What is a 'surname'?

[Frans Kwaad]

To all,

I am relatively new in genealogy. The word 'surname' puzzles me. It is a
last name, but it is not the same as
'family name'. We don't have an equivalent word for 'surname' in Dutch. We
only have 'achternaam' (last name) and 'familienaam' (family name). The same
in German ('Nachname' und 'Familienname'). Does 'surname' derive from
'Sir-name'? Can a 'surname' be a personal name: can two brothers have
had different 'surnames' in the past?

Gerda Pieterse wrote me:
> My book of words tells me that the word surname derives from Middle
> English sur (after) noun (name). ie "achternaam" and denotes a common
> name shared by members of one family or, (and this is where it becomes
> interesting) an additional name of descriptive or allusive kind
> attached to a person and occasionally becoming hereditary.

I find it very useful, in fact a necessity, to have a formal definition of
such a central term in genealogy as 'surname'. Now, is this definition of
the term 'surname' known, accepted and used by all genealogists worldwide?
The same for the term 'ancestor'. Is there an 'official' terminology of
genealogical terms? Is there some kind of textbook on 'The Principles or
Fundamentals of Genealogy', like you have in most disciplines?

Thank you for a reaction,

Frans Kwaad,
e-mail: kwaad...@worldmail.nl
webpage: http://home.worldonline.nl/~wr2777/Quade-Kwaad.htm

[Michelle A. Mader]

Frans Kwaad wrote:

> To all,
>
> I am relatively new in genealogy. The word 'surname' puzzles me. It is a
> last name, but it is not the same as
> 'family name'. We don't have an equivalent word for 'surname' in Dutch. We
> only have 'achternaam' (last name) and 'familienaam' (family name). The same
> in German ('Nachname' und 'Familienname'). Does 'surname' derive from
> 'Sir-name'? Can a 'surname' be a personal name: can two brothers have
> had different 'surnames' in the past?

From my dictionary:

[OFR.<sur (a prefix meaning over, upon, above, beyond) +
nom (L. nomen - name)]
1. The family name or last name as distinguished from a given name
2. a name or epithet added to a person's given name (Ex.: Ivan the Terrible)

At least in the USA, surname is generally synonymous with family name.

I can think of a number of instances where brothers could end up with
different surnames:

1) One or both of the brothers was adopted (they were raised in
different families).

2) They are half-brothers.

3) The spellings were changed upon immigration (Ex.: 3 brothers
named Maco immigrate to the USA. One ends up Matso (a phonetic
spelling) and the other ends up Macko (a typo by the immigration
people).

[Loup1951]

A surname is a given name like Hans Ludwig,Johann,etc it is called " first
name" that wich preceeds the last name,family name.It is also called surname
because of the other given names like for exemple; Johann Wilhelm Ludwig
Schmidt, the Johann would be the one used while Wilhelm would be the middle
name and Ludwig not used at all but the initial L used in signing etc. these
given names always reflected the surnames of the father and grand father's
surnames in the birth certificate.