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ArchivesSurnames in the ? usage section
I'm trying to get the surnames in the unknown usage section's usages figured out.
I've gotten a few out, this is what's left. If you know where they come from or what they mean, please tell me! (Will delete if figured out)
BESTOCK (probably anglicised form of something like Bestok or Bestak)
BOLERJACK (probably English)
BRIACA (originally submitted as given name, Breton feminine form of Briac. Onomabot says to revert the change from given name to surname in the discussion so maybe that should happen.)
FREIWAT (originally labelled Danish Rare)
GAYDARZHI (probably a Siberian native last name, Гайдаржи in Russian Cyrillic. Possibly means something like "son of Gaydar".)
KOREA (had been labelled Korean, and then W. African/Indian/Indonesian, then Various, now unknown. Not sure if it has any relation with the country)
LARINSON (description says it means "son of Larin", formerly labelled as Old Swedish. Probably Norse in some way)
LYIONS (according to forebears, bearers live in US or Mexico. Possibly an Anglicised form of Ó Laighin or Ó Liatháin)
ROMIUS (probably some Latinate usage, though forebears's data on the last name is all over the place- could mean something like "from Rome")
SANET (originally submitted as Afrikaans Germanised, possibly a German or Dutch variant of Sand)
STETTINA (OP says it's from Slavic and/or Germanic countries. It's European surname. Possibly from Stettin, the German name for the Polish city Szczecin)
I've gotten a few out, this is what's left. If you know where they come from or what they mean, please tell me! (Will delete if figured out)
BESTOCK (probably anglicised form of something like Bestok or Bestak)
BOLERJACK (probably English)
BRIACA (originally submitted as given name, Breton feminine form of Briac. Onomabot says to revert the change from given name to surname in the discussion so maybe that should happen.)
FREIWAT (originally labelled Danish Rare)
GAYDARZHI (probably a Siberian native last name, Гайдаржи in Russian Cyrillic. Possibly means something like "son of Gaydar".)
KOREA (had been labelled Korean, and then W. African/Indian/Indonesian, then Various, now unknown. Not sure if it has any relation with the country)
LARINSON (description says it means "son of Larin", formerly labelled as Old Swedish. Probably Norse in some way)
LYIONS (according to forebears, bearers live in US or Mexico. Possibly an Anglicised form of Ó Laighin or Ó Liatháin)
ROMIUS (probably some Latinate usage, though forebears's data on the last name is all over the place- could mean something like "from Rome")
SANET (originally submitted as Afrikaans Germanised, possibly a German or Dutch variant of Sand)
STETTINA (OP says it's from Slavic and/or Germanic countries. It's European surname. Possibly from Stettin, the German name for the Polish city Szczecin)
This message was edited yesterday, 9:00 PM
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Replies
BESTOCK – This surname could be an anglicized version of a Germanic or Old English surname like Bestok or Bestak. It might be a combination of "best" (meaning "good" or "best") and -stock (meaning "tree" or "family line"). It could also be related to place names, such as those derived from “Best,” a village name in England or a family with this designation.
BOLERJACK – This surname might indeed be English, though it’s uncommon. It could be a variation of a name like Bollinger or Bolljack, or possibly from the surname Boler, which is an Anglicized version of a name with French or Irish roots. The “jack” suffix could refer to "son of" or something akin to a diminutive form.
BRIACA – As you’ve noted, Briaca seems to be the Breton feminine form of Briac, a common Breton name (meaning "noble" or "highborn"). It’s possible that it was incorrectly labeled as a surname when it should have been maintained as a given name in the surname section.
FREIWAT – Likely of Danish origin, with frei meaning "free" (similar to "freedom" or "free man") and wat potentially from Old Norse vat meaning "water" or "lake," suggesting a place-related surname. It’s rare, but the Danish connection is a good guess based on the structure of the name.
GAYDARZHI – This name does indeed sound like it could be of Siberian or Turkic origin. The Russian form Гайдаржи suggests it could be a surname from a region in Siberia, potentially a Turkic or Mongolic language influence, as these regions have various Turkic-speaking indigenous populations. It may relate to a historical or cultural figure, and the name could carry connotations related to Gaidar (a name often found in Central Asia).
GEKKO – As noted, Gekko has appeared as a Japanese given name, but it’s also possible it could be a surname in various cultures, with some chance of it being a shortened or anglicized form of a longer name. It’s worth noting that in Japanese, gekko (月光) can mean “moonlight,” which could be a poetic surname. It might also be from a different cultural background, with Gekko possibly deriving from some European languages as a variation of a surname like Gecko.
BOLERJACK – This surname might indeed be English, though it’s uncommon. It could be a variation of a name like Bollinger or Bolljack, or possibly from the surname Boler, which is an Anglicized version of a name with French or Irish roots. The “jack” suffix could refer to "son of" or something akin to a diminutive form.
BRIACA – As you’ve noted, Briaca seems to be the Breton feminine form of Briac, a common Breton name (meaning "noble" or "highborn"). It’s possible that it was incorrectly labeled as a surname when it should have been maintained as a given name in the surname section.
