Smith Family Name
A close-up of a blacksmith at work. Smith became a popular last name for those with this occupation.
Meaning	derived from smitan meaning to smite or strike
Region	Anglo-Saxon
Origin	Anglo-Saxon
Related names	Smit, Smithe, Smither, Smithers, Smithies, Smithy, Smyth, and Smythe
Popularity	Behind the Name
Wikipedia articles	All pages beginning with Smith

Smith is the most common family name in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States,^[2] representing more than 1 out of every 100 persons in each of these countries. It is particularly prevalent among those of English descent,^[3] the name being English itself, but has often been taken by non-English natives or immigrants to the above countries in order to blend into the majority culture more easily.^{[citation needed]} Look up smith, Smith in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1053, 177 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Blacksmith (disambiguation). ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Waylon Smithers Jr. ... A smithy is another term for a forge. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Smythe may refer to: // This page or section lists people with the surname Smythe. ... A family name or surname is the part of a persons name indicating the family to which the person belongs. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

Derivation

The name originally derives from smitan, the Anglo-Saxon term meaning to smite or strike. This term led to the name of the occupation, smith or blacksmith, because such persons must continuously strike metal with a hammer in order to shape it. Metallurgy required the development of specialist skills, and was practiced throughout the world from the Bronze Age. The use of Smith as an occupational surname dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when inherited surnames were still unknown: Ecceard Smith of Durham County was recorded in 975.^[4] Smithers may also have derived from the Celtic word "smiterin" which meant "blown to bits". This explains the common expression "blown to smithereens". Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... This article is about metallic materials. ... A claw hammer For other uses, see Hammer (disambiguation). ... Georg Agricola, author of De re metallica, an important early book on metal extraction Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their compounds, which are called alloys. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Events Coronation of King Edward the Martyr Births Deaths July 8 Edgar of England Categories: 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:

• Following the failed Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, which began around 1715, many Scots adopted the last name Smith to disguise their connection with rebellious clans.^{[citation needed]} To this day, it is not uncommon for persons in English-speaking countries to adopt the surname Smith in order to maintain a secret identity, when they wish to avoid being found by someone; see also John Smith.
• During the colonization 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 slaves were known by the surname of their masters, or adopted those surnames upon their emancipation.
• It is thought that many early Jewish settlers in the British Isles and colonies took the name Smith so as not to stand out when settling in to their new culture

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 cataloguing 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,^[5] many immigrants did choose to begin their American lives with more "American" names, particularly with Anglicized versions of their birth names; the common and equivalent German surname "Schmidt" was often Anglicized to "Smith". This article is not about the Jacobite Orthodox Church, nor is it about Jacobinism or the earlier Jacobean period. ... This article is about the country. ... Year 1715 (MDCCXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses of this term, please see Secret identity (disambiguation). ... John Smith is often regarded as the most common personal name in the United Kingdom and in some other English-speaking countries, with John being the most common First Name in the U.K. and Smith being the most common Surname. ... Native Americans redirects here. ... Slave redirects here. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Emancipation Proclamation Reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two documents issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, was at one time the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States from January 1, 1892 until November 12, 1954. ... Anglicized refers to foreign words, often surnames, that are changed from a foreign language into English. ...

Variations

Variations of the surname, Smith, also remain very common. These include different spellings of the English term, and versions from other countries and cultures.

English variations

Smit, Smithe, Smither, Smithers, Smithies, Smithy, Smyth, and Smythe, are all common variations originating in England. Other variations focus on particular branches within the profession, particularly those based on the materials worked with – Blacksmith, from those who worked predominantly with iron, Whitesmith, from those who worked with tin (and the more obvious Tinsmith), Brownsmith, from those who worked with copper (and the more obvious Coppersmith), Silversmith, Goldsmith – and those based on the goods produced, such as Hammersmith, Naismith (referring to nails), Arrowsmith or Shoesmith (referring to horseshoes). Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Waylon Smithers Jr. ... A smithy is another term for a forge. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Smythe may refer to: // This page or section lists people with the surname Smythe. ... For other uses, see Blacksmith (disambiguation). ... A whitesmith is a person who works with galvanized or tinned iron, or white iron. ... A whitesmith is a person who works with galvanized or tinned iron, or white iron. ... A coppersmith is a person who works with copper and brass. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A goldsmith creating a new ring A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with precious metals, usually to make jewelry. ... Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, approximately 5 miles (8km) west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames. ... Doctor James Naismith, (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was the inventor of the sport of basketball and the first to introduce the use of a helmet in American football. ... This article is about the object used in construction. ... Arrowsmith may mean: Arrowsmith (comics) Arrowsmith (film) Arrowsmith (novel) Alex Arrowsmith (rock musician) Aerosmith (rock band) Arrowsmith, Illinois Percy and Florence Arrowsmith Aerosmith, an American rock band This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Shoemaking is a traditional career/craft, mostly superseded by industrial manufacture of footwear. ... Modern horseshoes are most commonly made of steel and nailed into the hoof wall. ...

