Ferguson

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of Scottish and Irish origin ; a city in the U.S. state of Missouri known for its national attention after a 2014 police shooting
2. A surname common in Scotland and Ireland ; a municipality in eastern Missouri, in the United States, near St. Louis
3. A Scottish and Irish surname borne by many people ; a small city in Missouri, in the central United States, located in St. Louis County

Etymology: The surname Ferguson is built from a personal name, Fergus, plus the Scots and English suffix "-son", meaning "son of". Fergus itself is a Gaelic name, and the surname is a translation of the Scottish Gaelic "MacFhearguis", which means the same thing: "son of Fergus". Scotland has many surnames formed this way, from Robertson to Gibson, each recording an ancestor's given name. The Gaelic form shows the link more plainly than the English one. "Mac" means "son", and "Fhearguis" is the genitive of "Fearghas", the Gaelic form of Fergus. English speakers encountering the name in Scotland therefore met a family designation that had already been turned into a fixed hereditary surname, passed down the male line rather than changing with each generation.