Salmon Family History
Salmon Name Meaning
English and French: from the Middle English and Old French personal name Salmon Saumon a shortened form of Salomon (see Solomon ). The Normans introduced it to England and it was current as a personal name there until at least the end of the 14th century. The derived surname is found throughout 13th- and 14th-century England mostly in the spellings Saleman and Salman which eventually became regularized as Salmon. See also 2 below compare Salman English: occasionally perhaps a nickname for someone ‘as wise as Solomon’. In Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale it is stated: ‘And whan we been togidres euerichoon Euery man semeth a Salomon’. King Solomon was famed for his wisdom. English: nickname from Anglo-Norman French Middle English salmon saumo(u)n saumun samoun ‘salmon’ no doubt given to someone who caught sold or ate the fish. Irish: part translation of Gaelic Ó Bradáin ‘descendant of Bradán’ a personal name probably derived from bradach ‘spirited’ but written the same as an Irish word meaning ‘salmon’; the name is also sometimes translated Fisher . Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish male personal name Zalmen derived via a German form from Hebrew Shelomo (see Solomon ). Compare Salman
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
