Smithson or Smythson is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

and (less often) a given name. Notable people bearing the name include:

Architects

Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutali ...

, 20th-century British architects *

Robert Smythson Robert Smythson ( – 15 October 1614) was an English architect. Smythson designed a number of notable houses during the Elizabethan era. Little is known about his birth and upbringing—his first mention in historical records comes in 1556, when ...

, 16th-century English architect, father of architect John Smythson, and grandfather of architect Huntingdon Smithson

Artists and entertainers

Annie M. P. Smithson Annie Mary Patricia Smithson (26 September 1873 – 21 February 1948) was an Irish people, Irish novelist, Irish poetry, poet and Irish Nationalist, Nationalist. Background and career Smithson was born into a Church of Ireland, Protestant fami ...

, novelist *

Robert Smithson Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and mu ...

, American artist *

Carly Smithson Carly Sarah Smithson ( Hennessy; born 12 September 1983) is an Irish soul and pop rock singer who was the sixth place finalist on the seventh season of ''American Idol'' in 2008. In 2001, Smithson had released her first studio album for MCA Rec ...

, singer *

Florence Smithson Florence Smithson (13 March 1884 – 11 February 1936) was an actress and singer celebrated in Edwardian musical comedy. In her early career she was an opera singer. She was spotted by the impresario Robert Courtneidge and recruited for his produ ...

, singer and actor *

Harriet Smithson Harriet Constance Smithson (18 March 1800 – 3 March 1854), who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson,, Murphy, Groghegan, 2015 p.196. Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was an Anglo-Irish Shakespearean actress of the 19th c ...

, also known as Henrietta Constance Smithson, actor and wife of Hector Berlioz * Henry Smithson, the musician Riton

Politicians

Hugh Smithson Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, (6 June 1786) was an English peer, politician, and landowner. Origins Hugh Smithson was born , the son of Langdale Smithson (b. 1682) of Langdale, and Philadelphia Reveley. He was a grandson of Sir Hu ...

, (1714–86) later Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland **the Smithson baronets * Smithson E. Wright, 16th mayor of Columbus, Ohio

Scientists

James Smithson James Smithson (c. 1765 – 27 June 1829) was a British chemist and mineralogist. He published numerous scientific papers for the Royal Society during the early 1800s as well as defining Calamine (mineral), calamine, which would eventually be ...

, British scientist, eponym of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Smithson Tennant Smithson Tennant Royal Society#Fellows, FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) was an English chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores ...

, chemist

Sportspeople

Bryan Smithson Bryan Smithson (born June 18, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who formerly played for the Academics Heidelberg of the German Basketball League ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league ...

, American basketball player * Fish Smithson, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player *

Forrest Smithson Forrest Custer Smithson (September 26, 1884 – November 25, 1962) was an American athlete, winner of 110 m hurdles at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Born in Portland, Oregon, Smithson was a student of theology from Oregon State University and an AA ...

, American athlete *

Gerald Smithson Gerald Arthur Smithson (1 November 1926 – 6 September 1970) was an English cricketer who played in two Tests for England in 1947–48. He was born at Spofforth, West Riding of Yorkshire and died at Abingdon, Oxfordshire. His original famil ...

, English cricketer * Jerred Smithson, former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player *

Moondog Spike William Smithson (May 31, 1950 – March 21, 2013) was a professional wrestler who wrestled as Moondog Spike during the early 1990s with Moondog Spot from 1991 to 1992 and Moondog Cujo from 1992 to 1993 as part of The Moondogs. Professional ...

, wrestler born Bill Smithson * Rodney Smithson, footballer who played for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

Others

* Alan Smithson, Bishop of Jarrow *

John Smithson (university president) John W. Smithson is an American college administrator who has served as the interim management, interim President of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 18, 2011, until June 30, 2012. He is the first List of president ...

, American college administrator *

John Smithson John Smithson (born March 1952) is a British film and television producer. Family John's brother is the political blogger Mike Smithson (politics), Mike Smithson. Together with David Darlow (film producer), David Darlow he co-founded the prod ...

, producer at the Discovery Channel * Mike Smithson (disambiguation), several people

Fiction

*Andrea Smithson Darling, a character on ''

Dirty Sexy Money ''Dirty Sexy Money'' is an American prime time drama television series created by Craig Wright that ran for two seasons on ABC from September 26, 2007, to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by Berlanti Television and ABC Studios. Wrig ...

'' *Charles Smithson, a major character in ''

The French Lieutenant's Woman ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 Postmodern literature, postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the for ...

'' *"Smithson", a webcomic by

Shaenon K. Garrity Shaenon K. Garrity is an American webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics '' Narbonic'' and '' Skin Horse''. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subs ...

In other languages

Ben-Hadad Benhadad, Ben Hadad, Ben-hadad (in the Jewish Publication Society of America Version) or Benadad (in the Douay–Rheims Bible) (, ''Son of Hadad''; ), may refer to: *Any king of Aram-Damascus. Hadad was the name of the senior Aramean deity. *Part ...

( Syriac) *

Kovachevich Kovachevich is surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Elizabeth A. Kovachevich (born 1936), American judge * Thomas Kovachevich (born 1942), American visual artist and physician *Pete Kovachevich, American musician and singer See als ...

Kovačević Kovačević (Serbo-Croatian, sh-Cyrl, Ковачевић), Kovačevič ( Slovene and Slovak; feminine (Slovak): Kovačevičová) or Kovačovič (Slovak; feminine: Kovačovičová), is a Slavic surname meaning " lackmith's son". The surname is de ...

, Kovalevich,

Kovalenko Kovalenko () is a very common Ukrainian surnames, Ukrainian surname. It is used commonly to describe a son of a blacksmith and is the equivalent of ''Smithson'' in the English-speaking world, derived from the root ''koval'' (; meaning literally "bl ...

(

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

)

References

{{given name English-language surnames Patronymic surnames