[Surname] Suffix/Prefix List
in reply to a message by Liam
Here is a list I compiled myself for research purposes. There are probably many inaccuracies and omissions but this is all I have. I hope it's of some use. :)
-à Catalan form of Latin word suffix –?nus
Ab- Welsh/Breton “son of”
-aitis Baltic “son of”
-ak Polish occupational suffix
-akis Greek “descendant of”
-àn Spanish form of Latin word suffix –?nus
Ap- Welsh “son of”
Aran- Basque “valley”
Bally- Irish place name prefix
Ben- Hebrew “son of”
Bin Arabic “son of”
D’- French “of (place)”
De- French “of (place)”
De- Dutch “the”
-dotter Swedish/Icelandis “daughter of”
-dze Georgian “son of”
-é Provençal/Catalan occupational suffix
-ec Breton diminutive suffix
-eddu Sardinian diminutive suffix
-eiro Portuguese occupational suffix
-elli Italian diminutive suffix
-ello Italian diminutive suffix
-enko Ukrainian diminutive name suffix
-er English/German/Provençal/Catalan occupational suffix
-ero Spanish occupational suffix
-es Portuguese “son of”
-esco Romanian “son of”
-escu Romanian “son of”
-ese Italian habitation suffix
-ev Bulgarian/Russian “son of”
Exte- Basque “house”
-ez Spanish “son of”
-fi Hungarian “son of”
Fitz- Irish “son of”
-gen Low German hypocoristic suffix
Gren- Swedish “branch”
-ham English common place name element
-i Italian plural form (one of a family) – mainly Northern
-i Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
-ian Armenian “son of”
-iano Italian habitation suffix
-ic Breton diminutive suffix
-i? Yugoslavian “son of”
-ides Greek “descendant of”
-ier French occupational suffix
-in Russian “son of”
-ini Italian diminutive name suffix
-ino Italian diminutive name suffix
-ins Latvian “son of”
-isch Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
-itz Slavonic influenced German suffix
-ke Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
-ken Low German hypocoristic suffix
L’- French “the”
-l Bavarian/Austrian diminutive suffix
-l Romanian “the”
La- French “the”
-la Finnish “dweller in/by/at”
Le- French/Breton “the”
-le Swabian diminutive suffix
-len Swabian diminutive suffix
-ley English common place name element
-li Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
-lin Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
Lund- Swedish “grove”
M’- Irish/Scottish abbreviated form of Mac-
-ma Frisian “man” (hypo.)
Mac- Irish/Scottish/Manx “son of”
Mc- Irish/Scottish abbreviated form of Mac-
Mendi- Basque “hill”
-nen Finnish “of”
Ó- Irish “descendant, grandson of”
-o Italian plural form (one of a family) – mainly Northern
-o Italian standard suffix – mainly Southern
-oe Cornish plural suffix
-onis Baltic “son of”
-(y)onok Belorussian diminutive suffix
-opoulos Greek “son of”
-ov Bulgarian/Russian/Belorussian “son of”
-ovich Belorussian “son of”
-ow Cornish plural suffix
-owicz Polish “son of”
-ow(ski) Polish “place”
-s English/Welsh/Dutch “son of”
-se Dutch “son of”
-sen Dutch/Danish/Norwegian “son of”
-shvili Georgian “son of”
Sjö- Swedish “sea”
-ska Feminine form of ski
-ski Polish locative suffix > later used as an elaboration
-son English “son of”
-sson Swedish “son of”
-ste Estonian “son of”
-ster English occupational suffix
-stra Frisian occupational suffix
-sz(e) Dutch “son of”
Ten- Dutch “at”
Ter- Dutch “at”
Tom- Dutch “at”
-ton English common place name element
Tor- Dutch “at”
Tot- Dutch “at”
Tre- Cornish common place name element
-uk Ukrainian diminutive suffix
-usch Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
Van- Dutch “of”
Van de(r)- Dutch “of the”
Ver Aphetic form of Van der-
-vici Romanian (Jew) “son of”
Von- German “from, of”
-wick English common place name element
-x English/Dutch variant form of –s
-(y)onok Belorussian diminutive suffix
Zabal- Basque “broad”
Zu- German “at”
