Surname meanings?

Question:

Surname meanings?

Is there a website that will give the origin and meaning of your surname?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: There is not a single, comprehensive website that will give meanings and/or derivations of all surnames. Furthermore, some of the websites that *are* out there give wrong or misleading information.

Your best bet for accurate answers is old-fashioned research with books. I will give you a link to website that is a bibliography of hundreds of these books, covering dozens of cultures. Be forwarned, the purpose of the list's author is historical. She's really only interested in researching names that can be dated to before 1650, and that is reflected in some of her comments. Still and all, it's an excellent list:

http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/annot...

However, if you're just looking an English surname, I can point you right away to:

Reaney, P.H. and R. M. Wilson. _A Dictionary of English Surnames_. Routledge & Kegan Paul: New York, 1991.

It's easy to find - my local library has a copy, and so does the library across town - and it includes lots of alternate spellings.

Good luck!