First name origin & meaning:
English: Blacksmith
First name variations: Smyth, Smythe, Smitty, Smits
Last name origin & meaning:
English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle
English smith (Old English smið, probably a
derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metal-working was
one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were
required, and its importance ensured that this term and its
equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational
surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making
horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for
their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the
most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by
assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other
languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).
Famous people with this last name:
Will Smith,
Patti Smith
This name appears in the following lists:
Before They Were Famous - Name Changers,
Child Stars,
Country Stars,
Cowboys and Cowgirls,
First Ladies,
Nobel Prize Winners,
Pioneers/Explorers,
Pop Princes and Princesses,
Presidents' Kids
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