Origin
Age : 1: French (Agé): variant of Ager. Compare Agee.2: English (Cornwall Kent): probably a variant of Adge (with lengthened vowel) an apparently extinct name which is probably a local pronunciation of Hatch.
Aga : 1: Norwegian: habitational name from either of two farms so named in Hordaland; of uncertain derivation.2: Turkish (Ağa): ornamental name or nickname from ağa ‘lord master’ also ‘gentleman’. This was an Ottoman Turkish title for a nobleman with a landed estate and a military rank. It was also used as an honorific for high officials and rich men.3: Albanian: from aga or agë (definite form aga) an Ottoman Turkish title (see above).4: Muslim: variant of Agha a cognate of 2 above.
Agee : Altered form of French Agé (see Age) or alternatively of Desage.
Aikens : 1: English: variant of Atkin with genitival or excrescent -s (compare Atkins).2: Dutch and East Frisian: patronymic from the personal name Aike a diminutive of Aai/Aie a variant or a short form of the personal names Aaielt Age Ad(d)e or Adriaan. In North America this surname may also be an altered form of the variant Eikens.
Anthony : 1: English and West Indian (mainly Antigua and Barbuda Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago also Dutch Caribbean): from the personal name Anthony Latin Antonius which with its variants and cognates is one of the commonest personal names in Europe. Spellings with -h- which first appear in English in the 16th century and in French (as Anthoine) at about the same time are due to the erroneous belief that the name derives from Greek anthos ‘flower’. The popularity of the personal name in Christendom is largely due to the cult of the Egyptian hermit Saint Anthony (AD 251–356) who in his old age gathered a community of hermits around him and for that reason is regarded by some as the founder of monasticism. It was further increased by the fame of Saint Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) who long enjoyed a great popular cult and who is believed to help people find lost things. In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed cognates and derivatives (patronymics) from other languages for example Greek patronymic Antoniades Italian Antoni Polish Antoniewicz Croatian and Serbian Antonović (see Antonovich) and Antunović; see also below. The name Anthony is also found among Christians in southern India but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US. Compare Antony.2: German Flemish and French (mainly Alsace): Latinized (humanistic) patronymic from local equivalents of the Latin personal name Antonius from its genitive form Antoni(i). In North America this surname is also an altered form of the German Dutch French and Slovak cognates Antoni 1 and Antony 2.
Auld : Scottish: from Older Scots ald ‘old’ used not always to imply old age but also to distinguish the older of two bearers of the same personal name. Compare English Old.
Buston : from High Buston in Warkworth (Northumb) or from some other place with a similar name for example Buston in Hunton (Kent) or Buston in Kings Sutton (Northants) though there are uncertainties about the age of the Northants place-name. The Northumb name may be from an Old English male given name *Buttel in the genitive case with -es + dūn ‘hill’ but this is not certain. The first element may instead be bōtl ‘substantial building’.
Campey : of uncertain origin. The Yorks distribution suggests a relation with the Yorks and N England dialect verb camp ‘gossip’ of uncertain age. However Redmonds Dictionary of Yorks Surnames suggests that it may be an abbreviated form of the name Campinot (itself a diminutive of Champion) citing the 1671 example of Thomas Campinett alias Campie (Stillingfleet WR Yorks) among other evidence.
Converse : English: nickname from Old French convers literally ‘converted’ used to denote someone converted from secular to religious life in adult age or earlier a lay member of a convent. The Cistercian and Augustinian conversi were men living according to a rule less strict than that of the monks or canons engaged chiefly in manual work with their own living quarters and their own part of the church. They were numerous among the Cistercians in the 12th and 13th centuries often outnumbering the monks and were by rule illiterate. These lay brothers were employed on the monastic manors and granges where they were liable to fall into the sin of owning private property. They acquired a reputation for violence and misbehaviour (at Neath in 1269 they locked the abbot in his bedroom and stole his horses) and they were gradually replaced by more manageable paid servants.
Delage : French (mainly Charente and Limousin): from the dialect word age ‘hedge’ hence a topographic name for someone who lived by or in a domain enclosed by hedges or a habitational name for someone from any of various minor places called L'Age from this word. Compare Deloge.
Elborough : 1: in SW England probably from Elborough in Hutton (Somerset) recorded as Illebera Eleberie in 1086 and Elleberwe in 1185. The place-name derives from the Old English personal name Ella *Iella + Old English bearu ‘wood grove’. The substitution of -borough (Old English burg ‘fortified place’) for -bery is common in English place-names and in this instance may have been reinforced by the presence in the same parish of an Iron Age hill fort (known as Elborough Hill but the name is of uncertain antiquity).more doubtfully from Elbury (now lost) in Shirehampton (Henbury parish Gloucs) recorded in 1299 as Elleberge and probably denoting ‘elder-tree mound’ (Old English elle + beorg). The earliest surname form de Elleb[ur]ghe is recorded in Westbury on Trym next to Henbury but no evidence has been found that Elbury was an inhabited place in the medieval period. 2: in east Kent probably from Hillborough in Reculver (Kent) with loss of initial H-. The 13th-century bearers cited below constitute the earliest evidence for the place-name which is independently recorded as Halberghe in 1341 Halybergh in 1378 Hilbarowe in 1479 and Helboro Helborough Elboro in 1499–1500. It derives from Old English hālig ‘holy’ + beorg ‘hill mound’. Some instances of the name in London may alternatively belong at (1).
