Smithe

Smithe is a rare surname related to the common surname Smith.

Smithe
Other names
Variant form(s)Smith

Among notable people sharing this surname is William Smithe. Other instances appear in genealogical resource searches, but associated with the general population.

Etymology

In the mid-19th Century, a supposition was published that people may well alter a single letter in their 'Smith' surname for reasons of status or recognition; as Lower puts it, "...yet it would appear, from the addition and alteration of a letter, that some families are anxious to avoid the imputation of so plebeian an origin."[1] In the 1842 novel Zanoni, Lytton articulates a variation on this by suggesting people changing surname from 'Smith' to 'Smithe' may well be trying to increase the stature of their surname by approaching ever so slightly a purported surname of the god Apollo: Smintheus.[2]

Frequency

In looking at various surname frequency resources, the rarity of 'Smithe' is apparent. In the 1990 United States Census, 'Smithe' ranked near the bottom 10% of surnames in frequency, showing an overall rank of 78,005.[3] Regarding information assembled by The National Trust related to surname frequency in Great Britain, neither in 1990 nor 1881 was 'Smithe' sufficiently high for inclusion in their statistical analyses.[4] Nonetheless, sufficient 'Smithe' surname responses appeared in the 1881 census to support County-geographical mapping of surname distribution, but even this level of information is lacking for 1990 census data.[4]

Notes
  1. Citation: Lower, 1860.
  2. Citation: Lytton, 1842.
  3. Citation: US Census Bureau Staff, 2000
  4. Citation: Longley, et al.

References
  • Lytton, Edward Bulwer (1842). Zanoni (PDF (Google Books)). 1. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 94. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  • Longley, Paul; Alex Singleton; Richard Webber; Daryl Lloyd. "SMITHE". SPLINT Project, University College London. The National Trust. Retrieved 2008-03-22. External link in |work= (help) Note: Attempts to link directly to search results pages result in failure to find the site.
  • Lower, Mark Antony (1860) [1860]. Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom (PDF (Internet Archive)). London: John Russell Smith. pp. 320. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  • US Census Bureau staff (2000-09-07). "Search names from 1990 Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original (Database search result) on 1997-02-07. Retrieved 2008-03-22. NAME (last):SMITHE ; %FREQ:0.000% ; CUMM FREQ:89.453% ; RANK:78,005 (reformatted quote)
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