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-à Catalan form of Latin word suffix –?nus
Ab- Welsh/Breton “son of”
-aitis Baltic “son of”
-ak Polish occupational suffix
-akis Greek “descendant of”
-àn Spanish form of Latin word suffix –?nus
Ap- Welsh “son of”
Aran- Basque “valley”
Bally- Irish place name prefix
Ben- Hebrew “son of”
Bin Arabic “son of”
D’- French “of (place)”
De- French “of (place)”
De- Dutch “the”
-dotter Swedish/Icelandis “daughter of”
-dze Georgian “son of”
-é Provençal/Catalan occupational suffix
-ec Breton diminutive suffix
-eddu Sardinian diminutive suffix
-eiro Portuguese occupational suffix
-elli Italian diminutive suffix
-ello Italian diminutive suffix
-enko Ukrainian diminutive name suffix
-er English/German/Provençal/Catalan occupational suffix
-ero Spanish occupational suffix
-es Portuguese “son of”
-esco Romanian “son of”
-escu Romanian “son of”
-ese Italian habitation suffix
-ev Bulgarian/Russian “son of”
Exte- Basque “house”
-ez Spanish “son of”
-fi Hungarian “son of”
Fitz- Irish “son of”
-gen Low German hypocoristic suffix
Gren- Swedish “branch”
-ham English common place name element
-i Italian plural form (one of a family) – mainly Northern
-i Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
-ian Armenian “son of”
-iano Italian habitation suffix
-ic Breton diminutive suffix
-i? Yugoslavian “son of”
-ides Greek “descendant of”
-ier French occupational suffix
-in Russian “son of”
-ini Italian diminutive name suffix
-ino Italian diminutive name suffix
-ins Latvian “son of”
-isch Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
-itz Slavonic influenced German suffix
-ke Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
-ken Low German hypocoristic suffix
L’- French “the”
-l Bavarian/Austrian diminutive suffix
-l Romanian “the”
La- French “the”
-la Finnish “dweller in/by/at”
Le- French/Breton “the”
-le Swabian diminutive suffix
-len Swabian diminutive suffix
-ley English common place name element
-li Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
-lin Alasatian/Swiss dimintive suffix
Lund- Swedish “grove”
M’- Irish/Scottish abbreviated form of Mac-
-ma Frisian “man” (hypo.)
Mac- Irish/Scottish/Manx “son of”
Mc- Irish/Scottish abbreviated form of Mac-
Mendi- Basque “hill”
-nen Finnish “of”
Ó- Irish “descendant, grandson of”
-o Italian plural form (one of a family) – mainly Northern
-o Italian standard suffix – mainly Southern
-oe Cornish plural suffix
-onis Baltic “son of”
-(y)onok Belorussian diminutive suffix
-opoulos Greek “son of”
-ov Bulgarian/Russian/Belorussian “son of”
-ovich Belorussian “son of”
-ow Cornish plural suffix
-owicz Polish “son of”
-ow(ski) Polish “place”
-s English/Welsh/Dutch “son of”
-se Dutch “son of”
-sen Dutch/Danish/Norwegian “son of”
-shvili Georgian “son of”
Sjö- Swedish “sea”
-ska Feminine form of ski
-ski Polish locative suffix > later used as an elaboration
-son English “son of”
-sson Swedish “son of”
-ste Estonian “son of”
-ster English occupational suffix
-stra Frisian occupational suffix
-sz(e) Dutch “son of”
Ten- Dutch “at”
Ter- Dutch “at”
Tom- Dutch “at”
-ton English common place name element
Tor- Dutch “at”
Tot- Dutch “at”
Tre- Cornish common place name element
-uk Ukrainian diminutive suffix
-usch Slavonic influenced German hypo. suffix
Van- Dutch “of”
Van de(r)- Dutch “of the”
Ver Aphetic form of Van der-
-vici Romanian (Jew) “son of”
Von- German “from, of”
-wick English common place name element
-x English/Dutch variant form of –s
-(y)onok Belorussian diminutive suffix
Zabal- Basque “broad”
Zu- German “at”
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Replies
'Fitz' originated in England - not Ireland - as an Anglo-Norman patronymic. I don't have the time to correct the rest of this mess.