Hobhouse : from Hobhouse in Drewsteignton (Devon) or from a place named from an expression with the same etymology: ‘Hobbe's house’ or ‘goblin house’ (Middle English hobbe ‘goblin’ from a derivative of the given name Robert or Robin). For such a name compare Johannes Hobbecastel 1379 in Poll Tax (Bremhill Wilts).possibly a nickname from the very variable Middle English hobbe-thurs ‘hobgoblin’. No actual use of the term as a personal nickname has been found. But hobbe-thurs shows up in forms to some extent suggestive of Hobhouse and its variants in the Paston Letters (1489) ‘Mayster Hobbe Hyrste Robyn God-felaws brodyr’ and also in late forms collected by antiquarian writers such as ‘Hob Thrush or ‘Hob o' th' Hurst’’ (1867); and in the name of the Peak District sprite Hob Hurst seen in Hob Hurst's House a Bronze Age barrow on Beeley Moor Peak District near Bakewell (Derbys). Compare perhaps Hopthrow Hoptroff.
Isaac : Jewish English Welsh and French: from the Biblical Hebrew personal name Yishaq ‘he laughs’. This was the name of the son of Abraham (Genesis 21:3) by his wife Sarah. The traditional explanation of the name is that Abraham and Sarah laughed with joy at the birth of a son to them in their old age but a more plausible explanation is that the name originally meant ‘may God laugh’ i.e. ‘smile on him’. Like Abraham this name has always been immensely popular among Jews but was also widely used in medieval Europe among Christians. Hence it is the surname of many gentile families as well as Jews. In England and Wales it was one of the Old Testament names that were particularly popular among Nonconformists in the 17th–19th centuries which accounts for its frequency as a Welsh surname. (Welsh surnames were generally formed much later than English ones.) In eastern Europe the personal name in its various vernacular forms was popular in Orthodox (Russian Ukrainian and Bulgarian) Catholic (Polish) and Protestant (Czech) Churches. It was borne by a 5th-century father of the Armenian Church and by a Spanish martyr executed by the Moorish rulers of Cordoba in AD 851 on account of his tireless polemics against Islam. In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed cognates from other languages e.g. Assyrian/Chaldean Iskhaq or Ishak Hungarian Izsák and Slovenian Izak and also their patronymics e.g. Serbian Isakov. The name Isaac is also found among Christians in southern India but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US. Compare Issac.
Lage : 1: Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of several places called Lage in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal named with lage laxe ‘flat rock or slab of stone’ or a topographic name for someone who lived by such a rock.2: North German and Danish: habitational name from any of several places called Lage or Laage all in northern Germany. The name denotes an open space between wooded areas.3: Dutch: habitational name from a place named with lage an inflected form of laag ‘low’ indicating a lower site.4: French: habitational name from any of a number of places called L'Age age being a regional variant of French haie ‘hedge’.
Nestor : 1: Irish: from Mac an Aghastair (formerly Mac Girr an Adhastair) a byname meaning ‘short man of the halter’ i.e. one who looked after horses. This Anglicized form has been assimilated to classical Greek Nestor as 2 below.2: Dutch German French Romanian Slovak Ukrainian Polish and West Indian (mainly Haiti): from a classical Greek personal name Nestōr borne by a king of Pylos who was one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan war noted for his age and wisdom. In Homer's Odyssey the aged Nestor gives wise advice to Odysseus’ son Telemachos; Nestor is thus also a nickname sometimes given to the oldest person in a group. This name was also borne by several Christian saints including an early martyr from Asia Minor. Compare Nester.
Old : 1: English: variant of Olds from Middle English old(e) ‘old’ (Old English eald) used not always to imply old age but also to distinguish the older of two bearers of the same personal name.2: German: northern variant of Alt like the English name a distinguishing name for the older of two bearers of the same name.3: Americanized form of German Alt.
Olds : English (southwestern): nickname from Middle English old(e) ‘old’ (Old English eald) with post-medieval excrescent -s used not always to imply old age but also to distinguish the older of two bearers of the same personal name.
Pericles : French and Haitian (Périclès): from the personal name Périclès from Greek Periklēs derived from the elements peri ‘around exceedingly’ and kleos ‘glory’. The name was borne by a 5th-century BC statesman orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age. This surname is very rare in France. It was brought to the US mainly from Haiti.
Shaibi : Muslim (mainly Saudi Arabia): derivative of Arabic shāyib ‘gray/white-haired’ an honorific epithet for someone white-haired with age.
Vader : 1: Dutch and North German: from Middle Dutch Middle Low German vader ‘father senior’; in the Middle Ages this was used as a term of address for someone who was senior in rank or age and also to distinguish the father from the son of the same name. This surname is rare in Germany.2: Altered form of Veeder a surname of Dutch origin.
Vivash : apparently from some place named from five ash trees such as Five Ashes Farm in Colemore and Priors Dean (Hants) though none of a relevant age has been firmly identified. If so the V- will be due to south-western voicing of the initial consonant. Medstead (see the 1644 bear below) is about six miles from Colemore.
Zaman : 1: Muslim (mainly Bangladesh and Pakistan): from a personal name based on Arabic zamān ‘time age era’ often used to form names in combination with other words for example Nūr uz-Zamān ‘light of the era’ Shams uz-Zamān ‘sun of the time’.2: Slovenian: nickname from zaman ‘in vain’.3: Flemish and Dutch: occupational name from Dutch zaaiman ‘sower’. Compare Saman 3.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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