Sur

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Locally spelled Sür in TR Türkiye.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

How Sur is read●(measured from records)

Sur is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• French27%

  on, upon

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Spanish8.3%

  south

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Sur is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, France

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Sür, Şur, Šür, Şür, Sùr

• a separate name9 spellings in the group

  Also written Šur, Sür, Ṣūr, Şur, Šûr

• English surname37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, Germany, France

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Suer, Süer, Sür, Sueer, Su-Er

• Turkish name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye

  Also written Şur

• French surname7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Canada, United States, Portugal

  Also written Sûr, Sür, Şur, Sųr, Şùř

• Hindi given name41 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Australia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, English

  Also written Saru, সুর, Suru, Sarue, সর

• Indonesian name5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia

  Also written Sür, Sûr, Sùr, Sūř

• Russian name17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, France, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Polish

  Also written Сур, Šur, Şur, Ŝur, Sür

45 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Sur is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Biblical name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• knife, one with sharp nose

  as a name·A Genealogists Guide to Indian Names A Reference for First Names from India

• In och, ‘To pacify, comfort’; ‘tranquil’; ‘walk slowly’

  as a word·Schuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007)

• In xgn-pro, competition in bow-shooting

  as a word·StarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Serge Surb. 1942FRFrench jurist
• Prabir Ranjan Surb. 1951botanist
• Sur Rodneyb. 1954CACanadian artist, writer, and archivist, active in New York City (born 1954)
• Pierre-Olivier Surb. 1963FRFrench jurist and lawyer
• Jerry Surb. 1979USactor
• Maria Surb. 2004UAUkrainian singer
• Shantanu SurINresearcher

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Sur mean, and where does it come from?

on, upon Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).

In which country does Sur have the most bearers?

In India, the national register counted about 17 thousand people named Sur, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled sur.

How common is the name Sur?

In India, the national register counted 16,669 people named Sur, about 1 in 80 thousand residents.