Fun with Surnames Trivia Quiz

Answer: Patronymic, Occupational, Locational, Descriptive

Patronymic surnames are those derived from the parent's given name, such as 'Johnson' for a son of John. Occupational surnames are derived from a person's occupation, such as 'Smith' or 'Weaver'. Locational surnames describe a feature of where the person lives; it could be the name of a village of the name of their farm or house, or a part of town such at 'Atwell' or 'Townsend'. Descriptive surnames cover names taken from one's physical features such at 'Little' or 'Brown' or nicknames based on personality traits (and their associated nouns) like 'Jolly', 'King' or 'Fox'.

Answer: The given name of the person's father

Patronymics are names taken from a person's father, although occasionally they may be derived from the name of the mother or from the grandfather. James, who is a son of Robert, for instance, may call himself James Robertson, James Roberts, James Robinson, James Babson etc.

The forms ending simply in 's' are most popular in Wales and the west part of England. German derived patronymics also end in 'son' or 'sen' or may simply be the given name with no ending or a diminutive form ending in 'el' or just 'l'. Russian patronymic surnames end in 'ov', 'off' or 'vich', Polish ones end in 'ski' or 'sky'.

Hebrew names use the prefix 'Ben' and Arabic names use 'bin' or 'ibn'. Armenian patronymic names end in 'ian' or 'yan'. Scottish names use the prefix "Mc' or 'Mac' and Irish use 'O'.

Answer: Duke

Watkins is derived from Walter, 'Wat' being the shortened version, and 'Watkin' a pet version. Likewise, English surnames ending in cock or cox are pet names - Badcock being an affectionate term for Bartholomew. Simpson would be a son of Sim, a nickname used for both Samuel and Simon, with the 'p' being added to the spelling later to aid in pronunciation.

Answer: Fuchs

Tice is derived from the ending of the given name Matthias. Weigel is a pet name for the old German name Weigand. Ficker was an affectionate form of Friedrich. Fuchs, meaning 'Fox' would be a descriptive surname, not a patronymic.

Answer: Smith

Although most true Cornish surnames are locationally derived, there are a few that are taken from occupations, such as Tyack (farmer), Baragwanath (Whitbread - a seller or baker of high quality bread) and the popular Angove, derived from 'an gof' - 'the smith'.

Answer: Descriptive

Although at first glance names of this type might seem to be occupational, we would find very few persons named 'King' for instance, whose ancestor was a king. These types of names were generally nicknames applied to persons by their friends. Sometimes the names derived from the fact that the person played a king, duke or bishop in the yearly "Miracle Plays" that were popular in the middle ages.

Answer: Hendriks

Hendriks is a Dutch patronymic, derived from the given name Hendrick. Trounsen is Cornish locational surname, meaning 'donkey farm'. Atwood is an English locational surname for someone living close to or 'at' the woods. Ebenhoch is from Ebenhack or Ebenhof - German for 'level enclosure', 'level farmstead'.

Answer: Baxter, Zimmerman, Fletcher

The following are all occupational: Baxter is a female baker. Zimmerman is the German for carpenter. Fletcher is a person who makes the 'fletching' or feathers for the ends of arrows. A Thatcher is a roofer; a Turner is a lathe operator; a Cartwright makes carts, while a Carter is engaged in moving or hauling.

A Brewster is a female brewer of ale, Troxel is derived from Dreschler, the German equivalent of 'Turner'. Messerschmidt is a German knifesmith. Among the other types of surnames listed above, Glasson is Cornish for green or blue, Cossins is a patronymic derived from the given name Cosworth (or occasionally a matronymic from Coustance); Roscruge is a Cornish locational surname meaning 'barrowdowns' and Turchi is an Italian descriptive surname meaning "Turk" or "Turkish."

Answer: locational - 'from the wood'

The French 'de' or 'du' denotes 'from' or 'of', so French surnames of this type are almost always locational.

Answer: Occupational

In spite of what it may appear to be at first glance, Noel would not have had the shame of having 'cowardly' ancestors. This is not a descriptive surname, but rather an occupational one. One of Noel's ancestors would have been a 'cowherd'.

Answer: Gaverigan

Gaverigan, Cornish for 'many goats', is derived from a place name in the parish of St. Columb Major. Jennet Gaverigan, widow of John, died in 1619 and was the last person to bear the name as a surname. For several generations female descendants of this family foisted Gaverigan as a given name on some of their sons.

This author used the name a few years back for a pet, but Gaverigan the guinea pig has now also sadly joined his ancestors.... Schratzenstaller, Shufflebottom and Cobbledick are all still in use, although some school children bearing these names probably wish they weren't.

Answer: All of these things

These Welsh surnames are all patronymic, deriving from 'Ap Evan' (son of Evan), 'ap Owen' (son of Owen) and 'ap Rhys' (son of Rhys).

Answer: They are equivalent to the English 'Johnson'

Ivanovich is Russian, DiGiovanni Italian, Evans is Welsh and Jans Dutch. All are patronymics derived from their vernacular forms of the given name John, and therefore are equivalent to Johnson.

Answer: Piotrowski, Penberthy, Pflueger, Papst

Piotrowski is the Polish patronymic for son of Peter, Penberthy is locational - Cornish for 'bushy headland', Pflueger is the occupation of plowman in German, and Papst is German for Pope, a descriptive nickname.

Answer: Iceland

In Iceland Sigurd's son Arn and daughter Thyra would be called Arn Sigurdson and Thyra Sigurdsdottir. Some fixed surnames are in use in Iceland, but most persons still use the patronymic system.

Answer: It fluctuates over time, but is a Chinese name

Chang, Wang, and Li have all held top place in recent years, being the surnames of several million people each. Smith is the most common surname in the U.S., followed by Johnson. Weiss, German for 'white', although popular, does not rank in the top 10.

Answer: Locational

In early towns, when houses had no numbers, they were often marked by signs denoting various flora or fauna. A person living in a house marked with a sign of a deer might be called John Hart, hence, his surname was locational. Some 'color' surnames such as Green or Gold occasionally also derive in this manner.

Answer: Richard

Hud was a common nickname in England for Richard (pronounced Rich 'hud). Hodge, Hodges and Hodgekins come from Roger, Halse can be from either Henry or Howard.

Answer: Locational

Names of English origin ending in 'by' are actually Anglo-Norse. The suffix 'by' denotes a farm or homestead, or a settlement.

Answer: People alternated between patronymic and locational

Early Dutch settlers of New Netherlands (New York) usually had a surname derived from their place of origin in Holland, but in many records did not use this name, but used the father's given name only as the implied surname. So Cornelius VanNess' son Jans and daughter Marietje might be listed in some records as Jans VanNess and Marietje VanNess and in other records as Jans Cornelissen and Marietje Cornelise.