How or When did last name originate?

Answer 1

Last name origins vary from culture to culture.

Until the 8th or 9th century CE Last or "Given names" were only used by the aristocricy.

As populations grew and began to travel last names became more necessary to identify ones family lineage, place of origin, or trade. Sort of like the need to expand phone numbers from 5 to 7 to 10 digits.

The three most common sources of last names (at least in Western European culture as mentioned above were lineage, trade, place of origin

For example: The Son of John was named Johnson in some nordic cultures the tradition of the father name still continue btw

Tribes or clans would often all adopt the name of the tribal leader and then pass it on to their children (note the highland clans of scotland

Next is origin. names like Welch, Scott, Brittingham, Paris, all come from the obvious.

Finally are the trade names like Baker, Tinker, Tailor etc.

One can imagine the logical evolution of names

For example John is a blacksmith otherwise known as a "Smith"

John is known in his village as John the Smith

John takes a wife "John the Smiths wife"

John has a son Bill the Smith's son

Bill Smith's son become Bill Smithson or Bill Smith

take a few names (if you english is your native tongue stick with anglo saxon names unless you want to translate other languages) and walk it backwards, it will become pretty simple

Answer 2

I heard that it was because there were so many names the same. So John's little boy was known as John's son, which became Johnson....Smith came from a blacksmith, who made horseshoes, and such. Who's that kid? Ahhhhh it's peterson, etc, etc. Some took the name of the town they lived in. Also, some towns were named after people, Lincolnton, Smithville, and lots of others...and.errrrrrrr then there is Margarita, she had a town, Margaritaville, and a drink, and a song named after her...(just joking) but it could be partly true....

Answer 3

In days of old (when knights were bold...ooops, wrong subject) John would have a son. Soon the village would say, this is Mark, John's son. Soon he was Mark Johnson. The black smith would have a child. This is Joan, of the black smith...soon Joan Smith...or so I have heard. Much easier to separate the Tom's when there is a further identifier attached.

Answer 4

Immigrants in the passenger lists came from England, Scotland and Ireland. If you want to know where your Almond ancestors came from, you can post names here and someone will come along to help. Almond Name Meaning and History from the Middle English personal name Almund, from Old English Æ{dh}elmund, ‘noble protection’. variant of Allman ‘German’, assimilated by folk etymology to the vocabulary word denoting the tree.

Answer 5

When people realized that its pretty hard to know which person someone's referring to if they only had one name. So they started calling people things like "Jimmy the locksmith" or "Dan the craftsman". Thats where the last names come from.

Answer 6

Surnames have been around for a VERY long time. Of course, it would depend on the culture, but typically your surname told everyone where you were from and what clan you belonged to.

Answer 7

From what I have treid to find out between 200-2300 AD is when last names started.

Answer 8

Here is a link to answer your question
History of Last Names:
http://home1.gte.net/vze7tsc4/id63.html

Answer 9

my boyfriend mum changed his surname to his favourite toy dogs name..alexander.he only realised this when i asked who in his family has his surname

Answer 10

Through slave owners