American Surnames

I have had this book for any number of years and find it a continuing useful resource. What is especially remarkable besides the author's vast knowledge, is that he had taken his material and turned it into an entertaining book

I have been teaching English for over thirty years, mostly creative writing, and we have worn out two hard cover books of this title. We have had fun and assignments involving students' names and what they mean as well as used the book to name characters in fiction. Wonderful book!!

I'm sorry to see that the only reviewer so far allowed himself to become so offended at the usage of the term "American" in the title that he was unable to appreciate or assess the quality and usefulness of the book's CONTENTS! On that score, it is a nice solid entry. The topical organization of the book, beginning with the main sources of surnames -- parentage/relationships, occupation, actions and attributes (nicknames), and places --and ending with an indexed list of surnames, serves to make it useful for general reference, yet much more interesting than it might have been in a dictionary format. This structure also encourages the reader to understand a particular name in relation to others of the same culture and/or invented in a similar manner, rather than in isolation. Along the way we are treated to many a fascinating historical and cultural nugget, rich vignettes of the societies and situations from which the names developed. Mr Nazario's point is off the mark in another respect. He implies that the range of names is 'limited' to those of the U.S. But this is hardly the case. From the beginning Smith discusses the wide variety of names brought to the U.S. from all over the world, ALL of which he considers to now be "American". As a result the book DOES cover a great many names found in other parts of the Americas.