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Smith Surname Day
"For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations,
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people."
~ Evangeline, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1847
Calling all Smiths, Smythes, Schmidts, Schmitts, and anyone who’s ever suspected their surname came with an anvil. Some names are so enduring, so widespread, they’ve earned a day of their own—and Smith is one of them!
The Smith tartan is a late-19th-century design, first recorded in 1886, and comes from the Scottish Tartans Society archive. It is described as a variant of the “Gow Hunting” tartan, with a dark blue stripe changed to azure—Gow being the Gaelic word for smith. Rather than descending from a single clan chief or appearing in the Vestiarum Scoticum, the Smith tartan was created as a surname/occupational tartan, giving Britain’s most widespread trade a shared visual identity in tartan form.
Once the most common surname across much of Europe and the English-speaking world, Smith didn’t rise through nobility, conquest, or courtly intrigue. It rose through necessity. Every community needed a smith—and wherever there was a forge, sparks flew and the name followed.
Variations on the word smithee leapt languages and borders with ease. Even the extended family names —Smithers, Koopersmith, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Nesmith—served to specify exactly what was being worked.
In Scotland and Ireland, the story gains a distinctly Gaelic glow. Names like MacGowan, MacGabhann, Gowan, McGowan, MacGowin, McGavin, MacGaffin, Gavin, Gow, Gowie, Gowans, McGaw, MacGow, and MacGavinach all trace their roots back to the forge. MacGowan, in its many spellings, comes from Mac Gabhann—“son of the smith.”
Smith Surname Day, celebrated on January 7, tips its hat to this remarkably durable legacy. In Scotland especially, the name resonates with the central role blacksmiths played in both Highland and Lowland life—fashioning tools, weapons, and meaningful objects like the Highland dirk. Clan MacGowan, rooted in Mac Gabhann, proudly carries this heritage and was historically recognized as a sept of larger clans, including Clan MacPherson. 🖤 💙 💚 💛 🔥
January 6 was chosen as Smith Surname Day as the date of birth of Captain John Smith, born this date in 1580. He led the colonists who settled in Jamestown in 1607 and undoubtedly was one of the first Smiths to live in America.
January 6 also happens to be the birthday of Jedediah Strong Smith, who was born in 1799 in Bainbridge, New York. He was one of the first explorers of the American West; he is believed to have been the first American to get to California by land, and he helped start the Oregon Trail.
For a wonderful gallery of paintings showing smiths, click the painting of "Midday in the Smiddy", a 1914 oil on canvas painting by James Wallace (1871–1937), depicting a blacksmith at work during midday.
The artwork is part of the collection owned by East Ayrshire Council and is housed at The Dick Institute.
It portrays a scene of industrial life, featuring elements such as an anvil, bellows, forge, and a blacksmith, capturing the essence of craftsmanship and daily labor.