Do you know what your last name means and where it comes from...?

by Justahuman24 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Justahuman24

  I have always been interested in what last names mean and where they come from and if someone famous in the past is related to us because of the same last name.

  My last name comes from Greek but my family is not Greek. It dates back to the year 700CE and it was around the time in Europe when people were starting to get last names - I'm talking about the general people not monarchs. It means "bow maker" bow as in bow and arrow. It was adopted by a family of knights from Spain, in the Aragon area. They served the kings and queens and some of their descendants were members of the Spanish Inquisition. - talk about infamous ancestors lol

  On my mother's side, my last name was started by a Princess of Spain. So, I probably have royal blood :-D.

  Any other fancy stories about last names?

  - but super nonetheless
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  Lumptard

  Mine's from scotland...don't know what it means...where did you find out that info about yours?
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  bigwilly

  Any chance you've got a link where you looked it up?
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  free2beme

  I have an Italian regional last name. Meaning, is comes from a region and the people who lived there were all referred too as this last name. Kind of like having a last name like California, as you lived in California.
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  ferret

  ! cannot tell you what my last name is. However it comes from England many years ago and is the name of a plant with white flowers. If I tell you the name of the flower than I will reveal my last name.
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  Country Girl

  My last name is Greek. However, my Grandfather changed our last name from almost a Turkish name to Greek. That wsa because he did want to be identifed with the theif in our family. My last name is a Greek general. I knwo my name comes from Greece.

  CG
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  kittyeatzjdubs

  Mine's boring. White-surname given to people w/ a pale appearance in England.

  yaaaaaaaaay...

  I'm not even that pale either. hmmph....

  ~luv, jojo
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  jgnat

  My ancestors are all plain folk. When they started tacking on last names, it had to do with what they did or where they lived.

  Pott -> potters.

  Baillie -> bailiffs.

  Fraser -> Liked strawberries (fraise). ....JK

  http://www.last-names.net/Articles/Origin.asp
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  bigwilly

  My last name is Williams. I think it's Welsh for "sheep shagger"
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  Apostate Kate

  Mine are Scottish regional and clan names on both sides for quite a ways back but for one name that I don't mind posting. This name was thought to be German but in my research I found it to be Jewish; Zeller or Zellers.

  They were German Jews that migrated from Berlin Ghetto. It was fun learning this since my mother told me stories of a cousin not being allowed in a movie theater for being Jewish, but the children did not know they were Jewish. They had adopted Christianity and did not practice as Jews. I guess there was anti-Semitism even in America. There are German recipes handed down but the language was verboten to speak.

  One branch of the Scots were a family of 5 brothers that moved to Virginia after the Highland clearances. They had fought to defend Edinburgh from the Brits but had to leave or die.

  Genetically my DNA comes from the Vikings. So it was traced from the far nothern Europeans downward to Ireland, through Scotland a brief stint in Germany on the Zellers side to America. I often think I should go back to Scotland, at least to visit. Especially in the summer when I am suffering in the desert heat. My blond hair and fair skinned soul was never meant to roast out here. I need the foggy heather draped cool green hills of Scotland.