Origin
Trace : English (Devon): variant of Tracey.
Ayers : English: derivative of Ayer with excrescent -s. The -s may represent a trace of the Latin nominative singular in heres ‘heir’ but it may also signify the son or servant of someone known as ‘the heir’ i.e. someone who was heir to some great estate.
Bhagwat : Indian (Maharashtra and northern Karnataka): Deshastha Brahmin and Jain name from a Sanskrit word meaning ‘follower of God’. Bearers trace their lineage back to the Vedic sage Haritasya.
Brooke : English: variant of Brook which preserves a trace of the Old English dative singular case originally used after a preposition (e.g. ‘at the brook’).
Cho : 1: Korean: written 조 in Chinese characters 趙 and 曺. There are only these two Chinese characters for the surname Cho. (i) Some records indicate a total of 210 different Cho clans which use the Chinese character 趙 but only fifteen can be documented with confidence. Each of these claims a different founding ancestor. Most of them trace their origins to the beginning of the Koryŏ kingdom (early 10th century). (ii) Only one clan the Ch’angnyŏng Cho uses the Chinese character 曺. The founder of this clan's name was Cho Kye-ryong (曺 繼龍). According to legend there was a certain scholar named Yi Kwang-ok whose daughter very much wanted to marry. A monk visited her and told her to go to Hwawang Mountain to pray at the dragon pond. The maiden did so and upon her return found herself to be pregnant. In a dream a young man with a crown and a jade belt appeared to her. A few months later in the 48th year of the reign of the Shilla King Chinp’yŏng (AD 626) she gave birth to a little boy under whose arm the Chinese character for Cho appeared in red. The king understanding the boy to be special named him Cho Kyeryong and married him to his daughter the princess. So began the Ch’angnyŏng Cho clan. Compare Jo 1 Joe 3 and Joh 1.2: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 祖 see Zu 1.3: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 左 see Zuo 1.4: Chinese: alternative Mandarin form of the surname 卓 see Zhuo 1.5: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 曹 see Cao 1.6: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 楚 see Chu 1.7: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄒 see Zou.8: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 巢 see Chao 1.9: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 周 see Zhou 1.10: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 趙 see Zhao 1.
Kaushik : Indian (Uttar Pradesh): Brahmin name from Kusha which was the name of an ancestor of the Vedic sage Vishwamitra to whom this caste trace lineage. The word kusha in Sanskrit denotes a type of sacred grass.
Kimmons : Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Shiomóin ‘son of Simon’ (Gaelic Sh- is pronounced as H-). The K- in this name represents a trace of the Gaelic patronymic Mac while the English patronymic ending -s has been added superfluously.
Praed : unexplained. Apparently from Middle Cornish *prad ‘meadow’ (Modern Cornish pras) but there are insuperable difficulties in attributing it to one of the places now called Praze (Sithney Grade and Saint Erth parishes) because the Cornish change of [d] to [z] took place before the main era of surname development. That is a surname from one of these places should be Prase or Praze but there is no trace of such names.
Ratliff : English (Suffolk): habitational name from one or more of the places so named such as Radcliffe (Lancashire) Radcliffe on Trent and Ratcliffe on Soar (both Nottinghamshire) Radclive (Buckinghamshire) Ratcliffe Culey and Ratcliffe on the Wreake (both Leicestershire) Ratclyffe in Clyst Hydon Ratcliffes in Thorverton and Ratcliffes in Broad Clyst (all Devon) Ratcliff in Stepney (Middlesex) and Rackley in Compton Bishop (Somerset). The placenames derive from Old English rēad ‘red’ + clif ‘cliff bank steep slope’ (see also Rutley). A family of the name Radcliffe trace their descent from Sir Nicholas de Radclyffe. He is said to have been a knight who held the major of Radcliffe in Lancashire and served Roger de Poitou Baron de Marsey in the 11th century.
Saka : 1: Turkish: occupational name from saka ‘water-carrier’ or an ornamental name or nickname from a homonym meaning ‘goldfinch’.2: West African (Nigeria): Yoruba name of unexplained etymology.3: Japanese: written 坂 or 阪 ‘(one who lives on the) slope’. Found throughout Japan it can also be written phonetically as 佐加 ‘help’ and ‘add’. Some occurrences in America could be the result of shortening longer names beginning with Saka-.4: Indian: Jat name perhaps referring to the Scythians who came to India and to whom they trace their ancestry.
Sidhu : Indian (Punjab): Sikh name (from Sanskrit siddha ‘accomplished’) derived from the name of a major Jat tribe. The Sidhu trace their origin to Jaisal a Bhatti Rajput who was founder of Jaisalmer. Among his descendants was Khiwa who married a Jat woman and by her had Sidhu the ancestor of the Sidhu tribe.
Stowe : 1: English: habitational name from any of various places called Stow or Stowe all named with Old English stow ‘place holy place assembly place’ (a word akin to stoc; see Stoke). In a few cases the surname appears to be topographic denoting someone who lived by a church or monastery from Middle English stow(e) ‘holy place church monastery’. Places in Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Lincolnshire Northamptonshire and Staffordshire having this origin use the spelling Stowe but the spelling difference cannot be relied on as an indication of locality of origin. The final -e in part represents a trace of the Old English dative inflection.2: Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames.3: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 司徒 see Situ.
Thornock : Origin undetermined. It looks like an English name but no trace of it is found in English or Scottish records.
