Family names

André in Zuid-Afrika · Family names

Botha

The meaning of BOTH(A). The surname Both is derived from a Friesian a name "Botho" (or Bote) which means leader or one who commands/orders. The trailing "a" also has the meaning "son of".
The surname broken down means that Botha is the son of Both, the leader or commander.

The Botha extended family has three founding fathers in South Africa. The one I apparently have to thank for my presence in SA, is Friedrich Both, who was born on 4th March 1653 in Wangenheim in the Province of Thuringia in Germany. He arrived in South Africa in 1678 as a soldier for the VOC. Both his name (Friedrich) and the name of his eldest son (Theunis) are still family names. (My father's name was Theunis, and my brother's name is Frederich).

In 1692 FB still signs his name as Both, but in 1699 he signs as Botha. In the "opgaafrolle" the surname is spelt Both, Boot as well as Botha. At the Cape in the late 17th and early 18th century it was common place to name a person from the place or area from where he emigrated. Jan van Eeden was known as Jan van Oldenburg and Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg was Nicolaas Jansz.
The fact that Friedrich Both came from Gotha could have contributed to the fact that Friedrich Both from Gotha changed to Friedrich Botha.

Porthos

What, are we supposed to put our family names on here too now? Is that how this game works?

Loic

Yes. Why not? Surnames are a source of identity and all of them have fascinating stories behind their origins. If you know the story of yours, why don't you share it with us?

Deborah

BROOKS

Theory #1:

Definition: Derivation of "brook," or a small stream. Also a name given to those who came from Brooksbank, the name of several places in England derived from Middle English "brokes" for brook and "bank" for bank. Just about as many origins as there are streams.

Surname Origin: English

Alternate Surname Spellings: BROOK, BROKE, BROOKING, BROOKINGS, BROOKSBANK

Theory #2:

Brooks is one of the names that was brought to England in the wave of migration following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Brooks family lived in Essex. The name, however, derives from the family’s former residence in Broc, in the area of Anjou, France.

Spelling variations include: Brook, Brooks, Brookes, Brooks, Brecks, Broocks and others.

First found in Essex where they were granted lands by William the Conqueror for their assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Deborah

A lot of family-tree tracing had already been done by some of my forebears before my brother availed himself of the internet's resources. I'll have to check with him to see how far back he's managed to trace the name Brooks. He once decided to see how far back he could trace any of our direct lineage, by any name, and got back to 9th or 10th-century Scotland (or whatever it was called then). This was possible because in the first couple of centuries my ancestors of that branch were royalty (including the real, original Old King Cole -- Coel?). But I'm just a bit suspicious, because somewhere back there was a man who, according to the dates given, managed to father a child at the age of 125.

Benjamin [inactive]

Bridgman

Probably a corruption of the more common 'Bridgeman' caused by someone who wasn't very good at spelling (an even rarer variation is 'Bridjman'). Literally, it probably refers to the keeper of the bridge, or someone who built bridges. It is usually thought to originate from Devon in Southwest England, although the obvious equivalent of 'Brugman' also exists in Dutch.

Since it looks a bit weird, and since very few people can spell it correctly, I have often considered changing my name's pronunciation to something like 'brahn', whilst keeping the spelling. Like how Cholmondesley is pronounced 'chumley', how Woolfhardisworthy is pronounced 'woolsery', and how Featherstonehaugh is pronounced 'fanshaw'. Then I'd sound really posh.

Sander

Porthos

Haha, that's funny. Benjamin Bridgeman. I know a guy whose name is Jake Jacobs. It's kind of cute actually.

Okay, the name I go by is actually my mother's maiden name. It's "Teran", with an accent mark on the "a". It's of Spanish origin, and I think it might have something to do with land or terrain. "Terreno" or "Tierra" in Spanish.

My legal name, which is my father's name, is "Owens". I have no clue what it means, but it is a Welsh name. It has various spellings, but the current form which is most widely used is a phonetic Anglicization of the original Celtic spelling. I have seen it spelled as "Owain" or "Owen" lot's of times.

Benjamin [inactive]

Porthos

Oh, sorry.

