Cunningham

[Luigi]

Ham means farm or homestead. Probably a cognate of home. Hurst means a wooded hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ge ... nd_Ireland

[Som-Pong]

Hem in Swedish and most Scandinavian languages.
Luigi; why the interest in linguistics?

[Luigi]

It started as an interest in philology and its ability to tell the history of prehistory, then I began studying specific languages of civilizations which interested me and its just a ton of fun. I think most people get a bad impression from learning languages from them being pushed on us in elementary school, but when you are old enough that grammar isnt that complex its a lot easier and more fun.