A few more:
Ter or Der as a prefix to Armenian surnames means the named ancestor was a parish priest, e.g., Ter-Petrosian descends from a priest called Peter.
Papa, same thing in Greek - Papayannis, Father John.
Hadji/Hadzi in the Balkans, the named ancestor had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Borrowed from the Turks.
Abu means father in Arabic. Arab parents are often known to friends and family by the name of their first son. sometimes these names became patronymics, e.g., Abu Khalil.
Abu is also used in nicknames, e.g. Abusha'ra, "father of hair", a hairy (or bald?) man; Abu Dirham, "father of coins", a wealthy (or stingy?) man. Both examples are found as surnames.
Ter or Der as a prefix to Armenian surnames means the named ancestor was a parish priest, e.g., Ter-Petrosian descends from a priest called Peter.
Papa, same thing in Greek - Papayannis, Father John.
Hadji/Hadzi in the Balkans, the named ancestor had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Borrowed from the Turks.
Abu means father in Arabic. Arab parents are often known to friends and family by the name of their first son. sometimes these names became patronymics, e.g., Abu Khalil.
Abu is also used in nicknames, e.g. Abusha'ra, "father of hair", a hairy (or bald?) man; Abu Dirham, "father of coins", a wealthy (or stingy?) man. Both examples are found as surnames.
a question: what is hypochoristic?
and further: the Tom-, Tor- and Tot- (dutch) i don't recognize, can you give an example? (i'm dutch, you see)
exte should be etxe i guess
and to add: #-er# in especially German surnames can mean "habitation", like Leipheimer is from Leipheim and Luttenberger is from Luttenberg, etc.
oh, and -ma in Frisian means its patronymic, at least according to Meertens Instituut. See, mainly it is connected with first names, but later on they started to connect it even with placenames and professions, but when you see a Frisian surname with ending in #-ma#, it is often preceded by a first name.
and further: the Tom-, Tor- and Tot- (dutch) i don't recognize, can you give an example? (i'm dutch, you see)
exte should be etxe i guess
and to add: #-er# in especially German surnames can mean "habitation", like Leipheimer is from Leipheim and Luttenberger is from Luttenberg, etc.
oh, and -ma in Frisian means its patronymic, at least according to Meertens Instituut. See, mainly it is connected with first names, but later on they started to connect it even with placenames and professions, but when you see a Frisian surname with ending in #-ma#, it is often preceded by a first name.
Sorry, it should have been hypocoristic, just a convoluted way of saying a pet name. But I should have added that -ma was a patronymic ending, I was just looking it up a minute before hand. They say in the book mentioned below that -ma is hypocoristic and means "man" but that confuses me a little. This is an old list, I should have checked it before I posted that. : (
Hmm, the Tot, Tor, Tom thing, I will have to look up where I found that...wait a minute...
I will have to quote for the best explanation:
"The preposition 'tot', corresponding to the High German 'zu' is also found fused in the dialect forms 'Ter, Tor, Ten & Tom'. These are shared with Low German surnames from the Rhineland". - under Dutch surnames in Oxford University's 'A Dictionary of Surnames'.
And yes, exte should have been etxe. : )
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Hmm, the Tot, Tor, Tom thing, I will have to look up where I found that...wait a minute...
I will have to quote for the best explanation:
"The preposition 'tot', corresponding to the High German 'zu' is also found fused in the dialect forms 'Ter, Tor, Ten & Tom'. These are shared with Low German surnames from the Rhineland". - under Dutch surnames in Oxford University's 'A Dictionary of Surnames'.
And yes, exte should have been etxe. : )
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aha, i found some examples at the Meertens Instituut of that: Tombrink as related to Ten Brink.
and #-ma# does mean "man".
and #-ma# does mean "man".