different between appellation vs surname

English

Etymology

From late Middle English appellacion, from Old French apellatiun, from Latin appell?ti? (“a naming”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?æp??le???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Homophone: Appalachian

Noun

appellation (plural appellations)

1. (formal or dated) A name, title, or designation.
   • 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Baseball Joe on the School Nine Chapter 1

     "I'll not," retorted "Teeter" Nelson, whose first name was Harry, but who had gained his appellation because of a habit he had of "teetering" on his tiptoes when reciting in class. "I've got Peaches all right," and there was a struggle between the two lads, one trying to throw a snowball, and the other trying to prevent him.

   • 1925, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California (page 225)

     Russian River flows through a country of hill ridges, which in many places are dignifiable with the appellation of mountains.

   • 1990, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (translators), Fyodor Dostoevsky (author), The Brothers Karamazov, North Point Press, ?ISBN, page 742:

     Gentlemen of the jury, what is a father, a real father, what does this great word mean, what terribly great idea is contained in this appellation?

2. A geographical indication for wine that describes its geographic origin.

Related terms

• appellation contrôlée

Translations

Further reading

• appellation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From the Old French apellatiun, but respelt to conform with the ultimate Latin etymon, appell?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.p?.la.sj??/

Noun

appellation f (plural appellations)

1. call (instance of calling out)
2. name; appellation

Derived terms

Further reading

• “appellation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• sirname

Etymology

From Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supern?men, supr?n?men (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and n?men (“name”)..

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: sûr'n?m, IPA^(key): /?s?ne?m/
• (UK) enPR: sû'n?m, IPA^(key): /?s??ne?m/

Noun

surname (plural surnames)

1. (obsolete) An additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement; an epithet.
   • 1526, Tyndale's Bible, Acts 1:23:

     Barsabas (whose syrname was Iustus).

   • 1590, Richard Harvey, Plaine Percevall the peace-maker of England, Sweetly indeuoring with his blunt persuasions to botch vp a reconciliation between Mar-ton and Mar-tother, B3:

     My sirname is Peace-Maker, one that is but poorely regarded in England.
2. (obsolete) An additional name given to a person, place, or thing; a byname or nickname.
   • 1638, Abraham Cowley, Davideis, IV:

     I have before declared that Baal was the Sun, and Baal Peor, a sirname, from a particular place of his worship.

3. The name a person shares with other members of that person's family, distinguished from that person's given name or names; a family name.
   • 1605, William Camden, Remaines, I 32:

     In late yeeres Surnames have beene given for Christian names among vs, and no where else in Christendom.

   • 1876, E. A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest, V xxv 563:

     The Norman Conquest...brought with it the novelty of family nomenclature, that is to say, the use of hereditary surnames.

4. (Classical studies) The cognomen of Roman names.
5. (Scotland, obsolete) A clan.
   • 1455 in J. D. Marwick, Charters of Edinburgh (1871), 79:

     The surnam and nerrest of blude to the said Williame.

Usage notes

The term "surname" may be used to translate terms from non-English names which carry additional shades of meaning, most notably in the case of Roman cognomens. In fact, the nomen was the surname as the word is commonly understood today but the terms were first applied when surname was still used in the sense of "additional" or "added" name: the cognomen was added to the nomen to show the branch of the family involved. (The modern translation of a similar distinction in ancient Chinese names customarily uses ancestral name and clan name instead and typically speaks of surnames only once the two merged into a single and commonly-employed family name.)

Synonyms

• epithet (additional descriptive name)
• nickname, sobriquet, byname (additional name)
• family name, last name, to-name (hereditary name denoting one's family)
• See also Thesaurus:surname

Hypernyms

• name

Translations

Verb

surname (third-person singular simple present surnames, present participle surnaming, simple past and past participle surnamed)

1. (transitive) To give a surname to.
2. (transitive) To call by a surname.

Translations

See also

• adoption name
• bride’s name
• Christian name
• cognomen
• confirmation name
• family name
• first name
• forename
• given name
• last name
• maiden name
• matronym
• middle name
• nickname
• patronym
• personal name
• Wikipedia article on name changes
• Wiktionary appendix of surnames

References

Anagrams

• Mansure, manures

Middle English

Alternative forms

• surename, sourname, sorname, syrname, sire name

Etymology

Partial calque of Old French surnoun, from Late Latin supern?men, supr?n?men; equivalent to sur- +? name. Forms beginning with sir-, syr-, etc. represent reanalysis of the first element as sire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?surna?m(?)/, /?sirna?m(?)/

Noun

surname (plural surnames)

1. epithet, nickname
   • c. 1330, Arthour and Merlin, 5488:

     Þe .xxxix. Osoman, cert, His surname was: hardi of hert.

   • c. 1400, "St. John Baptist", 928 in W. M. Metcalfe, Legends of the saints: in the Scottish dialect of the fourteenth century (1896), II 249:

     Þe thred herrod had alsua til his suornome agrippa.

2. surname, family name
   • 1393, William Langland, Piers Plowman, C iv 369:

     Þat is no?t reisonable...to refusy my syres sorname.

3. alias, appellation
   • c. 1395, Wycliff's Bible, Ecclus. XLVII 19:

     In the name of the Lord, to whom the surname [toname in the 1382 ed.] is God of Israel.

Descendants

• English: surname

References

• “surn?me, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.