September+6,+2012+Surname+Inquiry

Paige Smith 9/6/12 ECI 430

Name Inquiry

I did know a little about my name because I did a research paper when I was in the 11th grade. I’m not so sure what Paige means, but I do remember that Megan means “pearl.” I also cannot remember much about the last name Smith, but I am sure that there is a lot of information about the name since it is very common. My mother named me Megan and my father picked the name Paige. My mom wanted to name me Lauren, but my dad wanted my name to start with the letter “P” since his did. Both of names did not come from another family member or anything. They were just names that my parents thought to attractive. According to babynamesworld.com, Megan is a Greek word that means Pearl and that it are also derived from the Welsh name Margaret. Using the same website, I looked up my middle name, Paige. Paige is an English name and it was known to be used for people who held the position of a page in a noble household. Smith is also an English name and was common in the 1800’s. [] I wanted to look further into my last name. I went to ancestory.com and looked up information. I found that Smith was a name given to a person who worked with metal and it meant “to strike a hammer.” This name was spread throughout Europe and the occupation was also very popular. The last name, Smith, is the most used surname in America. Most people lived in England and Ireland that had this last name. Fewer people lived in Germany and Sweden. [] I found another website relating to my last name. I found that Smith means the same, which is “one who works with metal” and “strike.” On geni.com, there are different ways people spelled the last name Smith. Some spellings were Smithe and Smythe. In the Medieval Times, people who worked in metal made things such as swords and horseshoes. [] I then wanted to find out more about my other two names. I went on nameberry.com. The name Megan is a diminutive of the name Marged and is a Welsh variation of Margaret. Megan was one of the most popular names in the US in 1990. It was rated number 10. There are also other variations to the spelling of Megan. Other spellings are Meagan, Maygan and Mahgan. I also looked up Paige, but could not find that much information. I found that Paige has become very popular over the last couple of years and people do use it as a boy name. [] I feel like this would be great to use in your Language Arts and Social Studies classes. When I was in high school, one of my teachers used the theme of our names for a research paper. I would not go this far into the students' names; I would use it for an introduction activity at the beginning of the school year. You could also use this in a history of social studies class if you were discussing family backgrounds or where immigrants and slaves got their last names.
 * 1) **//What did you know about your surname? Where did your name come from? Who gave it to you? What does it mean?//**
 * 1) **//More information on my name.//**
 * 1) **//How could you create an activity for your students using their names?//**