SHARON SMITH

From a biblical place name. The derivation is from the phrase ‘I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys’ (Song of Solomon 2:1). The plant name ‘rose of Sharon’ is used for a shrub of the genus Hypericum, with yellow flowers, and for a species of hibiscus, with purple flowers. Sharon is recorded in the United States from the 18th century, as a name of both boys and girls. Since the 20th century, however, it has been used predominantly if not exclusively for girls.

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).