Dictionary of American Family Names
Price:
$450.00 (08)Booklist Editors' Choice, 2003
Description
Where did your surname come from? Do you know how many people in the United States share it? What does it tell you about your lineage?From the editor of the highly acclaimed Dictionary of Surnames comes the most extensive compilation of surnames in America. The result of 10 years of research and 30 consulting editors, this massive undertaking documents 70,314 surnames of Americans across the country. To compile the Dictionary of American Family Names (DAFN) , Editor Patrick Hanks gathered 100 million U.S. names and established a selection criteria for inclusion in DAFN. This selection criteria created a model of surnames with more than 100 occurrences.
The next step was to begin researching the linguistic origin of the surnames. Each given names was carefully analyzed to determine whether it had any association with a particular language or culture. Naming practices for particular cultures were also determined to give clues about cultural assimilation. With the inclusions of addresses, pockets of ethnic areas were identified showing evidence of certain cultures in parts of the country, such as the French in Louisiana.
A dictionary like no other, the Dictionary of American Family Names surveys surnames giving their meaning, nationality, alternate spellings, common forenames associated with them, and the frequency of each surname and forename. For students studying family genealogy, others interested in finding out more about their own lineage the Dictionary is an ideal place to begin research.
Reviews
"Researchers of many kinds, particularly genealogists and family historians, will value Hanks' work for its breadth of surname coverage and scholarship--a combination which guarantees that it will soon become one of the benchmark publications of its kind. Highly recommended
." --Library Journal
"The new Dictionary of American Family Names
belongs in every library in America
, particularly those who cater to genealogists." --Genealogy Bulletin
"Readers from experienced genealogists, to students assigned to find the meaning of their family name, to the just plain curious will find this a useful and fascinating resource
. ...a definite purchase
where this type of information is in demand."--Against the Grain
About the Author(s)
Patrick Hanks is a consultant in corpus-based lexicography and phraseology at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He was formerly Chief Editor of Current English Dictionaries at Oxford University Press, and a research fellow in lexical computing at Brimingham University. He has been researching the geographical distribution, meaning, and origin of surnames for over 30 years.
