Japanese is more like ‘bob from the long field’, ‘steve from the middle of the village’, etc. and are often place references (certain classes had more rights before people had the right to surnames, so a bit different that far back).
There are a lot of surnames like that in English. Westfield, Norwood, Whitmore, Blackwell, etc.
In Danish you get some very precise locations of farms relative to villages and see names like Nordestgaard (North East Farm), Højgaard (high farm, i.e., on a hill), Bjerregaard (mountain farm)
Yep, very true. I couldn’t think of any examples when writing, but I often mention that when people talk about how cool Japanese names are “because they have (characters that have) meaning”. We have those in English, too!
The past had a LOT of smiths.
Or maybe it was the sexiest profession back then.
It’s because most anvils were tuned to G. It was considered the original root scale step because anvils often worked best when tuned to G. But back in those days, it was called Sol (Solfège.) In french, Sol means ground, which is at the bottom. Ergo, every hammer driven by the smith was really just a sort of mating call that sent all the bottoms running to the smith’s doorstep. This is where the expression “she built like an anvil” comes from
So Mason = Built like a brick shithouse
Read above you thinking… You mean she’s a brick… house?
She’s mighty, mighty, just letting it all hang out.
reads like a tr*mp xeet lol
Only the sexy professions reproduced
Smiths got all the tang.
Seems many did not, but I did, see what you did there
Welcome to social Darwinism
Social darwinism isn’t that, although it’s big with people of Netherlandian extraction, Calvinists.
Social darwinism is the belief that everything is preordained, and if you are rich, god favors you, if poor, god hates you. It would be irresponsible to help the poor because god wants them to suffer, and so forth. Like the Prosperity Doctrine.
I was kidding
Didn’t someone tell you it’s illegal to make jokes on Lemmy
Metalsmith, Blacksmith, Gunsmith, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Locksmith, Coppersmith, Tinsmith, Wordsmith, Songsmith
“Hey, kids! It’s time for the PokeRap!”
Gonna, gonna, gonna forge 'em all. Gonna forge 'em all, Smithemon!
Poopsmith
Also, a bunch of Wrights too: Cartwright, Wainwright, Shipwright, Wheelright, etc.
Then there’s just plain occupational names: Miller, Farmer, Thatcher, and so on.
Had this tradition continued, the information age would have given us: Chipwright, Cloudwright, Videosmith, Hacksmith, Coder, Tester, Gamer, Printer, and probably a ton more.
I always found it fun to learn about these old timey professions that (basically) no longer exist, but still exist as names, like:
- Cooper: a craftsman who makes barrels, casks, etc.,
- Hooper: an assistant to the cooper. Someone who put the hoops (bands of metal or wood) around the barrels. This one is especially good because coopers took over the job of putting the bands on, so the job died off while “cooper” still existed as a job, yet there are still people with that name
- Fuller / Walker: a person who softens and cleans wool, sometimes by walking on it, sometimes using the hands
- Clark: this one still exists, but is spelled and pronounced differently as “clerk”.
- Turner: someone who operated a lathe. Basically a specialized machinist.
- Marshall: this is a fun one. Originally it had to do with horses, it was “mareshal”, but then somehow evolved to be a high officer of the court, unrelated to “martial” which sounds the same but comes from “Mars” the god of war.
- Parker: The job exists now, but is more “park ranger” or just “ranger”
- Baxter: Baker – but the feminine form of the word. Similarly “Webster” is the female form of “Weber” (Weaver), Brewster is the female version of Brewer, Spinster is the female form of Spinner, etc.
- Carter: someone who moves goods with a cart
Man, sign me the fuck up for Hacksmith or Codewright. I’m all for nominative determinism like this
Whitesmith is also used
Smiths and millers were common enough professions that basically every village had one but rare enough to be useful as a description. John the farmer would have been way too vague, leading to names that come from physical appearance, place of origin or relatives‘ given names.
