ALMA SMITH

Relatively modern creation, of uncertain origin. It had a temporary vogue following the Battle of Alma (1854), which is named from the river in the Crimea by which it took place; similarly, Trafalgar had occasionally been used as a girl's name earlier in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the historical event seems only to have increased the popularity of an existing, if rare, name. Alma is also the feminine form of the Latin adjective almus ‘nourishing, kind’ (compare the term alma mater ‘fostering mother’, denoting an educational establishment). The name was borne by Alma Bennett (1889–1958), American vamp of the silent screen. In Tennessee Williams's play Summer and Smoke (1948), a bearer of the name explains that it is ‘Spanish for soul’, but this seems to be no more than coincidental.

English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metalworking was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).