sirname

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A form of surname — The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).

First used uncommon after 1860Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounsirname (plural sirnames)

plural sirnames

  1. archaicArchaic spelling of surname.First known use uncommon after 1860

    These names were not always used; commonly two, and sometimes only the sirname.

    1833, Charles K. Dillaway, Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology
    2 more examples

    Fair Helen's sirname, therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it is now impossible to ascertain.

    1806, Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. II (of 3)

    They were in two trunks (made exactly fit for them) that had the first letters of my christian and sirname decyphered upon them with nails; and on the first page of every book was my ordinary motto and name written at length in my own hand.

    1902, William Younger Fletcher, English Book Collectors
verbsirname (third-person singular simple present sirnames, present participle sirnaming, simple past and past participle sirnamed)

present singular third person sirnames · participle present sirnaming · participle past sirnamed · past sirnamed

  1. archaicArchaic spelling of surname.

Origin

Possibly influenced by erroneous analysis as sire-name (per Brewer's 1877 Errors of Speech and of Spelling).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

remainsseminarmarinesReismanErismanArmisenmaresinMersina
Cite this entry
APA

sirname. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sirname

MLA

“sirname.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sirname. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sirname,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sirname.

Source: sirname on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.