John the farmer would have been way too vague
“De boer”, or “the farmer” is the 10th most common surname in the Netherlands. Top three are “The young”, “son of Jan” and “The Frisian”.
Who’s Jan
ur mom
(???)
Smiths were generally wealthier so they had a better diet and what amounted to medical care, and they were rarely put in combat because they were needed to make weapons. So more of them survived.
[smiths] were rarely put in combat because they were needed to make weapons. So more of them survived.
That’s how it works for my dwarves, too.
People in cthe middle ages in ciities were wealthier and healthier, and free. People in the country were slaves or tools of the local lords. City air makes you free they would say, cities were filled with free people, and run by guilds generally, smiths chief amongst them. Other cities were more merchant ruled chiefly. The nobility forever looked down on commerce, everything except agriculture and war generally.
You couldn’t just move into a city, you needed an in, like getting accepted as an apprentice in a guild.
Totally true, and there were also smiths scattered around rural areas in small towns like mechanics today.
Smith be smithing tho
“Son, you come from a long line of Dontanswers. Now do your ancestors an honorable turn and impose the most annoying phone conversation in history on this near-stranger.”
I do this, too, and my best friend is in my phone by just his last name (the name he goes by), so when I added his wife to my phone when they got married, I put her in as “Name Hislastname,” in that same way of association, like you would add someone as “bill plumber,” or whatever. And I realized, wait, is this how married couples sharing a name started? Lol
In one of the British cultures the head of a family/clan went by just the last name, so yeah maybe
Kenny can fuck off and get a job.
Landlord isn’t a job.
You forgot to add the location. John Philadelphia Carpenter.
Joseph Nazareth Carpenter
I have a friend whose surname is Fletcher. I learned recently that’s just an arrow maker. That said I’ve seen in other regions people are named for what time and location they are born and by gender.
“Just” an arrow maker!? Let’s see you make some quality remote stabby-sticks…
Bluetooth stabbers
Apparently my ancestors raised pigs, yay
Is it Swinyard, Swinerd, Hogg, Hogge, Seward, Sweatman, Schweinhardt, Schweiger, Schweinsteige, Dausch, Purcell, or MacUalraig? Apparently there’s a lot of surnames for a pig farmer.
A lot including at least one more. And you know I’m not gonna tell, even if you guess it. But you haven’t even used the same first letter yet.
Hence names like Lee, Stone, Woods, Green, Moore…
Lots of Dutch last names are ridiculous, allegedly in defiance of foreign empires forcing the people to adopt them for registration purposes.
according to Wikipedia it’s a myth
Such as?
One example is; Naaktgeboren, meaning “born naked”
Naaktgeboren comes from the German “nachgeboren”, meaning “born after the father died”. Which is the same origin as Posthumus, except that came via latin.
How so? They have been free for some time, 4 centuries I think.
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I’m a school bus driver. Our director of transportation is in my phone as “Patti Busboss”. I genuinely have no idea what her real last name is.
Eddie cocaine, mike shit weed.
Ah, you must be talking about Eddie White and Mike Greene.
Mike Shitfacer handles the booze.
Before weed was legal my dealer’s name was John Budd.
What was it after weed became legal?
It’s still that but I stopped calling him.
It still is, but it used to be, too.
Forever may John Budd live in my phone.
His first name isn’t even John.
What have we done to the children and families of our former dealers? They are destitute now
I mean, I had to entertain them while their dad got my weed and then I saw a brand new SUV in the driveway after a year or two so I think they’re good.
Don’t know, Electrić sounds kinda Balkan to me.
Don’t be so diacritical.
What about Stacy’s mom?
Mr. Burns was not an accident on the simpsons.
Tons of John Work in mine. Definitely not as cool as John Wick.
Thanks for reminding me that I saw someone named John Wack in a multiplayer lobby recently.
Matamoros is the one I don’t like thinking about.
Moor killer
Metal as fuck
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