Do American family names make sense?

"The underlying cause for the disconnect is that names, unlike words, don’t have to stay meaningful in order to do their job of identifying individuals or groups of people. In fact, most American family names make no sense at all today and it is fascinating to uncover their original meanings and what they tell us about the history of the people who bear them. Hereditary surnames are especially vulnerable to changes in pronunciation that obscure their original senses."

https://blog.oup.com/2024/04/do-american-family-names-make-sense/

#USA #US #UnitedStates #America #Names #Humanities #Dictionaries #Lexicography #Linguistics @linguistics

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