. My Mom’s comes from Inverness and my maternal Grandmother’s from Roxburghshire while my paternal Grandmother’s name comes from Austria. Couldn’t find a meaning for the ones that aren’t patronymics, and there is no one named Donnell anywhere in the family tree back to 1801. I would love to do some research on my Dad’s side though. I know we have some relatives in the states, but I’m curious about the Spanish that I know is back a few generations. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/51 "2005-09-11T21:34:36Z")
There was a local man who was arrested some time ago for molesting his son. His surname I shall never forget because of the disturbing coincidence. His surname? Dickinson. Mine, I’ve been told, means “estate owner” or “holder of land” or some such. Babelfish has never translated anything like that for me, though I do know that there was at least one minor change to it over the years, a U to an A. It doesn’t apply as neither I, nor anyone in my family, owns any land beyond what their house is built on… unless you count the 3 square inches my grandmother owns in Alaska from redeeming box tops in the 50’s (60’s?). ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/52 "2005-09-11T22:04:26Z")
I am the son of Watt, which would have some sort of relevance if it dealt with electricity (I want to be an EE). However, Watt is a pet form of Walter, which supposedly means ruler of the army. Of course, due to my grandpa Temüjin it might of skipped a generation. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/53 "2005-09-12T06:22:22Z")
> [@quiltguy154](#): > > My last name is also an occupation, sometimes with a superfluous “E” tacked onto the end of it. I like the fact I can communicate my name in sign language, without having to fingerspell it. Just a simple, definitive action,[think “flipping over a pancake”], followed by the two-handed sign for “person”. Flipper? My last name means “village.” I live in the suburbs. Not sure if that counts or not. My middle (maternal) name means “big nose,” or possibly “crooked nose.” Doesn’t apply to me, but it applies to my uncle with a vengence. My first name means “Son of the wise man.” My dad is just about the smartest man I know. So that one, at least, is dead on. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/54 "2005-09-12T09:49:35Z")
My family’s named after a river near Israel, in which Jesus was baptized. I’ve never seen the river, nor the adjoining country named after the river, and I haven’t been baptized, either. So not much relevance. Slightly more relevant to me in surname history: a lot of black families have the same surname, including a famous basketball player and underwear spokesman who everybody jokingly asks me if we’re any relation. (I’d say it was funny the first time I heard it, but I’d be lying, and like Superman, I never lie.) So many black families took the name, apparently, that a lot of white families in the south changed the pronunciation back to the so-called “original German” pronunciation to distinguish themselves as lily-white. My family didn’t, luckily, but I’d still get teachers on the first day of a new school year asking me how I pronounced it. That always confused me until I learned the name’s racist history. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/55 "2005-09-18T03:17:13Z")
My surname is derived from Dionyseus, the god of Wine, Partying and Whoopee. Fits for me! (At least I like to think so…) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841/56 "2005-09-18T03:29:47Z")
My surname says I am not tall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-relevance-of-your-surname-in-modern-times/320841.md?page=2)