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 occurrences of the surnames Smithson and Smisson. Another variation, Smithfield, might derive from persons descended from an estate originally named for a Smith – although another source for this name is from natives of an area known for its "smooth field". Look up patronymic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Smithson is a common English and American surname that may refer to: Alison and Peter Smithson, British architects Forrest Smithson, American athlete Gerald Smithson, English cricketer Harriet Smithson, actor and wife of Hector Berlioz Henrietta Constance Smithson Henry Smithson, the musician Riton Hugh Smithson, later Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of... Smithfield is the name of several places: In the UK: Smithfield, Cumbria Smithfield, London includes Smithfield Market Smithfield, Birmingham In Ireland: Smithfield, Dublin In the U.S.: Smithfield, Illinois Smithfield, Kentucky Smithfield, Maine Smithfield, Nebraska Smithfield, New York Smithfield, North Carolina Smithfield, Ohio Smithfield, Pennsylvania Smithfield, Rhode Island Smithfield, Utah...

In English slang, a person with the surname Smith is often referred to as Smudger.^{[citation needed]}

Variations from other countries and cultures

• Schmid, Schmidt, Schmitt, Schmitz, Schmied (German)
• Schmieder (Yiddish)
• Skmiton (Greek)
• De Smid, De Smedt, De Smet (Flemish)
• Smit, Smid, Smidt, Smed, De Smet (Dutch)
• Smed (Swedish)^{[citation needed]}
• Smid (Czech or Slovak)
• Smitas (Lithuanian)
• Szmidt (Polish)

Schmid is a German surname that is a cognate of Smith, an occupational surname for a blacksmith. ... Schmidt is a German surname that is a cognate of Smith, an occupational surname for a blacksmith. ... Schmitt is a common family name in German. ... Schmitz Schmitz ist ein deutscher Familienname. ... Kenneth Allen Schmied (July 11, 1911 - April 5, 1973), a Republican, served as Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. ... Yiddish (Yid. ... Flemish (Vlaams in Dutch), as the general adjective relating to Flanders, can refer to the speech of the Flemings, inhabitants of Flanders, though for the Flemish Community[1], Algemeen Nederlands (Common Dutch) is the official name of the standard language hence in English referred to as standard Dutch. ...

"Smith" in other languages

Other languages with different words for the occupation of smith also produced surnames based on that derivation. For example, the Latin term for smith, Faber (also the root of the word "fabricate"), is the root of last names common in several parts of Europe. For example, the Italian version, Farrier, is the root from which family names such as Fabbri, Fabris, Ferraro and Ferrari are derived. Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Faber may refer to: The Latin word meaning smith, forger or maker, as in Homo faber, whence: Homo faber (novel), a 1957 work by Max Frisch A character in Ray Bradburys science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, who creates a listening device Faber and Faber (also known as Faber and... French farrier of Haras nationaux Italian farrier at work A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horses hoof so as to fit shoes to the horses foot. ... Ferraro is a surname and may refer to: Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. politician Ray Ferraro, hockey player Mick Ferraro, Australian Fashion Guru, icon of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Community Peter Ferraro, hockey player Chris Ferraro, hockey player This page or section lists people with the surname Ferraro. ... Ferrari Enzo. ...

In Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, the word for smith, gobha, is prevalent in names like Goff, Gough, Gowan and MacGabhann (anglicised as McGowan), the latter based on Mac Gobha (literally 'son of the smith')^[6]. In Wales the word smith is gof. This doesn't occur as a common surname, but the Celtic smith god Gofannon features in the medieval tales called the Mabinogion. “Gael” redirects here. ... This article is about the country. ... Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: ; born April 16, 1927 as Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany) is the 265th reigning pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. ... Hon Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (born July 11, 1916), Australian politician and 21st Prime Minister of Australia, was the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. ... Gowan can refer to: Lawrence Gowan, a Canadian musician who used the stage name Gowan. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This article is about the country. ... The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ...

