Smith (surname)

For a list of people with this surname, see List of people with surname Smith.

Smith is an occupational surname originating in England. It is the most prevalent surname in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and the fifth most common surname in the Republic of Ireland. In the United States, 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 either to African slaves having been given the surname of their masters, or to being an occupational name, as some southern African-Americans took this surname to reflect their or their father's trade. 2,442,977 Americans shared the surname Smith at the time of the 2010 census, and more than 500,000 people shared it in the United Kingdom as of 2006. 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 (European) continent (in various forms) to be "common in most countries of Europe".

Smith

A close-up of a blacksmith at work; Smith became a popular last name for those with this occupation.
Pronunciation	/ˈsmɪθ/
Origin
Word/name	Old English
Meaning	From smitan (to smite)
Region of origin	England
Other names
Variant form(s)	Numerous

Etymology and history

The name refers to a smith, originally deriving 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 (as in early 17th century Biblical English: the verb "to smite" = to hit). 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.

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island; some chose more "American" surnames, like "Smith", on arrival

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 may be 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 Polish equivalent Kowalski was Anglicized to Smith as well.

Variations

Variations of the surname Smith also remain very common. These include different spellings of the English name, 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 (in other words, for someone living near or at the smithy).

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 (such as Smijth) 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 (see below). 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 (and the more obvious Tinsmith), Brownsmith and Redsmith, from those who worked with copper (Coppersmith and Greensmith; copper is green when oxidised), Silversmith and Goldsmith – and those based on the goods produced, such as Hammersmith, Bladesmith, Naismith (nail-smith), Arrowsmith which in turn was shortened to Arsmith, or Shoesmith (referring to horseshoes). Sixsmith is a 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. Historically, "Smitty" has been a common nickname given to someone with the surname, Smith; in some instances, this usage has passed into "Smitty" being used as a surname itself.

Other languages

Surnames relating to smiths and blacksmiths are found across the world. When relevant, transliterations are included in parentheses and italicised, and adaptations (i.e. anglicisations or gallicisations) in brackets. Additionally, brief etymologies are noted if a name used in a certain language derives from another language.

Germanic

Language	Surnames
Afrikaans	Smit, Smidt
Danish	Smed, Smidt (from German)
Dutch	Smit, Smits, Smid, Smidt
Flemish	De Smedt, Desmedt, De Smet, Desmet, Smets
Frisian	Smid
German	Kowalitz (from Slavic); Schmidt, Schmied, Schmiedel, Schmieden Alemannic: Schmid, Schmied, Schmed Bavarian: Schmid, Schmidl, Schmied, Schmitt, Schmitzer Franconian: Schmitt, Schmitz, Schmich Low German: Schmidt, Schmidtke, Schmick
Limburgish	Smeets
Luxembourgish	Schmit, Schmitz
Yiddish	שמידט (Schmidt), שמיט (Schmitt), שמיץ (Schmitz)

Romance

Language	Surnames
Catalan	Ferrer, Ferré, Farré, Fabra
French	Favre, Faber, Favret Northern: Lefebvre, Lefèvre, Lefébure Western: Lefeuvre
Galician	Ferreiro, Ferreira
Italian	Ferraro Northern: Fabbro, Fabris, Ferrari, Ferrero Central: Fabbri Southern: Ferrara, Ferrera
Norman	Lefebvre, Lefèvre Anglo-Norman: Lefebvre [Feaver], Ferror [Farrar, Farrer, Ferrar, Farrow]
Occitan	Fabre, Fabré, Faure, Fauré, Dufaure
Portuguese	Ferreira, Ferreiro
Romanian	Feraru, Fieraru; Covaci, Covalciuc, Covaliov, Covali, Coval (from Slavic)
Spanish	Herrero, Herrera, Ferrera, Ferrero

Celtic

Language	Surnames
Breton	ar Gov [Le Goff], ar Govig [Le Goffic]
Cornish	an Gov [Angove, Goff, Goffe]; [Trengove]
Irish	Mac Gabhann [McGowan, MacGowan, McGouran]
Scottish Gaelic	Gobha [Gow]; Mac a' Ghobhainn [McGowan, MacGowan, McGavin], common in Elgin, Moray, and Galloway
Welsh	Gof [Goff], common in East Anglia in England

Slavic

Language	Surnames
Belarusian	Кавалевіч (Kavalevich), Кавалёў (Kavalyow), Кавалёнак (Kavalyonak), Кавальчук (Kavalchuk), Кавалюк (Kavalyuk), Коваль (Koval)
Bosnian	Kovač, Kovačić, Kovačević; Demirdžić (from Ottoman Turkish)
Bulgarian	Ковачевски (Kovačevski), Ковачев (Kovachev), Ковачино (Kovachino)
Croatian	Kovač, Kovačić, Kovačević, Kovačev, Kovačec, Kovaček
Czech	Kovář, Kovařík; Šmíd (from German); Šmicer (from Bavarian)
Kashubian	Kowalski, Kowalewski
Macedonian	Ковачевски (Kovačevski), Ковачев (Kovačev)
Polish	Kowal, Kowalewicz, Kowalski, Kowalik, Kowalczyk, Kowalewski, Kuźniar, Kuźniarski; Szmidt (from German)
Russian	Ковалевич (Kovalevich), Ковалёв (Kovalyov), Ковальков (Kovalkov), Ковалевский (Kovalevskiy), Кузнецкий (Kuznetskiy), Кузнецов (Kuznetsov), Кузнецовский (Kuznetsovskiy), Кузнечевский (Kuznechevskiy), Кузнеченко (Kuznechenko), Кузнеченков (Kuznechenkov), Кузнечихин (Kuznechikhin); Шмидов (Shmidov) (from German or Yiddish)
Rusyn	Ковалькевич (Kovalkevich), Ковалёвич (Kovalyovich), Кузняк (Kuzniak)
Serbian	Ковачевић (Kovačević), Ковач (Kovač), Ковачев (Kovačev)
Slovak	Kováč, Kováčik, Kovačovič, Kovalík
Slovene	Kovač, Kovačič
Ukrainian	Ковалевич (Kovalevych), Коваленко (Kovalenko), Ковальчук (Kovalchuk), Коваль (Koval), Ковальков (Kovalkov), Ковалевський (Kovalevskyi), Ковалюк (Kovalyuk)
Upper Sorbian	Kowar, Kowarjec

