Why are there so many people with their last names Johnson, Anderson etc etc ...?

Question

I seen so many people with the last name Johnson,anderson for whites/blacks?

and ramirez, gutierrez, garcia, for us hispanics?????

why so many people with those same last names?!?!?!?

Answer 1

TO TELL US that having the same last name does not necessarily mean we are relatives.

Answer 2

Last names only became really common in the last couple of centuries. Before that, only nobles had them, and in many cases those names were just where the family happened to live (A count who lived in Medici would be called de Medici, for example). When the Johnson family name was established, the head of the family had a father named John - that's one reason it's so common, even among people who aren't actually related.

With blacks, sometimes they did the same thing by taking the name of a father, sometimes they took the name of a former master.

I suspect something of the sort for the hispanics, but I don't know for certain the literal translation of those names so I can't confirm it.

Answer 3

It used to be part of the naming process for Immagrants...

In some countries people used to be known by who their father was.. like James son of John... when this person came to the USA... he became James (John's Son) Johnson...

the same with many other names that end in SON or SEN...

people with trades took on the trade name as a last name... like miller, carpenter, black smith, etc...

There were a lot of people in europe named John, Ander, Miller, etc... so now there are lots of Johnsons, Andersons, Millers, etc...

I don't have a clue about the Latin American names.

Answer 4

Most of them have associations that were very common when last names came into being. Lots of smiths because lots of "smiths." Lots of Johnsons because there are lots of people named John. Last names haven't always been around and the time of their inception is the biggest clue to common surnames.

Answer 5

Johnson =Son of John, Anderson =son of Anders...that is how it got started

Answer 6

when many people came to america they were forced to change thier names if they didnt sound "american enough" so someone was named something like matthew alkfjoeakgndgorajte, they would change his name to something like matthew smith.

and with hispanics... most hispanic families are very large
the more members in a family, the more people that have that last name

Answer 7

i guess they were the best breeders, the blacks were owned by someone named johnson or anderson so he didnt have to make them all, lol though he might have made a few.

Answer 8

its to help people who cant spell last names. but the rest of the world screwed up our idea and had last names like "mohammed al [insert long last name]" but china was with us with names like wong and wang and chung easy names. lets not get into swahili.

Answer 9

Because John and Anders had lots of sons!

Answer 10

because those last names are so common in those cultures