Talk:Family name affixes

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The previous version said Mc>Irish and Mac>Scottish, this is urban legend of sorts. "Mc" is merely an abbreviated version of "Mac", and in both Irish and Scottish it is "Mac".--172.175.255.195 15:25, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Sorting of affixes from right to left is very important, and if it is broken it should be fixed rather than removed. The purpose of this list is finding an affix of a last name. Suppose that you have last name "Lupulescu". You don't know how long is the affix so you might try with "-cu", which is an average length of one. Nothing there. Then you try with "-scu". Nothing there as well. Then you finally find it with "-escu". But if the list is sorted RTL, you just search upon u, and find it instantly. Also, if the affixes are sorted LTR, related affixes would not be together. Nikola 14:24, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I guess you mean sort suffixes from the right (in reverse) and sort prefixes normally.--MarSch 17:40, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
Yes, of course. But I see that someone "sorted" the suffixes from left to right too. Nikola 08:27, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
I alphabetized the list. It makes sense to me that whatever you are looking for, it is easier if the list is alphabetized. Whether one is looking for "-u," "-cu," "-scu" or "-escu," people familiar with Roman script languages are going to be most comfortable with dictionary order. Grika 14:49, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
Right-to-left order is dictionary order for affixes. Nikola 15:19, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] typical affix?

This article currently states that it includes "typical affixes". I suppose that means this is not supposed to turn into an exhaustive list. But what _does_ it mean? --MarSch 17:41, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] affixes or affixen?

Wiktionary says the plural of affix is affixen. --MarSch 17:48, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, in Dutch. SigPig 10:04, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Improvement needs

There are a number of issues with this list that need resolution:

  1. Prefixes have meaning before nationality, suffixes are the opposite
  2. Wiki MoS would have only the first instance of a language linked
  3. Consistency is needed for the format of the meanings; italics versus "quotes"
  4. Something is needed to make each line more understandable, possibilities:
    1. bolding the affix
    2. changing to a table
    3. italicizing all meanings

Unless there are some suggestions, I will experiment with a few ideas and see what helps. Grika 15:33, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Personal names

Mikka, why adding personal names to the list? Nikola 07:17, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] -ang suffix?!

The -ang is not a suffix (in Chinese nor Korean). It is merely a syllable rime, and not an attached meaning per se. There are many Chinese and Korean words with the ending -ang (surname or not), but they don't carry a common meaning or anything. I did add the word "Si" which *is* a prefix for some Chinese surnames. Chinese surnames with more than one character are rare but they do exist, and the word "Si" is used in at least 2 of these. There may be more but I don't know. -anonymous

[edit] O'?

The entry for "O'" is very incomplete, it doesn't mention any of the naming conventions associated with it in Irish. For instance the fact that it is only usually applied to Males, the female form being "Ni". The details are all in this article: Irish name. And BTW shouldn't it be properly spelled "Ó"? --Hibernian 18:58, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

This article isn't so much "how to make a proper family name," but rather "how to identify the nationality of a family name." If you feel it would be helpful to the geneologist or whomever to have Ni- added, then by all means, please add it. Grika Ⓣ 21:25, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] -a- Prefix?

I believe -a is a Frisian SUFFIX, not a prefix. The examples given (to which -sma and -da could be added) are all suffixes. I'm not familiar with any Fries names which *begin* with a- as a prefix. Laurie Fox 06:08, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] -a Suffix of FAMILY names?

As family names or surnames are not generally (to my knowledge) either male or female, I believe this suffix is actually found in first or given names. If so, it doesn't really belong in this list. Laurie Fox 07:15, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually many (most?) East-block languages have potential for differentiation between the surnames of male and female children. Russian and related languages will sometimes add -ova (or some equivalent) to female surnames when the male version looks like a noun and may just add an -a if the name looks like an adjective. There are many examples throughout Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech etc. Grika Ⓣ 18:46, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
Gee, thanks, Grika!! I had no idea! Obviously my knowledge of East-block languages is woefully lacking... (Whew! I'm glad I put a couple disclaimers in my post, since it turns out I was TOTALLY wrong!) Thanks for contributing to my education! Laurie Fox 05:22, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

I notice that some prefixes are capitalized and others aren't. Some end in hyphen and others don't. Are these intended to be meaningful distinctions?

The reason I ask is that I'm looking for some guidance on how to capitalize names with prefixes (e.g., McDonald or Mcdonald). If you know of any reference sources, that would also be helpful.

Don Kirkby (talk) 21:51, 28 November 2007 (UTC)