Ancestral family names

What did “Walkers” do, exactly? Meanings of widespread surnames

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Do you have a very popular surname? Have you ever looked up its meaning? Well, if you are a Smith, a Murphy, a Miller, or a Lee, you probably already know a bit of the history of your ancestors. Do you think you can guess the origin of these 12 widespread last names? Read on to go back a few generations and learn some names’ backstories!

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One of the most common surnames in the English-speaking world! As you may know, its origin is occupational, and it refers to "one who works with metal."

It derives from the Old English smið. Nowadays, it remains the most common surname in America. Interestingly, its synonymous versions are just as popular in other languages, like Schmidt in German and Ferraro in Italian.

Image: Boudewijn Huysmans

The surname "Miller" referred to someone who operated a mill; these were vital in medieval communities. The surname spread across Britain, Ireland, and later the U.S., until it became one of the most recognizable surnames.

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"Lee" is trickier because it has multiple origins, depending on the culture. In English, it comes from Old English lēah, meaning a clearing or meadow, so it was originally a toponymic surname for someone living near a grassy field.

In China, "Li" (often spelled Lee) is one of the oldest and most common surnames, meaning "plum," and is associated with ancient dynasties and scholars.

Image: Sergiu Vălenaș

The surname "Clark" comes from the Latin clericus, meaning "clergyman" or "scholar." In medieval England, clerks were among the few literate people, so the term broadened to describe scribes, secretaries, and record-keepers.

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"Murphy" is the most widespread Irish surname, anglicized from the Gaelic Ó Murchadha, meaning "descendant of Murchadh."

The name Murchadh combines muir (sea) and cath (battle), so it literally means "sea warrior." With multiple unrelated Murphy families across Ireland, the name spread widely.

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"Walker" is an occupational surname as well. So, what did walkers do? Their job was fulling, the process of cleaning and thickening woven wool, often by literally walking on it in troughs of water. The word derives from the Old English wealcere, meaning "one who fulls cloth."

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"Allen" is of Celtic origin, derived from the Gaelic Ailín or Breton Alan, meaning "little rock." However, very similar terms can also be interpreted as "handsome," "fair," or "beautiful." Each family will probably get to pick their preferred meaning.

Image: Quan-You Zhang

The surname "Wright" comes from the Old English word wryhta or wyrhta, meaning "worker" or "maker."

It was often used with a prefix to specify the craft, such as "wheelwright" for wheel makers or "shipwright" for shipbuilders. Over time, "Wright" stood alone as a surname for skilled tradespeople. It’s one of the oldest English occupational surnames.

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"Nguyen" (pronounced roughly "nwin" or "ngwee-en," depending on dialect) is the most common surname in Vietnam, held by around 40% of the population. It derives from the name of a Chinese musical instrument, the ruan.

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The surname "Hill" is of English and sometimes Scottish origin, derived from the Old English hyll, meaning exactly what it sounds like: someone who lived by or on a hill. Simple geographic names like this were among the earliest surnames in use, since they helped distinguish local communities.

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The Scottish surname "Campbell" comes from the Gaelic Caimbeul, meaning "crooked mouth" (cam = crooked, beul = mouth).

It began as a descriptive nickname, likely for someone with a distinctive facial feature. Over centuries, it became strongly associated with Clan Campbell, one of the most powerful Highland clans.

Image: KaLisa Veer

The surname "Reed" (also spelled Read or Reid) has several origins in England and Scotland. Most often it was descriptive, from Old English rēad, meaning "red," referring to someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion.

READY, SET, SAIL!

Rock The Boat With These 10 Everyday Expressions Of Nautical Origin

Image: Andrew Neel

Languages in general are perpetually evolving entities, and English is no exception. Ever-changing, over the years the English language has adopted words and phrases from other languages and even completely invented slang.

Many idioms, sayings, and figures of speech like "batten down the hatches" or "hunky-dory" that we still use in the 21st century, actually have a nautical origin, from the golden days of sailing. You may already be using many of them in your everyday conversations, not knowing the true meaning behind them. That's why we've put together a list of ten naval sayings and sailing phrases to let you know the history behind them. So hoist the mainsail and set course for discovery!

Image: Andreea Swank

There’s little chance you’ve never used this expression, by a long shot. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a long shot means "a venture involving great risk but promising a great reward if successful". It is an idiom we also use regularly to express "by a great deal".

Its origin can be traced back to early naval guns from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, whose accuracy left a lot to be desired. Apparently, these weapons were effective only at close range and weren’t very good for targets placed at great distances. So if a long shot managed to hit its target, it was considered out of the ordinary and something to celebrate.

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The literal meaning of this expression is "to fasten the entrances to the lower part of a ship using wooden boards". However, in our everyday conversations, we use it when we want to prepare ourselves or others for a difficult or dangerous situation.

