It's not hard to realize surnames often came from one of several source:

from father's name: johnson
from occupation: smith
from place: churchill, english
from personal trait: armstrong

I wouldn't mind in the least if this thread developed more categories, and more examples of each.

But my question is a different one. Is there a word meaning "derived from a father's name," another meaning "derived from an occupation," another meaning "derived from a place name," and so on for each surname-category?

Well derived from your father's name is "patronymic" (and derived from your mother would be "matronymic").
Derived from a place name might be "toponymic" although that really just means "related to place names".
One to add would be "eponymic" - derived from the name of a real or mythical person.

The others I don't know but I'm betting that I will before the week is out if past performance on the board is anything to judge by.

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Does the "O'" prefix fit the category of place derivisions? What about "Von/Van?" And, of course, we've got the "son" suffix, and in Iceland, the "dottir"(sp?) suffix.

The "O" in Irish names like "O'Neill", "O'Grady", etc. is a patronomic indicator, in the same way that "Mac" is used in Scots names like "McNeill" and "MacKenzie": meaning "son of..." It isn't a shortened form of "of".

Well, since the Russian "vitch" suffix means "son of," would a surly bastard grandson be a sonovavitch?

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The "O" in Irish names like "O'Neill", "O'Grady", etc. is a patronomic indicator, in the same way that "Mac" is used in Scots names like "McNeill" and "MacKenzie": meaning "son of..."

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Likewise "ben" and "ibn" in names of Semitic origin, I believe

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Likewise "ben" and "ibn" in names of Semitic origin, I believe

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[Arabic]

"Abu .." = father of ..

"Ibn .." = son of ..

..... I believe

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Thu Apr 24th, 2003 at 16:52.]

Is Abu the same as Abou? In which case how do we parse "Abou ben Adhem?"

I think the the German von ____ is like the Irish O'____ in that mean from, signifying a place. But differs in that it's used only in cases of honor.

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How would you parse Abou ben Adhem ?

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I e-mailed a high school classmate, daughter of Arabic-speaking immigrants, and here is her reply:

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Well Jerry I don't know if I can be much help. I did e-mail my niece who is from Lebanon and this is what she said. "Lots of Arab poets use Abou Ben as an introduction to their name. (father of the son of Adham) It is like saying the mother of the daughter Mary. ( in other words mother of the daughter of Mary who is Mary.)"

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Originally posted by wordnerd:
I think the the German _von _____ is like the Irish _O'_____ in that mean _from_, signifying a place. But differs in that it's used only in cases of honor.

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And I imagine French "de" is similar.

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Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
<snip> And, of course, we've got the "son" suffix, and in Iceland, the "dottir"(sp?) suffix.

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In Swedish the suffix "-sdotter" means "daughter of" and is a patronymic because the root is always the father's name. Of course, the masculine is "-sson". The infix "-s-" in both cases is the genitive, which makes for example Johansson literally "John's son". Upon imigrating to the US this often became Johnson. In Finnish it is "-poika" for son and "-tyttär" for daughter.

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...which makes for example Johansson literally "John's son". Upon imigrating to the US this often became Johnson.

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I'm confused! Wouldn't "Johansson" litterally be "Johan's son" not "John's son"? I realize that Johan was usually shortened to John in the US, but that would be part of the process of "Johansson" becoming "Johnson", wouldn't it?