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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Northern English : patronymic from Smith.
  • The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC was founded (1846) with a bequest from the English chemist and mineralogist James Smithson (1765–1829). He was born James Lewes Macie, the illegitimate son of Hugh Smithson Percy, Duke of Northumberland. His mother, Elizabeth Macie, a widow, was a direct descendant of Henry VIII; through her family James Smithson inherited a fortune.

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