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surname

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The name used to identify the members of a family.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

surnaym

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɝneɪm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)

  2. 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).

verb

  1. transitive

    To give a surname to.

  2. transitive

    To call by a surname.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)

Used this way, surname is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Family/home

Nearby words

  • cognomen , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use surname

  • “Please write your given name and then your surname.”

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)

family namelast namecognomenRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.