Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set

DAFN is the real McCoy.Every page includes fascinating but unknown tidbits. For example, I have a friend named "Pernick". He was surprised to hear that his name derives from the same root as "pumpernickel", and apparently referred to a baker back in his ancestral Poland. My own name apparently traces back to somebody who lived beside a mound of talings from some sort of excavation. Some names don't have colorful back-stories, but tens of thousands do.The prefaces contain nearly 100 pages explaining the history in each region of the world of the establishment of family names - a book in itself.

I do allot of genealogy and I knew what a few names meant in mine or my husbands families. Theses books help so much with how we all got our names and root of it.When I ordered it I received 1 book, not knowing that it was a 3 volume set. I did contact the dealer and got the 3 books, and the whole deal/sell went smoothly. I recommend this seller to anyone. They fulfill their promises on a timely basis. They are easy to work with and are all around great.Thanks you Amazon and Book World.

State of knowledge onomastic mscience of surnames locations and derivations.

Academic book

It met all my needs and expectations. I was able to find and understand the origins and meanings of my surnames.

Fabulous!

Quote"Wint Name Meaningethnic name for a Wend, from Middle Dutch Wi(e)nt (see Wendt). possibly also a nickname for someone who rushed around a lot, from Middle Dutch wint ‘wind’. English: unexplained.Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University PressQuoteNope, We Made up the Name we wear Native Americans. It's a corruption of Winter. Took me 20 years to find that out Yes most of us Look White. We also carry the Genetic Disease of Native Americans.. No we are not Dutch..Dutch story was originally a guess and later copied Plagiarized as FACT !This Misrepresentation could cost people their lives.I myself spent lot time trying to find out why my Family was plagued with health issues!

my family name is Buzas which is from Hungary, Turkey to Mongolian for wheat, related to the very weak fermented beer called buso and variations thereof. Also the the Hungarian name Buzasi means from Buzas, which likely refers to the Buza (Buzau) mountains, villages, maybe rivers in Hungary, Transylvania, Romania, and so forth. Romanian , Czech, Polish and nearby languages use Buza to mean lip, cheek, face or kiss. I doubt any family takes their name from "lip," as opposed to wheat, or a location. I conclude this work is Indo-European centric, and hence suspect.

A bit pricey unless you can get it at a discount, but this is an excellent resource, and the price probably reflects the amount of work that must have gone into its production. Not only does it list 70,000 surnames and (where known) their meanings and languages of origin, but it also has a very useful 100-page introduction that explains the language naming systems of most European countries and some Asian countries. A fascinating read!