On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. For a list of people with this smith red blood orange, see List of people with surname Smith. Smith is an occupational surname originating in England.

Although the name is derived from a common occupation, many later Smiths had no connection to that occupation, but adopted or were given the surname precisely because of its commonness. During the colonization of North America, some Native Americans took the name for use in dealing with colonists. During the period of slavery in the United States, many other slaves were known by the surname of their masters, or adopted those surnames upon their emancipation. During the world wars, many German Americans anglicised the common and equivalent German surname Schmidt or Schmitz to Smith to avoid discrimination. A popular misconception holds that at the beginning of the 20th century, when many new immigrants were entering the U. Ellis Island responsible for cataloging the entry of such persons sometimes arbitrarily assigned new surnames if the immigrants’ original surname was particularly lengthy, or difficult for the processor to spell or pronounce.

Variations of the surname Smith also remain very common. These include different spellings of the English name, and versions in other languages. There is some disagreement about the origins of the numerous variations of the name Smith. Likewise, the replacement of the i with a y in Smyth or Smythe is also often considered an affectation but may have originally occurred because of the difficulty of reading blackletter text, where Smith might look like Snuth or Simth. The patronymic practice of attaching son to the end of a name to indicate that the bearer is the child of the original holder has also led to the surnames Smithson and Smisson. Smitty” being used as a surname itself. Surnames relating to smiths and blacksmiths are found across the world.

Additionally, brief etymologies are noted if a name used in a certain language derives from another language. Smith surname meaning, origin, etymology and distribution in Great Britain”. Genealogy — Frequently Occurring Surnames From Census 2000″. Surname Database: Athersmith Last Name Origin”.

Surname Database: Arsmith Last Name Origin”. Surname Database: Sixsmith Last Name Origin”. Surname Database: Wildsmith Last Name Origin”. The Mighty Smiths: Dealing With Common Surnames”. Smith coat of arms and family history”. At the outset it is important to mention that the spelling of the name as Smith, Smyth, Smithe, Smythe, etc.

The use of “i” and “y” and the presence or absence of the terminal “e” merely reflect the writing styles of the day. There are 3,053,623 people in the U. Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. The URL here is to a reprint on the Irish Ancestors website. The North East England History Pages. Origin and history of the name of Smith, with biographies of all the most noted persons of that name, Chicago, Ill. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title.

Look up Smith or smith in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, U. Smith Tower, in Seattle, Washington, U. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. To save this word, you’ll need to log in. Ancient smiths developed the techniques needed to make metal tools. In the armed forces tournament, eight members redeploy to the forge and go head-to-head against one other smith in a five-hour battle.