How Can I Find Out The Meaning Of My Surname?

We have attempted to find the meanings and origins of a handful of surnames, some of which have been easier than others. It is quite a difficult task to get a decent answer from places on the web about surname meanings, which is why you probably ended up here at BlurtIt!. As there are so many surname's out there - quite rightly billions - we will endeavour to try and get meanings for questions that come in, but cannot always help.

Many Thanks

The BlurtIt! Editor

Here's an example for the name 'Hurley':

'The name Hurley has undergone many variations in the time that has passed since its genesis. In Gaelic it appeared as O hIarlatha, which is derived from the word iarflaith, which means underlord."

Spelling variations include: Herlihy, O'Herlihy, Herley, Herly, Hurley, O'Hurley, Murrily and many more.

First found in county Limerick where they held a family seat from ancient times.
Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Bartholomew Hearlihy settled in Philadelphia in 1857; Daniel Herlihey settled in Philadelphia in 1868; John Herlihy settled in Philadelphia in 1876; Jacob Herley settled in Philadelphia in 1753.'

Such information is easily extracted from geneology sites. To get yours why not have a browse and see if you can find the right site for your needs.

Is it my imagination, or does no-one seemed to have yet answered the original question? We seem to have one in depth analysis of Hurley (fine if we're all called Hurley) and a host of people still in the dark. To reiterate... is there a site which gives the general meaning and origin of surnames?

I think they said, it's best to check out genealogy sites . Read carefully next time. Not like they can answer all 44 billion surnames out there is it....bit of common sense!

You can visit some of the links on this page, which are a bunch of sites where you can find the meaning of you're last name. Some of them you have to pay, but most are free.

I like this site: surnames.behindthename.com and www.behindthename.com
I've known of the site for years and I am impressed by the organization and amount of information, but mostly that I can use the Site without dealing with creepy pop-up advertising.

Ask your mom and dad.