Surnames 姓氏

A sign asking what names mean

British surnames have meanings?

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We often talk about English first names and what they mean here at BBC Learning English, but what about people's family names or surnames? What are the most popular ones and what do they mean?

John Escolme and Feifei Feng take a closer look at surnames in this week's Ask About Britain programme.

I’ve heard about many interesting English names in my dictionary’s appendix. But there’s nothing about English surnames. I’ve been looking for such a thing for a long time. Now I’d like to ask you where English surnames come from and what do they mean?

English learner, Qingdao

Do you have a question about Britain? 你有没有对英国的疑问？

Then email us at chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

欢迎你把问题通过电子邮件发给我们：chinaelt@bbc.co.uk