Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A name shared in common to identify the members of a family, as distinguished from each member's given name. Also called family name, last name.
- n. A nickname or epithet added to a person's name.
- transitive v. To give a surname to.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A name that indicates to which family a person belongs, normally following that person’s given name(s) in Western culture, and preceding it in Eastern.
- v. To give a surname.
- v. To call by a surname.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A name or appellation which is added to, or over and above, the baptismal or Christian name, and becomes a family name.
- n. An appellation added to the original name; an agnomen.
- transitive v. To name or call by an appellation added to the original name; to give a surname to.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To name or call by an additional name; give a surname to. See name.
- n. An additional name, frequently descriptive, as in Harold Harefoot; specifically, a name or appellation added to the baptismal or Christian name, and becoming a family name. See to-name.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. the name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)
Etymologies
Examples
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His small stature was a bitter irony for someone whose surname translates as "Tall."
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To this day Quisling's surname is shorthand for a politician willing to sell out his own country to the worst predators, if it looks like that might save his own interests.
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The 20-year-old Christophe Lemaitre (whose surname translates as 'The Master') recently became the first white sprinter to break the 10-second barrier with 9.98 sec in Valence.
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The Central Election Commission also registered as a presidential candidate a resident of Ivano-Frankivsk region, Vasyl Protyvsikh (whose surname translates as "Against Everybody"), who changed his surname from Humeniuk in early October 2009.
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Even Bev Perdue, whose friggin 'surname is French for "lost," probably won't.
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John may be the reason that their surname is a brand name among political junkies, but "when he and I travel to the Middle East together, I'm cognizant of the fact that I'm traveling with royalty," John says.
James Zogby, a Catholic of Lebanese descent, works to dispel myths about Arabs
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(15-16 January 2010, Part 2) * In both instances, the surname is an anglicized derivation of the Irish surname Ó Tighearnaigh.
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* In both instances, the surname is an anglicized derivation of the Irish surname Ó Tighearnaigh.
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Wei, Ts'ai, Ts'ao, and T'êng, all of the imperial family name, or, as we say in English, "surname," and all lying between the Hwai and the Sz systems (T'êng was a "belonging state" of Lu).
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Sunshine and Calm (While our surname is legally Smith, we have adopted Hope-Sunshine and Paz Lake as love-names because we believe this more accurately describes our sons 'dispositions.)
strev commented on the word surname
What's in a name? Guyana
June 22, 2009