A Surname Is a Name Added Over Your Own
A surname is a family name. The word means an over-name, and where it goes in a full name depends entirely on the culture.
A surname is the name shared by a family. The word comes from French *surnom*, an over-name added to a personal one. Its position varies: it follows the given name in most of Europe, precedes it in China, Japan and Korea, and in Iceland it is not a family name at all but a patronymic naming your father.
- A family name. *Please give your surname.*
- Last name — the American equivalent. *First and last name.*
- Family name — the neutral international term. *Family name and given names.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | surname | A common surname. |
| Plural | surnames | Welsh surnames. |
| Related | forename | Forename and surname. |
| Related | patronymic | An Icelandic patronymic. |
| American | last name | Your last name. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Write your surname in block capitals.Form filling.
- In Hungary the family name comes first.As in East Asia.
- Icelandic names are patronymic.Formed from the father's given name.
Where surnames come from
- Patronymic — from a father's name: Johnson, Ivanov, Mac Donald
- Occupational — from a trade: Smith, Miller, Taylor
- Locative — from a place: Hill, Washington, Lombardi
- Descriptive — from an attribute: Brown, Short, Armstrong
- Adopted — chosen or assigned, often after migration
From Anglo-French *surnoun*, from *sur*, over, and *nom*, name. Hereditary surnames spread in England after the Norman conquest and were widespread by the fourteenth century.
Is *last name* always the surname?
No. In many East Asian names the family name comes first, so forms asking for a last name can be answered wrongly.
How do Icelandic names work?
Most people have a patronymic: a father's given name plus -son or -dóttir. There is usually no shared family surname.