Surname Suffixes

created by melodrame
(idea) by melodrame (4.3 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Wed Aug 16 2000 at 17:08:27
This is a parallel node to Surname Prefixes. As you might've guessed, this deals with last names ending a certain way which determines more or less ethnic background.

Surname Suffixes

Suffix               Meaning                    Nationality

-bach                brook                      German
-baum                tree                       German
-berg                mountain                   German
-blad                leaf                       Norwegian
-blad                leaf                       Swedish
-blatt               leaf                       German
-bo                  farm                       Norwegian
-borg                castle                     Swedish
-born                stream                     German
-borough, -brough    fort                       English
-brecht              bright                     German
-bury, -berry        fort                       English
-by                  farm, village              English
-by                  farm, village              Norwegian
-dahl                valley                     Swedish
-er                  one who (does something)   English
-ford                ford, crossing             English
-gard                ford, crossing             Danish
-gard                ford                       Norwegian
-grave, grove        grove                      English
-gren                branch                     Swedish
-hardt, -hart, -hard hard, firm                 German
-haus                house                      German
-heim                home                       German
-holm                river island               Swedish
-land                land                       English
-land                farm, or par of            Scandinavian
-leigh, -ley, -ly    meadow, vale               English
-lof, -love          leaf, heather              Swedish
-lund                grove                      Swedish
-man                 servant of                 English
-mark                field                      Swedish
-ness                cape, headland             English
-olf                 wolf, fame                 German
-olph                wolf, fame                 English
-ova                 daughter of                Russian
-quist               twig                       Swedish
-rop, -rup           farm, village              English
-ski                 of the nature of; son of   Polish
-ski, -ska           of the nature of; son of   Czech
-ski, -ska           of the nature of; son of   Russian
-stad                farm, place                Danish
-stad                farm, place                Norwegian
-stad                farm, place                Scandinavian
-stein               stone                      German
-strom               stream                     Swedish
-thal                valley                     German
-thorpe              farm, village              English
-ton                 town                       English
-wahl, -vall         field                      Swedish
-wich                dwelling                   English
-wiec                one who (does something)   Polish
-win                 friend                     English
-worth               homestead                  English
See Also: Surname Prefixes
*Corrections and additions to this writeup've been made by Truffle

Sources:

    Surname Suffixes
    http://www.newyorkancestry.com/surname_suffixes.htm
(idea) by PikeWake (3.4 wk) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Thu Feb 22 2001 at 17:29:06
A common mistake popped up in the original writeup:

Swedish and Icelandic patronymics end with -son, Danish and Norwegian are the ones ending with -sen.

Nordic surnames of this kind used to be "real" patronymics, so if a man named "Johan Eriksson" had a son named "Lars", the son's full name would be "Lars Johansson", i.e. "Lars, Johan's son". The extra "s" identifies the name as Nordic, since Anglo-Saxon surnames ending in -son usually only have one "s", e.g. "Johnson". Since the practice of using patronymics ended in Sweden during the 19:th century, many of the old names got changed, so there are Swedes called "Erikson" or even "Erixon" as well...

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