According to Ray Smith's web site, these names are all variants of Smith. I've found corroborating sites for three

Celtic: Gough
Welsh: Gof
-- The name Goff/Gough is generally a Welsh form of the Gaelic word [i]gobha, which means "a smith
French: Fevre
-- Cannot find link
Polish: Kowalski
-- Kowalski is the second most common surname in Poland and translates to blacksmith were it is the patronymic form of the name for Smith
Finnish: Seppanen
-- Cannot find link
Lithuanian: Kalvaitis
-- Cannot find link

Going back to the Ray Smith’s “Notebook Home” page, ½ way down, there are links which discuss the names that preceded the Smith family name.

Q'ayin - before the name Smith
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Quote:

Qayin (Cain/Kain) - properly Q’ayin - has often been called the ‘first Mr Smith’ because the term qayin also means ‘smith’, …..[/color]

Cain (Kain)- before the name Smith

Quote:

The name Cain is explained in Genesis 4:1 as being derived from the Hebrew verb qanah ‘to acquire’, or sometimes, ‘to create.’ The real meaning of Cain (Hebrew Qayin) is ‘smith’, or ‘metal-worker….

Hola Don!

My father told me that my family was descended from smiths working with iron (not gold or silver). To date I have found no real evidence of this. My research so far suggests that by 1600 these Smiths had become husbandmen. I suppose that owning cattle was the next step up from shoeing them for the drovers. I am still trying to discover what they did prior to 1600 and have a suspicion that they were involved in making swords etc in Norman times. One of my possible ancestors was to be found at Halton castle, Cheshire very early on, although I can't recall the exact date at the moment.

Adios Gillian

Hi Don
This very interesting. who would of thought Kowalski was the Polish Smith and Gough the celtic version.

My G/G/grandfather Charles Smith was a Blacksmith!
Where did you find this notebook, I would love to read it. :<study>:

JFS

jfs1952, click on this link to go to the website. http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/stories/rsmith/index.htm
There appears to be much more on this site and should be fun to explore. Enjoy.

Gillian, one of my projects is to trace my ancestors to specific towns/ regions in England and to document what they did and how they lived. It sounds as if that is what you have been doing.

My great grandfather Chester Smith managed his father-in-law's farm. He was a jack-of-all-trades including blacksmith (blacksmithing?). His father, George W. Smith was a butcher as was George A. the oldest son. Prior to that, the family were farmers with a smattering of church deacons.