The term batten was originated in the 18th century. It refers to an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship when bad weather was expected. **The earliest record of the expression "**batten down the hatches" was found on Vocabulaire des Termes de Marine, a French-English dictionary of sailing terms published in 1799. The first example of a colloquial use of the phrase, similar to the one we have now, appears as recently as 1955, in an article published in the Bulletin of the General Contractors Association of New York.

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Name one TV crime series where the phrase "all hands on deck" has never been used. There probably isn’t a single one! Today we use this figure of speech in an informal way to call for everyone available to get involved in a group task or an urgent situation. However, a long time ago it had a more straightforward meaning. In times of pirates, captains would urge their crew to help whenever a storm was coming or if enemies were attacking the ship. It literally meant "All available sailors come to the deck". Over the years, as the English language evolved, it just became the expression we use when we need as much help as we can get.

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We all have at least one family member or friend who is uncontrollable and unpredictable. In our everyday vocabulary, we usually call this type of person a "loose cannon", although perhaps we’ve never stopped to think about what it really means or where it comes from.

The origin of this metaphoric expression can be sourced from the cannons that used to be mounted on the decks of warships in the early 1900s. During combat or a storm, these big and heavy weapons sometimes got dislodged, causing serious damage to the vessel and its crew. We can say that something similar happens when people with erratic behavior are around.

Image: Alex Knight

The origin of this cute little slang phrase meaning "quite satisfactory, fine" is a bit obscure. There are a few theories that explain where "hunky-dory" was first coined, but our favorite has nautical connotations. Legend has it, the expression comes from "Honcho dori", a term that means something like "main street" in Japanese, where lonely American sailors allegedly went for all sorts of diversions and services in the 1860s.

This Japanese influence was first suggested by American historian and linguist John Russell Bartlett in the 4th edition of the Dictionary of Americanisms of 1877. His theory, although picturesque and with some historical merit, can’t be 100% proven. But for the moment let’s just say: it’s all hunky-dory!

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Yes, the word ship has given us away. As you can imagine, this commonly used expression has a clear naval origin. The term can be traced back to when ships were made out of wood and needed to be properly sealed to prevent any leaks. Captains used to supervise this operation and apparently were very rigorous about it.

In its more metaphorical sense, it alludes to a ship in which the ropes are taut, meaning it is strictly managed. In a tight ship the crew and officers work well together, that is to say, the phrase has a very similar meaning to the one we give it today. In informal and colloquial situations we now use it to refer to an institution or business that is highly organized and running efficiently.

Image: Annie Spratt

Once upon a time, when battles were fought in faraway seas, ships would heave their national flag before a battle. However, some captains were known to be swindlers. To have an advantage over their enemies, they would carry flags of other countries in order to confuse them on the high seas. This practice was especially common in the 17th century among Spanish sailors and it was referred to as bamboozle (sounds familiar?).

Nowadays, we use this expression to describe a dishonest person who eventually reveals who he or she really is. It would be great if some people came with flags, don’t you think?

Image: Tanner Mardis

Starting at a new job can feel overwhelming until you finally learn the ropes. That’s probably how rookie sailors felt like in times before steam or fossil fuel ships. A long time ago, when almost all ships had sails, new recruits had to learn how to manipulate ropes and tie knots. The nautical origin of the expression, therefore, is very clear.

It is true that ropes are rarely used in modern jobs, but the phrase has survived for centuries and we still use it today to refer to the special way things are done in a particular activity. So now that you know, you’ll never be able to teach someone to do something again without thinking of a poor young sailor handling ropes out in the cold sea.

Image: Jason Schuller

Not surprisingly, the origin of the idiom "sink or swim" is nautical. Today, we use it to mean that a specific situation will fail or succeed. The source of this expression, however, is purely literal and a bit bleak. In Medieval times, suspected witches were thrown into deep waters to prove their condition. If the victim sank, she would die, but if she managed to swim, she was considered evil and therefore executed.

The first written example of the idiom, as we use it today, can be found in Shakespeare’s play Henry IV: "If he fall in, goodnight! Or sink or swim!".

Image: Benoît Deschasaux

In the 17th century, sailors would rub empty barrels used to store food to recover any remaining scraps and not waste anything. These leftovers were presumably of inferior quality, giving the expression the negative connotation it has today. This metaphorical usage, to be forced to use one’s last and weakest resource, might have originated in the US in the 1930s, but it certainly never gets old.

We’ve reached the end of this ranking but that doesn’t mean we are scraping the barrel! There are a lot more idioms and figures of speech of nautical origin that you can explore. Can you think of any other examples? Now that you have a snapshot of what nautical expressions look like, you won't stop finding them!