Trachy : Channel Islands (Jersey): topographic name for someone who lived by a track or path from French traché a derivative of Picard trache Old French trace ‘track path’.
Urquhart : Scottish (Ross and Cromarty): habitational name from any of various places in Scotland so called notably the barony of Urquhart (Inverness) or places in Ross and Cromarty Morayshire and Fife. All are thought to derive from Pictish ar ‘on by’ + Pictish carden ‘enclosure’ or ‘wood copse’. Some bearers of this name trace their descent from William de Urchard who fought for Robert the Bruce between 1297 and 1328.
Yi : 1: Korean: written 이 in Chinese characters 李 meaning ‘plum’. There are actually three Chinese characters for the surname Yi but two of the three are quite rare and one of these is not found outside North Korea. This is the second most common surname in Korea comprising c. 16 percent of the total population. It is found in every part of the country. Although some sources indicate that there are as many as 546 different Yi clans only c. 100 have been documented. The founder of the oldest clan the Kyŏngju Yi was named Yi Al-p’yŏng (李 謁平) and lived in AD 32. He was one of the six original governors of pre-Shilla Korea. Aside from a few other Yi families that originated from the Kyŏngju Yi clan most of the other 100 or so clans were formed at the end of the Koryŏ or beginning of the Chosŏn periods. Some Korean Yi families trace their origins back to China. The founder of the Chosŏn Kingdom or Yi Dynasty Yi Sŏng-gye (李 成桂) was a member of the Yi clan from Chŏnju. This clan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1392 to 1910. Compare Lee 10 Ri 2 and Yee 6.2: Chinese: Mandarin and Cantonese form of the surname 伊 meaning ‘he or she’ in ancient Chinese: (i) from the personal name Yi Yin (伊尹) a famous official who made great contributions to the establishment of the Shang dynasty (1600 –1046 BC). It is said that he lived along a river named Yi Shui (伊水) (located in Henan province) and thus acquired the surname Yi (伊). (ii) adopted as a surname by the Yi Lou (伊婁) family from the Xianbei ethnic group in northern China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD).3: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 易 meaning ‘amiable’ or ‘easy’ in Chinese: (i) possibly from Yi (易) the name of a river (located in Hebei province). (ii) from the first element of the personal name Yi Ya (易牙) also known as Yong Wu an official in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) who was famous for his good cooking. (iii) from the first element of the placename Yi Zhou (易州) (located in Yixian in Hebei province).4: Chinese: Mandarin and Cantonese form of the surname 衣 (meaning ‘clothes’ in Chinese) or possibly a mispronounced form of the Chinese surname 殷. See Yin 1.5: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 弋 meaning ‘small wooden piles’ in Chinese: from the placename Yi (弋) the name of a fief (located in present-day Henan province) granted to descendants of the first king of the Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC).6: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 蟻 literally meaning ‘ants’ in Chinese: (i) said to be from another surname 蛾 (homophonous to 蟻 in ancient Chinese meaning ‘moth’) which may be derived from E/Yi Xi (蛾析) the personal name of an official in the state of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). (ii) possibly a surname from the aboriginals in southern Fujian.7: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 益 meaning ‘benefit’ in Chinese: (i) possibly traced back to Bo Yi (伯益) said to be the author of Shan Hai Jing (or Classic of Mountains and Seas). (ii) from the placename Yi Du (益都) the name of a county (located in Shandong province). (iii) from the placename Yi Zhou (益州) the name of a town (located in Chengdu in Sichuan province).8: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 義 meaning ‘justice’ in Chinese: (i) said to be traced back to Yi Bo (義伯) an official during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC) who wrote an essay entitled Dian Bao co-authored with Zhong Bo. (ii) from the first element of Yi Qu (義渠) the name of an ancient state (located in present-day Gansu province) established by a nomadic ethnic group in northwestern China annexed by the state of Qin in 272 BC.9: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 羿 meaning ‘(of bird) going up to the sky with unfolded wings’: from the personal name Yi (羿) or Hou Yi (後羿) the name of a legendary archer prior to the Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC) or name of the leader of the clan of Youqiong (possibly located in present-day Henan province) during the Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC).10: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 儀 meaning ‘ceremony’ in Chinese: (i) said to be traced back to Yi Di (儀狄) an official during the reign of the legendary Emperor Shun (c. 23rd century BC). (ii) borne by the descendants of an official in the state of Wey (衛) during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) who was said to be granted with a fief named Yi (儀). (iii) said to be derived from a post-name Si-Yi (司儀) (akin to the master of ceremonies) in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). (iv) said to be borne by the descendants of Zhu Yi Fu (邾儀父) the tenth king of the state of Zhu during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). (v) said to be adopted in place of another surname of Chen (陳) by some people.11: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 乙 meaning ‘second’ in Chinese: (i) from Tian Yi (天乙) style name of Tang the first king of the Shang dynasty (1600 –1046 BC). (ii) adopted as a surname by the Yi Fu (乙弗) family in the Xianbei ethnic group in northern China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD). (iii) borne by descendants of Gesi Qiyi an official in the state of Balhae (located in present-day northeastern China) who was endowed with the surname Yi (乙) by Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (867–933 AD).12: Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 裔 meaning ‘descendants’ in Chinese: unexplained possibly traced back to Yi Kuan (裔款) who lived in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC).13: Chinese: Hokkien or Hakka form of the Chinese surnames 余 see Yu 1.
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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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