The surname Lang is of English origin. The name was originally a nickname for a tall person, derived from the Old English ‘lang, long’, long, tall ( a cognative of the Latin ‘longus’, from which derive many of the Romance forms, such as, Lelong, Longo, Longhi ). The word nickname is derived from “an eke-name” or added name, and since surnames originated as added names for help in identification, all surnames are, in a sense, nicknames. In England and Scotland the name was descriptive of the original bearer. Size always attracted attention and the names for the tall, big, lanky man are many and varied. The name Lang has more the connatation of large or big rather than great linear extent or length, except where they have the meaning of tallness. The Norman names de Long and le Lung arrived in Ireland with the twelfth century Anglo-Norman invasion and quickly spread to many parts of the country. To the Irish the name may be an anglicization of the Gaelic name O’Longain, ‘descendant of Longan’. A personal name probably derived from ‘long’, tall, or possibly from a homonymous ‘long’, ship ( and so originally a byname for a seafarer ). The name dates as far back as the ni…
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