The history of surname can be traced back to 12th century.People divided surnames into four categories:occupational names,nicknames,names of relationship and local names.This study tries to clarify a small number of surnames in Terre Haute,to describe their meanings and origins,and to discover the variation of the same surname,and discuss the significance of it.We can conclude from the study that local names took the largest account of all surnames in Terre Haute,USA.
