Smith is a family name originating in England.
It is the most prevalent surname in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States,
the second most common surname in Canada, and the fifth most common surname in Ireland.
The surname Smith is particularly prevalent among those of English, Scottish and Irish
descent, but is also a common surname among African Americans, which can be attributed
to black slaves adopting the name during the era of slavery and after the issuance of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
2,376,206 Americans shared the surname Smith during the 2000 census, and more than 500,000
people share it in the United Kingdom.
At the turn of the 20th century, the surname was sufficiently prevalent in England to have
prompted the statement: "Common to every village in England, north, south, east and west";
and sufficiently common on the continent to be "...common in most countries of Europe."
Etymology and history The name originally derives from smið or
smiþ, the Old English term meaning one who works in metal related to the word smitan,
the Old English form of smite, which also meant strike.
The Old English word smiþ comes from the Proto-Germanic word smiþaz.
Smithy comes from the Old English word smiðē from the Proto-Germanic smiðjon.
The use of Smith as an occupational surname dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when inherited
surnames were still unknown: Ecceard Smith of County Durham, North East England, was
recorded in 975.
Although the name is derived from a common occupation, many later Smiths had no connection
to that occupation, but adopted or were given the surname precisely because of its commonness.
For example: It is common for people in English-speaking
countries to adopt the surname Smith in order to maintain a secret identity, when they wish
to avoid being found.
Smith is an extremely common name among English Gypsies; see also John Smith.
During the colonisation of North America, some Native Americans took the name for use
in dealing with colonists.
During the period of slavery in the United States, many other slaves were known by the
surname of their masters, or adopted those surnames upon their emancipation.
During the world wars, many German Americans anglicised the common and equivalent German
surname Schmidt or Schmitz to Smith to avoid discrimination.
A popular misconception holds that at the beginning of the 20th century, when many new
immigrants were entering the U.S., civil servants at Ellis Island responsible for cataloging
the entry of such persons sometimes arbitrarily assigned new surnames if the immigrants' original
surname was particularly lengthy, or difficult for the processor to spell or pronounce.
While such claims are likely vastly exaggerated, many immigrants did choose to begin their
American lives with more "American" names, particularly with Anglicised versions of their
birth names; the German Schmidt was often Anglicized to Smith not only during the world
wars, but also commonly in times of peace, and the equivalent Polish Kowalski was Anglicized
to Smith as well.
Variations Variations of the surname Smith also remain
very common.
These include different spellings of the English term, and versions in other languages.
English variations There is some disagreement about the origins
of the numerous variations of the name Smith.
The addition of an "e" at the end of the name is sometimes considered an affectation, but
may have arisen either as an attempt to spell "smithy" or as the Middle English adjectival
form of "smith", which would have been used in surnames based on location rather than
occupation.
Likewise, the replacement of the "i" with a "y" in "Smyth" or "Smythe" is also often
considered an affectation but may have originally occurred because of the difficulty of reading
blackletter text, where "Smith" might look like "Snuth" or "Simth".
However, Charles Bardsley wrote in 1901, "The y in Smyth is the almost invariable spelling
in early rolls, so that it cannot exactly be styled a modern affectation."
Some variants were adopted by individuals for personal reasons, while others may have
arisen independently or as offshoots from the 'Smith' root.
Names such as Smither and Smithers may in some cases be variants of 'Smith' but in others
independent surnames based on a meaning of 'light and active' attributed to smyther.
Additional derivatives include Smithman, Smithson and Smithfield.
Athersmith may derive from 'at the Smith'.
Other variations focus on specialisms within the profession; for example Blacksmith, from
those who worked predominantly with iron, Whitesmith, from those who worked with tin,
Brownsmith and Redsmith, from those who worked with copper), Silversmith and Goldsmith – and
those based on the goods produced, such as Hammersmith, Bladesmith, Naismith, Arrowsmith
which in turn was shortened to Arsmith, or Shoesmith.
Sixsmith has nothing to do with six smiths but it is variant spelling of a sickle or
scythe smith.
Wildsmith in turn is a corruption of wheelsmith The patronymic practice of attaching "son"
to the end of a name to indicate that the bearer is the child of the original holder
has also led to the surnames Smithson and Smisson.
Other languages Other languages with different words for the
occupation of "smith" or "blacksmith" also produced surnames based on that root.
Germanic languages German: Schmid, Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz,
Schmied Southern Dutch: De Smid, De Smedt, Desmedt,
De Smet, Desmet, Smeets, Smets Northern Dutch and Afrikaans: Smit, Smid,
Smidt, Smed, De Smet Romance languages
Words derived from the Latin term for smith, such as the Italian words fabbro and ferraio,
are the root of last names common in several parts of Europe.
Italian: Fabbri, Fabbro, Fabris, Ferrara, Ferraro, Ferrari, Ferrera, Ferrero
French: Lefebvre, Lefèvre, Lefeuvre, Lefébure, Favre, Faber, Fabre, Fabré, Faure, Fauré,
Favret, Favrette, or Dufaure, Feaver Spanish: Herrero, Ferrero
Romanian: Feraru, Fieraru Portuguese: Ferreiro, Ferreira
Catalan: Ferrer, Ferré, Farré, Fabre, Fabra Latin: Faber
Celtic languages In Ireland and Scotland, the word for smith,
gobha, is found in the surname MacGouranMcGowan.
This surname is an Anglicised form of Mac a' Ghobhainn, Mac Gabhann, meaning "son of
the smith".
In England the surname Goff, which is common in East Anglia, is derived from the Breton
and Cornish goff a cognate of the Gaelic gobha.
This particular surname was brought to England by Bretons, following the Norman Conquest
of England.
Slavic and nearby languages In the Slavic languages, in Romanian, and
in Hungarian there is a family of surnames that derive from a common root referring to
the occupation of metalworking.
Russian: Kovalёv, Kuznetsov Bulgarian: Kovachev
Czech: Kovář Slovak: Kováč and derived Kováčik, Kovačovič
Polish: Kowal and its place name derivative Kowalski, and patronymics Kowalik, Kowalczyk
and Kowalewski Serbo-Croatian: Kovač/Ковач, Kovačević/Ковачевић,
Kovačić/Ковачић, Kovačev/Ковачев Slovenian: Kovač, Kovačič
Hungarian: Kovács Ukrainian: Kovalenko, Kovalchuk, Koval
Other Arabic: Haddad
Aramaic: Haddad Armenian: Darbinyan, Tarpinyan
Estonian: Sepp Finnish: Seppä, Seppälä, Seppänen
Georgian: Mchedlidze, Mchedlishvili Japanese: Kajiya
Greek: Siderás, Sidéris Latvian: Kalejs
Lingala: Motuli Lithuanian: Kalvaitis
Persian: Zargar Punjabi: Lohar
Syriac: Hadodo, Hadad, Haddad Turkish: Demirci
Balinese: Pande Notable people sharing the surname "Smith"
See also Smith
Smith and Jones Smithson
Mayor Smith General Smith
Governor Smith President Smith
Judge Smith Psmith
Notes
References
External links Origin and history of the name of Smith, with
biographies of all the most noted persons of that name, Chicago, Ill., American Publishers'
Association, 1902.
via Internet Archive Smith in the world
Surname Database: Smith