FREIWAT – Likely of Danish origin, with frei meaning "free" (similar to "freedom" or "free man") and wat potentially from Old Norse vat meaning "water" or "lake," suggesting a place-related surname. It’s rare, but the Danish connection is a good guess based on the structure of the name.
GAYDARZHI – This name does indeed sound like it could be of Siberian or Turkic origin. The Russian form Гайдаржи suggests it could be a surname from a region in Siberia, potentially a Turkic or Mongolic language influence, as these regions have various Turkic-speaking indigenous populations. It may relate to a historical or cultural figure, and the name could carry connotations related to Gaidar (a name often found in Central Asia).
GEKKO – As noted, Gekko has appeared as a Japanese given name, but it’s also possible it could be a surname in various cultures, with some chance of it being a shortened or anglicized form of a longer name. It’s worth noting that in Japanese, gekko (月光) can mean “moonlight,” which could be a poetic surname. It might also be from a different cultural background, with Gekko possibly deriving from some European languages as a variation of a surname like Gecko.
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I found out Mukhtuk is from Nivkh мухтук "mouse"
https://ru.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%85%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BA
https://glosbe.com/niv/ru/%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%85%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BA
Couldn't find anything to support the whale blubber claim
For Stettin I did find the thing about Szczecin so it might be a German surname denoting to a person from Szczecin in modern Poland, since in history Germany and Poland (or parts of the two) were in the same country a lot.
For Romius, yeah I also thought that. I'll list it as a theory.
For Gekko, I found that it does indeed mean moonlight in Japanese.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%85%89#Japanese
https://glosbe.com/en/ja/moonlight
Forebears finds a few bearers (surname and forename: linking both because it tends to mix up the two in surname forename countries)
https://forebears.io/x/forenames/gekko
https://forebears.io/surnames/gekko
For Sanet- source that it's a diminutive?
For Larinson, most of that information we already knew.
For Bestock, I think it's actually from a Slavic last name, though I have no source for this statement and could be wrong.
For Lyions- source?
For Gaydarzhi, noted.
For Korea, that doesn't really give me any actual information.
For Bolerjack- source?
For Freiwat- I know that "frei, freie" means "free (as in freedom)" in German because of the FDJ. German-Danish translator says the Danish word is "frit". Do you have any source that it means that in Danish?
https://ru.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%85%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BA
https://glosbe.com/niv/ru/%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%85%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BA
Couldn't find anything to support the whale blubber claim
For Stettin I did find the thing about Szczecin so it might be a German surname denoting to a person from Szczecin in modern Poland, since in history Germany and Poland (or parts of the two) were in the same country a lot.
For Romius, yeah I also thought that. I'll list it as a theory.
For Gekko, I found that it does indeed mean moonlight in Japanese.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9C%88%E5%85%89#Japanese
https://glosbe.com/en/ja/moonlight
Forebears finds a few bearers (surname and forename: linking both because it tends to mix up the two in surname forename countries)
https://forebears.io/x/forenames/gekko
https://forebears.io/surnames/gekko
For Sanet- source that it's a diminutive?
For Larinson, most of that information we already knew.
For Bestock, I think it's actually from a Slavic last name, though I have no source for this statement and could be wrong.
For Lyions- source?
For Gaydarzhi, noted.
For Korea, that doesn't really give me any actual information.
For Bolerjack- source?
For Freiwat- I know that "frei, freie" means "free (as in freedom)" in German because of the FDJ. German-Danish translator says the Danish word is "frit". Do you have any source that it means that in Danish?
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For Sanet: ChatGPT, which is my last resort if I can’t find anything. That claim could be completely wrong though, since I just found out this: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=sanet
For Lyions: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=Lyions
For Bolerjack: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=bolerjack & https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=bolljack (See second paragraph)
For Freiwat: I don’t have a source for this surname, but I made the “vat” Old Norse conclusion because Danish surnames often draw from Old Norse elements, since Danish is a direct descendant of Old Norse. The transition from “w” to “v” is due to the historical changes in language and pronunciation. The first part, ‘frei’, I also got from ChatGPT.
For Lyions: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=Lyions
For Bolerjack: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=bolerjack & https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=bolljack (See second paragraph)
For Freiwat: I don’t have a source for this surname, but I made the “vat” Old Norse conclusion because Danish surnames often draw from Old Norse elements, since Danish is a direct descendant of Old Norse. The transition from “w” to “v” is due to the historical changes in language and pronunciation. The first part, ‘frei’, I also got from ChatGPT.
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AI tends to mix certain things up a lot, so the part about the word "frei" was probably it's fault.
I know Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, but that still doesn't tell me where you got the information that it meant "water, lake" from. AI is not a good source.
I know Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, but that still doesn't tell me where you got the information that it meant "water, lake" from. AI is not a good source.
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I know that, that’s why I always check other websites first and forces (is that a good word?) ChatGPT to explain its explanation.
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