SURNAME

surname, family name, cognomen, last name

(noun) the name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member’s given name)

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

surname (plural surnames)

(obsolete) An additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.

(obsolete) An additional name given to a person, place, or thing; a byname or nickname.

The name a person shares with other members of that person's family, distinguished from that person's given name or names; a family name.

(Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.

(Scottish, obsolete) A clan.

Usage notes

The term "surname" may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning, most notably in the case of Roman cognomens. In fact, the nomen was the surname as the word is commonly understood today but the terms were first applied when surname was still used in the sense of "additional" or "added" name: the cognomen was added to the nomen to show the branch of the family involved. (The modern translation of a similar distinction in ancient Chinese names customarily uses ancestral name and clan name instead and typically speaks of surnames only once the two merged into a single and commonly-employed family name.)

Synonyms

• epithet (additional descriptive name)

• nickname, sobriquet, byname (additional name)

• family name, last name, to-name (hereditary name denoting one's family)

• See also surname

Hypernyms

• name

Verb

surname (third-person singular simple present surnames, present participle surnaming, simple past and past participle surnamed)

(transitive) To give a surname to.

(transitive) To call by a surname.

Anagrams

• Mansure, manures

Source: Wiktionary

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Sur"name`, n. Etym: [Pref. sur + name; really a substitution for OE. sournoun, from F. surnom. See Sur-, and Noun, Name.]

1. A name or appellation which is added to, or over and above, the baptismal or Christian name, and becomes a family name.

Note: Surnames originally designated occupation, estate, place of residence, or some particular thing or event that related to the person; thus, Edmund Ironsides; Robert Smith, or the smith; William Turner. Surnames are often also patronymics; as, John Johnson.

2. An appellation added to the original name; an agnomen. "My surname, Coriolanus." Shak.

Note: This word has been sometimes written sirname, as if it signified sire-name, or the name derived from one's father.

Sur*name", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Surnamed; p. pr. & vb. n. Surnaming.] Etym: [Cf. F. surnommer.]

Definition: To name or call by an appellation added to the original name; to give a surname to. Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Isa. xliv. 5. And Simon he surnamed Peter. Mark iii. 16.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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