surnames where do they come from

[hepburn]

some surnames origininate from places,some from an occupation,but where do names like kitchen,parlour,come from?,and king ,rook, bishop,then theres colours. green, white,black,brown.doe's anyone know?g

[MrsLizzy]

Well you can see how Kitchen could come from an occupation, like Cook, Kitchenmaid etc.  Green I suppose could be a description of a place, Brown could be a description of appearance or clothing.  I have a Dictionary of Surnames somewhere.  Will try to find it and come back to you!

[GRACELAND]

yep named after places they came from etc 

[MrsLizzy]

Thought I had a Dictionary of Surnames but must have once borrowed one from a library which is why I thought I had one.  Should really get one, as definitely need MORE BOOKS! 

[suttontrust]

There are basically 4 origins for surnames:
place - could be a place name or a geographical reference like Wood or Hill
patronymic - son of, like Johnson or Watson
nickname - like Redhead
occupation - Cook, Smith, Taylor etc.

[MrsLizzy]

My surname Phillips, comes from the Greek, meaning "lover of horses".  I don't know what the Greek for "lover of cats, dogs, elephants and any other animal with four legs" is.

[oldcrone]

hi Suttontrust

Always an interesting one, this.  My take on the two bugbear surnames in my family are thus:

SHAW: my surname.  A thicket or wood - a very convenient concept for my grandfather who used this name, amongst others (SMITH and perhaps O'CONNELL) to desert from both the army and navy, and evade various authorities around the turn of the 20th century. 

DAVIES: Son of David.  A very conveniently common Welsh name, especially if used in conjunction with Welsh forenames (eg Llewellyn) so that you can escape the English authorities (who think you've run off back to Wales), desert your wife and kids and run off to Oz and marry bigamously.

Clara

[hepburn]

Yes I can Understand all the place names like wood,field,meadows,but what about the chess pieces,what about castle, chapel, house, church.why birds,bunting, rook, swift, eagles,is there any more odd  ones.g

[animet]

The names can't always be taken literally. Rook actually comes from Oak - meaning someone who lives near an Oak tree  - according to my Dictionary of Surmnames anyway.

My book also tells me that names like kitchen and parlour refer to servants in a house and their responsibilities.

Anita