Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUR'NAME, n. [Fr. surnom; It. soprannome; Sp. sobrenombre; L. super and nomen.]

1. An additional name; a name or appellation added to the baptismal or Christian name, and which becomes a family name. Surnames, with us, originally designated occupation, estate, place of residence, or some particular thing or event that related to the person. Thus William Rufus or red; Edmund Ironsides; Robert Smith, or the smith; William Turner.
2. An appellation added to the original name. My surname Coriolanus. – Shak.