Something about names
Discussion about some parts in family names.
Patronymic
-son
Suffix of a name, likely to appear in surnames from English, very common.
Johnson -> son of John
Mc- / Mac-
Both from Scottish and Gaelic, “Mc-“ is the contraction of “Mac-“, “The son of”.
McDonald -> son of Donald
MacCabe -> son of Cabe
Fitz-
From Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman, “The son of”.
FitzGerald -> son of Gerald
Ap
Not a prefix but a part of surname, from Welsh “Map”, “The son of”. However it now reduced as prefix “Up-“ or “P-“.
Upjohn -> ap John -> son of John
Powell -> ap Hywel
Price -> ap Rhys
Bowen -> ab Owen
O’-
O’ is the Anglicized Ó from Gaelic, meaning “male descendant of”.
O’Brian -> grandson of Brian
O’Neal -> grandson of Neal
Nobility or Profession
Von / Van / Ver
Von or Van is part of a surname, not prefix but in front of it. Most likely to appear in name from Germanic languages(DE and NL).
In their original languages, they both mean “of” or “from”, represents nobility. It could mean nothing but a title, or could follow a location where the family come from. “Von” used in Germany and Austria, “Van or van” used in Belgium or Netherlands.
Ver is the abbreviation of the word “Van der” means “from the”, possible used in Netherlands.
Ludwig van Beethoven -> from beet field (possible in Belgium)
John Von Neuman -> newcomer (Von doesn’t mean ‘from’)
Johannes Vermeer -> from sea / lake
De / Di / D’-
It have various meanings from different languages.
- Germanic: “the”, followed by noun describing the looks of profession.
- Latin: “of”, may be patronymic or indicates nobility, often followed by name of locations, or husband’s name.
Dani de Wit[NL] -> the white
Marie de Bourbon[FR] -> from Bourbon
Gianni De Michelis[IT] -> son of Michelis
Fernando De Napoli[IT] -> from Napoli
Iñaki de Miguel[SP] -> son of Miguel
Juan Ponce de León[SP] -> from León
Silvio De Sousa[PT] -> from Sousa
El / Al
From Arabic, followed by profession, place of some adjective.
El-Haddad -> the blacksmith
El-Shisheeny -> from Chechen
El-Tayyib -> the kind
Al-Gharbi -> the westerner