The Origin of your Surname

**Útrám** · 07-01-2009, 09:25 AM

None, I have a patronymic last name.

**Tabiti** · 07-01-2009, 09:29 AM

Root is from the old Bulgarian name Kuno (non Slavic one), which is also Germanic as I saw???
The suffix (Slavic) is specific and traditional from the Northwestern region.

**Inese** · 07-01-2009, 04:00 PM

My surname is Baltic and it is a common surname in Latvia. A important military and political person in the history of our country and indipendence had the same name!!

I like it. Hm i dont want to tell my surname but the German surname of my grandfather was " Leinenbach".

Hm who is the other with a Baltic surname??

Rise your finger!!

**~~Cato~~** · 07-02-2009, 10:16 PM

My surname Wilkins is Will kin. I know I've got Norman ancestry, but I don't know if one of my ancestors was a kinsman of William or not.

**~~Osweo~~** · 07-02-2009, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by Pallamedes

My surname Wilkins is Will kin. I know I've got Norman ancestry, but I don't know if one of my ancestors was a kinsman of William or not.

I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.

Watkins, Jenkins, Bunnikins, Rumpelstiltzkin, Liebchen, Hahnchen, Squirrel Nutkin, Country Bumpkins, Fluffikins and Pitkin are all of a piece. This is a hypochoristic, a diminuitive, an endearing familiar form.

We are still dealing with a William, or a Wilkie or Willikins rather, but hardly the notorious Guillaume you mention!

**Germanicus** · 07-02-2009, 10:59 PM

My surname comes from Lancashire by origin, it is made up of old English
meaning a hill with a clearing. Apparently the biggest community of people with my surname comes from Newfoundland. There are a few variants of my surname but all meaning the same.

**~~Cato~~** · 07-02-2009, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by Oswiu

I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.

Watkins, Jenkins, Bunnikins, Rumpelstiltzkin, Liebchen, Hahnchen, Squirrel Nutkin, Country Bumpkins, Fluffikins and Pitkin are all of a piece. This is a hypochoristic, a diminuitive, an endearing familiar form.

We are still dealing with a William, or a Wilkie or Willikins rather, but hardly the notorious Guillaume you mention!

Considering I haven't investigated my family tree to determine where my surname comes from, I'll neither confirm nor deny your post.

**~~Osweo~~** · 07-02-2009, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by Pallamedes

Considering I haven't investigated my family tree to determine where my surname comes from, I'll neither confirm nor deny your post.

You needn't investigate it to confirm or deny this morphological point. No amount of genealogy has any bearing on the pure linguistics of name derivations. -kin(s) is a very widespread and recognisable Germanic diminuitive suffix.

**Angantyr** · 07-02-2009, 11:46 PM

Given that my father abandoned us when I was young, I have very little connection with my surname.

Moreover, the connection is rendered even more tenuous as the surname is totally artificial as my father changed his surname...just as his father changed his surname...and his father changed his surname.

In any event, my surname is English. My mother's maiden surname is French.

**jerney** · 07-03-2009, 12:22 AM

My surname is a pretty common Welsh name. Actually I'd say it's pretty common throughout Britain, but most common in Wales. I don't have any Welsh ancestors as far as I know, but my grandfather was born illegitimately and took his step father's surname when his mother married. His biological father was English, though and his surname came from East Sussex.