10 sats \ 3 replies \ @_stacktoshi 8 Mar \ on: The Most Common Last Name in Every Country charts_and_numbers
I'm surprised Smith is so dominate in the ex-british empire. Were blacksmiths particularly horny or something?
there are blacksmiths, locksmiths, goldsmiths, woodsmiths...
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Right, it's supposed to mean someone who works with metal. Just wondering why that particular line of work became so dominant.
The name refers to a smith, originally deriving from smið or smiþ, the Old English term meaning one who works in metal, related to the word smitan, the Old English form of smite, which also meant strike (as in early 17th century Biblical English: the verb "to smite" = to hit).
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