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Where did your surname come from? Do you know how many people in the United States share it? What does it tell you about your lineage?
From the editor of the highly acclaimed Dictionary of Surnames comes the most extensive compilation of surnames in America. The result of 10 years of research and 30 consulting editors, this massive undertaking documents 70,000 surnames of Americans across the country. A reference source like no other, it surveys each surname giving its meaning, nationality, alternate spellings, common forenames associated with it, and the frequency of each surname and forename.
The Dictionary of American Family Names is a fascinating journey throughout the multicultural United States, offering a detailed look at the meaning and frequency of surnames throughout the country. For students studying family genealogy, others interested in finding out more about their own lineage, or lexicographers, the Dictionary is an ideal place to begin research. Where did your surname come from? Do you know how many people in the United States share it? What does it tell you about your lineage?
From the editor of the highly acclaimed Dictionary of Surnames comes the most extensive compilation of surnames in America. The result of 10 years of research and 30 consulting editors, this massive undertaking documents 70,000 surnames of Americans across the country. A reference source like no other, it surveys each surname giving its meaning, nationality, alternate spellings, common forenames associated with it, and the frequency of each surname and forename.
The Dictionary of American Family Names is a fascinating journey throughout the multicultural United States, offering a detailed look at the meaning and frequency of surnames throughout the country. For students studying family genealogy, others interested in finding out more about their own lineage, or lexicographers, the Dictionary is an ideal place to begin research.
About the author
Patrick Hanks has been a lexicographer and linguistic researcher for over twenty-five years. He was Chief Editor for Current English Dictionaries at Oxford University Press, and is now a visiting professor at the University of the West of England in Bristol and the Charles University in Prague.
Summary
The Dictionary of American Family Names contains more than 70,000 entries of the most commonly occurring surnames in the United States, with comparative frequencies, linguistic and historical explanations, selected associated forenames, and occasional genealogical notes. It is also available as an e-reference text from the Oxford Digital Reference Shelf.
Additional text
This dictionary is a tour de force because it represents the collaboration of a large number of academic scholars scattered across the globe, who have come together to produce an essential onomastic reference work that exemplifies a spirit of cooperation and team work that is quite difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, these scholars have banded together to produce a singularly excellent work. This dictionary will be a useful reference work for the general public, onomasticians, historians, genealogists, linguists, sociologists, and other scholars for a long time to come. The quality is remarkable. The second edition of the Dictionary of American Family Names belongs on the reference shelves of all major public and academic libraries and other related research institutions as an indispensable reference work.
