] Whether Jane meant anything by it is pure guesswork.

Consider this:

Smith is not-arguably the most common surname - derived from locksmith, blacksmith, goldsmith, silversmith and whatever other professional -smith there is; there would have been at least one blacksmith in every medieval village, hence the frequency that we find it.

JA gives a person of unknown parentage, ie Harriet, the surname of Smith. She also gives it to Anne Elliot's friend, Mrs Smith. Sir Walter even comments on it,

"A Mrs Smith. A widow Mrs Smith and who was her husband? One of the five thousand Mr Smiths whose names are to be met everywhere"

Then, in P&P, there is a Mrs Long and the Gardiners, both of whom are friends/relatives of the Bennets, whom she must represent significantly in the lower class in contrast to the Darcys and the de-Bourghs. Similar, Mrs Clay keeps in company with the Elliots, and her name gives the same lower connotations. Fairfax is also an "attribute" surname (fair-hair). There is also Mrs Hill, the maid in P&P.

Bennett means "good speaker" . In both Mr Bennet and Mrs Bennet's cases, these are correct! *grin*

Darcy can be derived from "dark" - perhaps, from the dark "bad" light he was shown in at the start.

Ferrars, I think, might come from "farrier", which might suggest that they were also of the new rich - they were not as "upper class" as they would like to think.

However, it had been observed in some other message, quite a while ago, that Fitzwilliam means "son of William", but the fitz-prefix generally tends towards a meaning of illegitimacy - suggesting a blemish to the "higher orders", that JA is wanting to relay.

Of course, all my conjectures could just be delving too much into a lovely story. But it is interesting.