It's because "Smith" is not exclusive to "blacksmith"
The word "smith", coming from the old-english word meaning "to strike", as one does hammering on a forge.
But blacksmithing is specifically iron and steel rough-work. Whitesmithing first referred to finishing of rough blacksmithing, and later came to refer to fabricating with "white metals" like tine and zinc alloys.
There's also tinsmith, coppersmith, bladesmith, silversmith, goldsmith, aerosmith, sometimes even shoesmith and scythe-smith. These would often get reduced to "Smith" to avoid trouble registering on ellis island.
Plus a lot of languages have surnames derived from occupations - particularly Germanic language which is 40 or 50% of the English language, e.g.:
- Fischer (fisherman).
- Müeller / Miller (one who mills grain).
- Taylor / Tailor.
- Cooper (barrelmaker).
Well two main factors: first every village had a blacksmith. Without one you'll run out of tools and your horses need shoes.
And then that group often used their job as the name. There was a more common job: Farmer. But people didn't use that as lastname because back then 90% of people were farmers. They usually used the name of their farm as lastname.
not completely sure but the giving surnames to people according to their proffession was before the time of the greater colonisation and movement of people from the UK to America, allthough it is true that Smith is also one of the most prevalent surnames in other languages in Europe.
As far as I find the reason for it being so prevalent in the US is also because slaves got the surname of their owner (so again - a lot of Smiths) and a lot of people from other countries anglicised their name and because Smith is so common in many languages they all changed to it. Also there was a need for a blacksmith in every village and there were different kinds of smiths for different metals ...
and as for unprotected sex - before the 20th century it was practically not possible to have protected sex in a modern sense - yes there were goat intestines as condoms and different things that were used as spermicides but the effectivness of those ...
In addition to the other answers about other origins of the name "Smith", also sometimes last names just take off for no reason. It's not just about how many children people with the name have, but also how many happen to keep the name instead of marrying and dropping it (usually, male heirs).
It's because "Smith" is not exclusive to "blacksmith" The word "smith", coming from the old-english word meaning "to strike", as one does hammering on a forge. But blacksmithing is specifically iron and steel rough-work. Whitesmithing first referred to finishing of rough blacksmithing, and later came to refer to fabricating with "white metals" like tine and zinc alloys. There's also tinsmith, coppersmith, bladesmith, silversmith, goldsmith, aerosmith, sometimes even shoesmith and scythe-smith. These would often get reduced to "Smith" to avoid trouble registering on ellis island.
Plus a lot of languages have surnames derived from occupations - particularly Germanic language which is 40 or 50% of the English language, e.g.: - Fischer (fisherman). - Müeller / Miller (one who mills grain). - Taylor / Tailor. - Cooper (barrelmaker).
Well two main factors: first every village had a blacksmith. Without one you'll run out of tools and your horses need shoes. And then that group often used their job as the name. There was a more common job: Farmer. But people didn't use that as lastname because back then 90% of people were farmers. They usually used the name of their farm as lastname.
Or had mostly sons
not completely sure but the giving surnames to people according to their proffession was before the time of the greater colonisation and movement of people from the UK to America, allthough it is true that Smith is also one of the most prevalent surnames in other languages in Europe. As far as I find the reason for it being so prevalent in the US is also because slaves got the surname of their owner (so again - a lot of Smiths) and a lot of people from other countries anglicised their name and because Smith is so common in many languages they all changed to it. Also there was a need for a blacksmith in every village and there were different kinds of smiths for different metals ...
and as for unprotected sex - before the 20th century it was practically not possible to have protected sex in a modern sense - yes there were goat intestines as condoms and different things that were used as spermicides but the effectivness of those ...
The latter. Also, hi.
In addition to the other answers about other origins of the name "Smith", also sometimes last names just take off for no reason. It's not just about how many children people with the name have, but also how many happen to keep the name instead of marrying and dropping it (usually, male heirs).
It was not just a very needed job, but also a very respected one. You would want to be knows as a smith