Sumi Family History
Sumi Surname Meaning
Swiss German: nickname for someone with a pleasant personality or perhaps for a slow dilatory person related to Middle High German sûmen ‘to delay hinder’. Compare Sumey and Summey.
Slovenian (Šumi): perhaps a nickname for a noisy person derived from šumen ‘murmurous noisy’ or a topographic name derived from dialect šum ‘waterfall’.
Japanese: written 鷲見 ‘eagle watcher’ with the characters used phonetically. The name is from a village in Mino (now Gifu-ken).
The actual meaning could be 墨 ‘ink’ 炭 ‘charcoal’ 住 ‘residence’ or 角 ‘corner’; all are legitimate surnames though all are rare.
Another variant is 須見 also rare. Japanese: alternate reading of Kaku.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022