Has any work been done on English surnames? With this whole argument about the origins of the modern English, surnames could be the final authority on the matter. It seems to me that most English names have Germanic origins, especially those with "son" or "man" in them, as opposed to Welsh names, which are very different.

Joanne

Hmmm... okay, I'll play

:

My grandmother's mother was of Japanese extraction. Her surname was "Hayashi," which is a common Japanese surname meaning "forest." It is written with the same character, and connected with the Chinese surname "Lin," the Korean surnames "Lim" and "Yim," and the Vietnamese "Lam."

According to wikipedia:

Fredrik

Elaine

Montalvo (variant, Montalbo), of Latin origin meaning "white mountain." It is a Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian surname. There's a village called Montalbo en Cameros in La Rioja, Spain; a Montalvo in Constância, Portugal; and a Parco di Villa Montalvo in Florence, Italy. The most famous Montalvo is probably Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo who, in 1510, wrote about a mythical island called "California" in his novel Las Sergas de Esplandián.

Granny was a Klee and descended from Banat Swabians (or Donauschwaben) who migrated to Chicago at the turn of the century. Somehow she ended up in El Paso, TX before finally settling in Los Angeles. Klee is German for "clover", but many Klees in the US anglicized their name to Clay. Swiss artist, Paul Klee is probably the most famous Klee.

Fredrik

Censored

Akoni

Kemmeren, most likely from the French or English Cameron. My family is doing research on it at the moment

Fredrik

Who thought onomastics could be lol-ish funny. At least Dutch onomastics: From Wikipedia:

André in Zuid-Afrika

Porthos

Elaine,
Have you ever heard of "Duran's Panderia" in Pico Rivera? I have heard that my name, and names like "Duran", which are common in Mexico, are actually of French origin, and not Spanish.

Elaine

Deborah

Porthos

It's one of my many "hoods", so, yeah. I have some affection for it. Although I can't say I miss living there, lol!

Uriel

Paternal: ALVERNAZ (Portuguese): "From the Auvergne" (Alverna, in Port.) Guess somebody in my family was orginally from out of town....

Maternal: HIRSCH (German): "Deer"

I also have Medeiros, Silva, and Cabral (all Portuguese) on my dad's side, and Hatcher (Scottish) on my mom's. There are Spanish Silvas and Cabrals as well -- you'll find both in the phonebook here. Although the fact that there were some Portuguese settlers among the original Spanish settlers may be confusing the issue....

Porthos, your name "Teran" reminded me of a roommate I had, whose last name was Tirre, which she said was the hispanicized version of a French name (I'm assuming it would have been something like Thierry). Are we playing French Connection here, or what?

Porthos

Yeah, I sincerely hope it is not a French name, or even a hispanicized version of a French name. I am not a Frog damnit!!! I am a guero-beaner! Say it loud, say it proud brother!

Uriel

Beaner, beaner, beaner!

An ex of mine used to call me a "coffee-beaner", since my great-grandmother was born on a coffee plantation in Sao Paolo, and Brazil is known for its coffee.

Apparently a wayward frog must have hopped into my family tree, since the Auvergne is in France, not Portugal. Nothing wrong with frogs, except you have to kiss a lot of them to find that prince!

Porthos

What's funny is that lot of Portuguese-Americans are mistaken for Mexicans or some other Hispanic from Latin America. They're just kind of lumped into the "Latino" ethnic group, and that angers a lot of Portuguese folks. Portuguese babes are hot! I especially like the olive skinned ones.

And again, I'm not a Frog. I'm a Hispano-Celt thing-a-mijig/beaner who eats tacos.

Uriel

I lump myself in as hispanic, but a lot of Portuguese hate that. Oh well. everyone has their pet peeves. I think it's mostly that the closer you are to another group, the more you feel compelled to exaggerate what few differences there are to maintain your identity -- like Canadians always do with Americans.

Julian

Paternal: Gaillard (approx. pron. 'guy-yar') - French. 1. full of life, energy, and spirit; 2. full of merriment; 3. strong, robust, strapping individual; 4. licentious, ribald. The Anglicized form, a mispronunciation no doubt, is "Gaylord."

