In aproximately what years did last names become hereditary for most English peasants?

Question

I know many experts tell us that surnames have been around since the Norman Conquest in 1066, but they didn't become hereditary until anywhere from the 1200s to the 1400s, depending on class and where on lived in England. That's a wide range of years, so I was curious if any of you could narrow that down considerably. For instance, when did the common peasant in middle England start passing his last name down to his children?

Answer 1

I'm not too sure about the peasant class since my ancestory has been through William Marshall.. but it seems right around 1200s where I first started seeing someone going after a last name. Ex. William Marshall since his father was Grand Marshall of such-n-such. Also FitzRoy started to show up, which means a bastard of a royal, thought to give you some trivia.

Answer 2

True surnames, in the sense of hereditary appellations, date in England from about the year 1000. Largely they were introduced from Normandy, although there are records of Saxon, surnames prior to the Norman Conquest. During the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066) there were Saxon tenants in Suffolk bearing such names as Suert Magno, Stigand Soror, Siuward Rufus, and Leuric Hobbesune (Hobson); and the Domesday record of 1085-1086, which exhibits some curious combinations of Saxon forenames with Norman family names, shows surnames in still more general use.

By the end of the twelfth century hereditary names had become common in England. But even as late as 1465 they were not universal. During the reign of Edward V (between April and June, 1483) a law was passed to compel certain Irish to adopt surnames as a method to track and control them more:

"They shall take unto them a Surname, either of some Town, or some Colour, as Black or Brown, or some Art or Science, as Smyth or Carpenter, or some Office, as Cooke or Butler."

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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