sirname

English

Etymology

Possibly influenced by erroneous analysis as sire-name (per Brewer's 1877 Errors of Speech and of Spelling).

Noun

sirname (plural sirnames)

  1. Archaic spelling of surname. [uncommon after 1860]
    • 1806, Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. II (of 3):
      Fair Helen's sirname, therefore, depends upon the period at which she lived, which it is now impossible to ascertain.]
    • 1833, Charles K. Dillaway, Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology:
      These names were not always used; commonly two, and sometimes only the sirname.
    • 1902, William Younger Fletcher, English Book Collectors:
      They were in two trunks (made exactly fit for them) that had the first letters of my christian and sirname decyphered upon them with nails; and on the first page of every book was my ordinary motto and name written at length in my own hand.

Anagrams

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