Dictionnaire des noms de famille suggests that names with the root 'gal or 'gaill' might have been nicknames for persons from Wales or other variants of 'Galès', or someone possessing qualities of a rooster (gall).

The Gaillards are supposedly of old and chivalrous nobility that originated in Normandy (another source says Brittany) and spread throughout France and Belgium. The Gaillards in my paternal line came from Ventabren in Aix-en-Provence (Gaillard-Longjumeau de Ventabren) and served in the royal courts, the States of Provence, and the local governments of Marseille. Then they had a spell of bad luck towards the end of the 18th century. Now we're very proletarian.

Maternal: Auchinleck (formerly Auchinleck-Hawick) - Scottish

Theory 1:
The name Auchinleck, pronounced 'Affleck', is derived from Achadh nan Leac, Scottish Gaelic for "Field of Stones". In several parts of Ayrshire may be traced the remains of cairns, encampments, and Druidical circles. Auchinleck appears to have been one of those places where the ancient Celts and Druids held conventions, celebrated their festivals, and performed acts of worship.

Theory 2:
The origin of the name is probably descriptive of their lands, ie 'auchen' seems to be applied to areas of high land separating areas of water, while 'lech' may indicate dead in the sense of barren or sterile.

Variants: Achenlek, Aghelek, Auchenleck, Auchynflek, Achinfleck, Aghleke, Auchenlek, Auchynlek, Achinlek, Aghynlek, Auchinlec, Authinlek, Achlec, Aquinlek, Auchinlech, Achleck, Athelek, Avthinlect, Achlek, Auchinlek, Auchlec, Awqwhynleke, Affleck, Aflek, Athlek, Auchleck, Afflect, etc...

History of Clan Auchinleck

The surname Hawick is another topographical name, which means 'entrenched settlement'. Hawick is the largest town in the Scottish Borders, and it's probably here where the Hawick family originates. The locals of Hawick pronounced the name 'hoyk', but 'hawick' or 'hai-ik' are acceptable pronunciations.

Uriel

I assume Gaillard is closely related to the Spanish Gallardo.

Elaine

Uriel

Scotland: all their food's based on a dare, all their weather is designed to keep others away, and all their spelling is premeditated to bewilder the uninitiated....

I'm pretty sure at the border there must be a sign that says, "Welcome to Scotland -- Now Go Home."

Walker

Daniel

Yes, there are many placenames and personal names in Scotland that have unexpectedly weird pronunciations.

There is a place in southern Scotland called Lenzie. How do you pronounce that? Len-zee? Nope. It's pronounced Ling-ee.

The Scottish surname Colquhoun is pronounced col-hoon.

We Scottish people actually pronounce Edinburgh as 'Edimbruh' and Maryburgh as 'Marybruh'.

Anyway... my famiy names:

paternal: McManus - Irish. It's from Mac Maghnusa meaning the son of Manus. Originally from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Somewhere in my paternal family that are related to me (ie. uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. who share the same ancestors as I do) there are Donnelly, Old, Docherty, Strang, etc.

maternal: Ondiz - originally Basque. Somewhere in my maternal family, we have Binarao, and Adonis. That's all I know. My great-grandmother was called Arcadia Adonis, which I think is a beautiful name, but very Greek, isn't it?! If she was Greek then what the heck was she doing in the Philippines long time ago?! I wouldn't be surprised though since the Philippines is more of a melting pot than we think. On my last visit there last month I discovered that I am part Mexican! Yes, my ancestors apparently came from Mexico. But then that made sense: the Philippines was ruled by Spain via Mexico so everything that had to go to Spain from the Philippines during the Spanish rule had to go via Mexico and vice versa and on the way, many Mexicans alongside many Spaniards (plus Basques, Catalans and Galicians) settled in the Philippines. But er... what about Greek people? No idea.

Julian

Uriel

Wow him with that tidbit about how his name is supposed to be spelled. That should get the cash rollin'!

Then again, he may reveal that that is exactly how it was spelled on his birth certificate -- he just had to change it for show biz! After all, you can't be a household name if no one in most of the households can wrap their mouths around it....