The Slavic languages Polish, Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian and Russian, and in turn also Romanian and Hungarian, all contain a family of surnames that similarly derive from a common root referring to the metalworking occupation, producing surnames such as Kovar, Kowal and its place name derivative Kowalski or patronymics Kowalik and Kowalczyk, and Kovač and its patronymic Kovačić, Kovačević, Koval, Kuznecov, Kuznetsov, Covaciu and Kovacs. Serbian (; ) is one of the standard versions of the Shtokavian dialect, used primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and by Serbs in the Serbian diaspora. ... Kovar is a nickel-cobalt ferrous alloy designed to be compatible with the thermal expansion characteristics of borosilicate glass (~5×10-6 /K between 30 and 200°C, to ~10×10-6 /K at 800°C) in order to allow direct mechanical connections over a range of temperatures. ... Kowal is a city in Poland. ... Kowalski (feminine: Kowalska, plural Kowalscy) is the second most common surname in Poland (139,719). ... Kovač is a quite common surname in Croatia and a cognate to English name Smith. ... Kovačić is a common surname in Croatia. ... Kovačević is a South Slavic surname. ... Fyodor Andreyevich Kuznetsov, physicist, academician, Soviet Union Fyodor Isodorovich Kuznetsov, military, Soviet Union Fyodor Fedotovich Kuznetsov, military, Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, Navy, Soviet Union Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov, jet plane motor designer, Soviet Union, twice Hero of Socialist Labor Yuri Kuznetsov, geologist, academician, Soviet Union This is a disambiguation page... Kovacs or Kovács, or in its Slavic variant spelling Kovač or Kovac, is a common family name. ...

Other similarly derived surnames include:

• Ferreira (Portuguese)
• Ferrer (Catalan)
• Hadodo (Syriac)
• Haddad (Arabic)
• Herrera (Spanish)
• Kalejs (Latvian)
• Lohar (Blacksmith) (Punjabi)
• Sepp (Estonian)
• Seppä/Seppälä (Finnish)

Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. ... Syriac ( Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Arabic redirects here. ... “Punjabi” redirects here. ...

Comparative note

Although Smith is the most common surname in the English-speaking world, it is held by fewer than five-million people worldwide. It is, therefore, dwarfed by the most common surname - Li - which is held by over one hundred and eight million people. Indeed, each of the twenty most common last names in China represents more people than all of the world's Smiths. 李 Lǐ Li, Lee or Ly is a common transliteration of several Chinese family names, including that of 李 (pinyin Lǐ), the most common Chinese family name, and other less common surnames such as 黎 (Lí); 理 and 里 (both pronounced as Lǐ); 郦, (酈), 栗, 厉, (厲), and 利 (all pronounced as Lì). Calligraphically, Li (李) is the same character as...

Famous people with the surname Smith

Main article: Famous people with the surname Smith

Smith is one of the most widely distributed surnames in the English-speaking world. ...

Smith and Jones

Jones is the second most common English language surname, and so the two are often hitched together: Jones may refer to: People with the surname Jones: Jones (surname) In fictional characters: Jones, a cat in 1979 film Alien by Ridley Scott and its sequel Aliens Jones, a character in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four In companies: David Jones Limited, Australian retailing company Dow Jones & Company...

• Alas Smith and Jones, a British comedy series
• Alias Smith and Jones, a Western series
• "Smith and Jones", an episode of the science fiction television series Doctor Who
• Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, American actors portraying the two agents in the film Men in Black, called just "Mr. Smith" and "Mr. Jones" in some promotional material
• John Smith & Lynne Jones, - created Fiona Smith (who is amazing)

Alas Smith and Jones was a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. ... Alias Smith and Jones was a Western television series on ABC from 1971 to 1973, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. ... Smith and Jones is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... This article is about the television series. ... “W. S.” redirects here. ... For the musician, see Tommy Lee. ... Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy action film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent DOnofrio. ...

References

1. ^ http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html
2. ^ http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html
3. ^ http://www.genealogytoday.com/columns/everyday/020509.html
4. ^ http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Surnames%20of%20North%20East%20England.htm
5. ^ http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/articles/NameEssay.html
6. ^ http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/magazine/articles/ir_monaghan.htm

• Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.
• Dorward, David. Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.
• Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.
• All Info About Genealogy - Smith
• Everyday Genealogy - The Mighty Smiths