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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : possibly from Middle English smethe ‘smooth’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a piece of smooth, level ground, or a nickname from the same word used in a transferred sense for someone of an amiable disposition. Alternatively, it could be a topographic or metonymic occupational name from Old English smiððe, smeðe ‘smithy’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Smeeth in Kent.

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