Other European

Language	Surnames
Albanian	Nallbani
Basque	Arotza
Estonian	Sepp
Finnish	Seppä, Seppälä, Seppänen
Greek	Σιδεράς (Sideras)
Hungarian	Kovács (from Slavic), Koufax (corruption)
Latvian	Kalējs; Šmits (from German)
Lithuanian	Kalvaitis, Kavaliauskas; Kovalskis (from Slavic)

South Asian

Language	Surnames
Bengali	কর্মকার (Karmakar)
Hindi	लोहार (Lohar)
Kannada	ಕಮ್ಮಾರ (Kammara)
Malayalam	കമ്മാരൻ (Kammaaran)
Nepali	कामी (Kami)
Oriya	କମାର (Kamara)
Punjabi	ਲੁਹਾਰ (Lohar)
Sanskrit	अयस्काम (Ayaskama), कर्मार (Karmara), लोहकार (Lohakara), व्योकार (Vyokara)
Tamil	கம்மாளர் (Kammalar)
Telugu	కమ్మరి (Kammari)

Other

Language	Surnames
Arabic	حداد (Haddad)
Azerbaijani	Dəmirçi
Aramaic	Haddad
Armenian	Դարբինյան (Darbinyan, Tarpinyan, ), Գումուչեան (Gumuchian)
Balinese	Pande
Bataknese	Sitepu
Chinese	铁 (Tie)
Georgian	მჭედლიძე (Mchedlidze), მჭედლიშვილი (Mchedlishvili)
Hebrew	חדד (Haddad)
Japanese	鍛冶屋 (Kajiya)
Kazakh	Tömirshi
Lingala	Motuli
Median	Esmi
Minahasa	Marentek
Persian	زرگر (Zargar)
Syriac	ܚܕܕܐ (Hadodo, Hadad, Haddad)
Tatar	Tümerche
Turkish	Demirci
Uyghur	Tömürchi

See also

• List of people with surname Smith
• List of most common surnames in Europe
• Smith Family (disambiguation)
• Smith (given name)
• Smith (taxonomic authority)
• Smith and Jones (disambiguation)
• Psmith

References

Bibliography

• Anderson, William (1863). The Scottish Nation (Volume 3: MAC to ZET). Edinburgh: A. Fullerton & Co. p. 479. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
• Bardsley, Charles Wareing (1901). English and Welsh Surnames. London: Henry Frowde. p. 699. ISBN 0-8063-0022-1. Retrieved 3 March 2008. The section heading referenced here reads "Smith, Smyth, Smythe", suggesting these to be the most common variants at the time (1901).
• "Surname Map for Smith in Britain, Ireland and Mann" (map). CelticFamilyMaps.com. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
• Brooke, Bob (31 December 2006). "The Mighty Smiths: Dealing With Common Surnames". Everyday Genealogy. Genealogy Today, LLC. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
• CBC News (26 July 2007). "Common surnames". News in Depth. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
• Cottle, Basil (1967). Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books.
• Dorward, David (1998). Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition).
• Geoghegan, Eddie (26 May 2006). "Smith coat of arms and family history". Araltas.com. Retrieved 15 March 2008. At the outset it is important to mention that the spelling of the name as Smith, Smyth, Smithe, Smythe, etc. is of little historical significance. The use of "i" and "y" and the presence or absence of the terminal "e" merely reflect the writing styles of the day.
• "How Many of Me?". HowManyofMe.com. Archived from the original (database search result) on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2008. There are 3,053,623 people in the U.S. with the last name Smith.
• Lower, Mark Antony (1860). Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 319–321. ISBN 978-0-7884-0456-6. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
• O'Kane, Willie (1998). "Surnames of County Monaghan". Irish Roots. 26 (2nd quarter). Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2008. ...certain members of the MacGabhann and O Gabhan septs, usually Anglicised as McGowan, took the name Smith on the basis of the name Mac Gobha, 'son of the smith'.
  The URL here is to a reprint on the Irish Ancestors website. Tables of contents for back issues of Irish Roots Magazine are found at https://web.archive.org/web/20091217104309/http://irishroots.ie/Back%20Issues%20List.htm and there are two listings for the title here, one in 'Issue No. 26 (1998 Second quarter)', the other in 'Issue No. 48 (2003 Fourth quarter)'. It is not clear whether the latter is a simple reprint of the former or an update. The reprinted article notes 'From Irish Roots, (No. 28)'.
• Simpson, David (30 January 2007). "Surnames of North East England". The North East England History Pages. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
• Smith, Elsdon C. (1997). American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company.
• "Smith surname at YourNotMe". YourNotMe.com. Archived from the original (database search result) on 11 November 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
• US Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100). Retrieved 25 February 2008.

Further reading

• Origin and History of the Name of Smith, With Biographies of All the Most Noted Persons of That Name, And an Account of the Origin of Surnames and Forenames, Together with over Five Hundred Christian Names of Men and Women and Their Significance, The Crescent Family Record. Chicago, Illinois: American Publishers’ Association. 1902. OCLC 181292526 – via Internet Archive.