surname
/ˈsɜːˌneɪm/
"surname" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“surname” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,070 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,070
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their na...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | surname |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɜːˌneɪm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #15,070 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “surname” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for surname is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɜːˌneɪm/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,070 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for surname, with forms such as "sruname", "ssurname", and "sunrame". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "surface", "Suriname", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivale… The correct English form is surname, spelled S-U-R-N-A-M-E.
Definition
- 1The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).
- 2Synonym of epithet, an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement.
- 3Synonym of nickname, an additional name given to a person, place, or thing, a byname.
- 4The cognomen of Roman names.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivalent to sur- + name.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sruname,ssurname,sunrame,suranme,surnaem,surnamme,surnmae,surnname,surrname,usrname
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of surname - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “surname”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-R-N-A-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɜːˌneɪm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “surface” - see the side-by-side comparison. surname vs surface
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.