surname

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The family name shared by members of a family, used after the first name.

   James is my first name, and Smith is my surname.

2. 2
   verb

   To give someone a surname or call them by one.

   He was surnamed "the Great" by his people.

Inherited from Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivalent to sur- + name.

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