Surname vs Sirname - What's the difference?
surname | sirname |
(obsolete) An additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.
* Arthour and Merlin , 5488:
* 1526 , (w, Tyndale's Bible), Acts I 23:
* 1590 , Richard Harvey, Plaine Percevall the peace-maker of England, Sweetly indeuoring with his blunt persuasions to botch vp a reconciliation between Mar-ton and Mar-tother , B3:
* (William Shakespeare), (Coriolanus) , V iii 171:
(obsolete) An additional name given to a person, place, or thing; a byname or nickname.
* (w, Wycliff's Bible), Ecclus. XLVII 19:
* 1638 , Abraham Cowley, (Davideis) , IV:
The name a person shares with other members of that person's family, distinguished from that person's given name or names; a family name.
* 1393 , (William Langland), (Piers Plowman) , C iv 369:
* 1605 , William Camden, Remaines , I 32:
* 1876 , E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest , V xxv 563:
(Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.
* "St. John Baptist", 928 in W. M. Metcalfe, Legends of the saints: in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century (1896), II 249:
(Scottish, obsolete) A clan.
* 1455 in J. D. Marwick, Charters of Edinburgh (1871), 79:
To give a surname .
To call by a surname .
*{{quote-book, year=1902, author=William Younger Fletcher, title=English Book Collectors, chapter=, edition=
, passage=They were in two trunks (made exactly fit for them) that had the first letters of my christian and sirname decyphered upon them with nails; and on the first page of every book was my ordinary motto and name written at length in my own hand. }}
*{{quote-book, year=1833, author=Charles K. Dillaway, title=Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology, chapter=, edition=
, passage=These names were not always used; commonly two, and sometimes only the sirname . }}
*{{quote-book, year=1806, author=Walter Scott, title=Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. II (of 3), chapter=, edition=
, passage=Fair Helen's sirname , therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it is now impossible to ascertain.] }}
As nouns the difference between sirname and surname
is that sirname is an archaic spelling of lang=en while surname is an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.As a verb surname is
to give a surname.surname
English
Noun
(en noun)- Þe]] Osoman, cert, His surname was: hardi of [[heart, hert.
- Barsabas (whose syrname was Iustus).
- My sirname is Peace-Maker, one that is but poorely regarded in England.
- To his sur-name Coriolanus longs]] more pride
Then [[pity, pitty to our Prayers.
- In the name of the Lord, to whom the surname [toname in the 1382 ed.] is God of Israel.
- I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname , from a particular place of his worship.
- Þat]] is reisonable...to refusy my [[sire's, syres sorname .
- In late yeeres]] Surnames have beene given for Christian names among [[us, vs, and no where else in Christendom.
- The Norman Conquest...brought with it the novelty of family nomenclature, that is to say, the use of hereditary surnames .
- Þe]] thred herrod had [[also, alsua til his suornome agrippa.
- The surnam and nerrest]] of [[blood, blude to the said Williame.
Usage notes
The term "surname" may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning, most notably in the case of Roman cognomens. In fact, the nomen was the surname as the word is commonly understood today but the terms were first applied when surname was still used in the sense of "additional" or "added" name: the cognomen was added to the nomen to show the branch of the family involved. (The modern translation of a similar distinction in ancient Chinese names customarily uses ancestral name and clan name instead and typically speaks of surnames only once the two merged into a single and commonly-employed family name.)Synonyms
* epithet (additional descriptive name ) * nickname, sobriquet, byname (additional name ) * family name, last name, to-name (hereditary name denoting one's family ) * See alsoSee also
* adoption name * bride’s name * Christian name * cognomen * confirmation name * first name * forename * given name * maiden name * matronym * middle name * nickname * patronym * personal name * *Verb
(surnam)Anagrams
*References
sirname
English
Noun
(en noun)citation
citation
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