INGRID SMITH

From an Old Norse female personal name composed of the name of the fertility god Ing + fríðr ‘fair, beautiful’. It was introduced into the English-speaking world from Scandinavia in the 20th century and became very popular, largely because of the fame of the Swedish film actress Ingrid Bergman (1915–82).

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).