Discover the origin of your name

What does your surname mean?

As every genealogist knows, we're all the product of our family's history. But genetics aren't the only thing that we pass down the generations. Used to identify our familial bonds, surnames link us to even our most distant ancestors. If your curious about your family history, doing a surname search is a great place to start.

The origin of your last name can reveal a lot about your earliest ancestors' birthplaces, occupations and more.

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Surname of the week

Moore

If you meet a Moore, tell them...

The Moore surname has a number of hypothesised points of origin, and is popular throughout the English-speaking world. The most common believed source is in England, from the Middle English 'mor', which means a heath, or bog (sometimes referring to open land, and the modern usage of the word moor) and would be given to someone living at or on one of these geographic features. In Ireland, the surname Moore can derive from an anglicisation of the Gaelic 'mordha', which is given to someone who is noble or stately. More rarely, the name Moore could be given to an Isle of Man collector of manorial rent (a moar), or as a descriptive for someone of dark complexion (a moor).