How do people get lastnames? How did they originate?

Answer 1

It depends on the culture. Many groups use the father's last name, but some use the mother's name. And others combine the father or mothers's name with the equivalent of "the son or daughter of (father or mother's name.)" William Anderson would have orginally been William, son of Anders. A Hebrew woman might be named Devora bas Mariam, Deborah the daughter of Mary.

Last names are thought to have originated as ways to distinguish people with the same first name. Some names are physically descriptive: Robert Stout (the big Robert) as opposed to Robert Little (the small Robert.)

Others distinguish between where two people lived. Example: John Westlake (the John who lived by Western Lake) or John London (the guy who lived in that big town.) Some names describe the person's occupation: George Cooper (the man who makes barrels) or George Smith (the guy who puts the shoes on your horse.)

There are others, but those are all that I can remember from studying this in a college English class. And hey, as long as it's been since I was in college, I'm doing good to remember my OWN name! ;-)

Answer 2

usually it depends on where the last name originated from - and the language used there at the time

my last name means "son of the caller", from a norse background (even though my family's name comes from sweden...) but if a swede or a norman heard my current pronunciation, they would not likely know my name even came from there

for example, Leif Ericson - the guy that "found" canada - his last name is what it is because his father was the famed "Eric the Red" the man that "found" greenland - he was "Eric's Son"
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in other places in the world, the last name came from what the family did. many jobs/trades were family based. making of barrels, cooping, were left to the coopers. etc... there are many names that actually show positions
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then there are names that mean things that i don't even know - as they'd come from places that i have no experience with. one example of this is the answer that listed that names could be of town origins. which makes sense. perhaps a young boy went for training as a knight in some castle, he described himself as his first name, and where he came from - and it became his calling name. perhaps a poet (very important people at one time) was known by his birth town, etc..

Answer 3

There are many different sources for last names.

Some come from an occupation, or the village or town that a family is from, or the terrain around lands they inhabited, some took the name 'son of' (Mc or Mac), also supposedly African Americans that have European last names are due to the days of slavery and the people that owned them (According to Malcolm X).

Check wiki for more info

Answer 4

They mostly originate from occupations and positions within society. So people with the name 'Smith' would have an ancestor who was the village blacksmith. 'Cooper' means barrel maker, 'wright' means ship builder. The list is endless. Most of the meanings are now lost and some of the words are mangled but this is how it started.

Answer 5

From everything I have studied and learned, I believe it was mainly from their occupation. For example: A fisherman - John Fisher or perhaps a person of Royal Lineage - Windsor...etc. I am sure there are more names derived from other sources and thought patterns or languages but from my extensive history classes/professors that was always the information I was given on the subject.

Answer 6

Last names originated from the profession someone held or even sometimes from the location they lived in. Names like Smith or Baker probably originated from what they did.

Answer 7

I'm not an expert, but I think people used to derive them from their line of work, such as Smith after blacksmith, or Mason. They also got them from the town you were from, like Leonardo daVinci was from Vinci, Italy, and "da" in Italian is "of", therefore he is Leonardo of Vinci. Otherwise, I'm not really sure where they originate, but those are the two I know of.

Answer 8

Surnames were generally derived from one of four sources:

1) Patronymic (from the first name of father).
Examples:
Peters - son of Peter (English, German)
Peterson - son of Peter (Swedish)
Petersen - son of Peter (Danish)
O'Reilly - grandson of Reilly (Ireland)
Mc- /Mac- - son of (Scottish)
d'- / di- - son of (Italian)
-ez / -es - son of (Spanish / Portuguese)
-wicz - son of (Poland)
Fitz- - son of (Old English - sometimes incorrectly associated with being an illegitimate)

2) Lives near locality or place.
Examples:
KirkPatrick - Church (kirk) of St. Patrick
Cliff - steep hill
Fairholm - the fair island
Ashley - field surrounded by ash trees

3) Occupation or social status.
Examples:
Cooper - barrel maker
Wagner or Waggoner - wagon maker
Knight - knighthood conferred by the king
Smith - blacksmith
Powers - poor or taken a vow of poverty

4) Nicknames describing person or personality.
Examples:
Reid - red, ruddy complexion or red hair
Stout - Body size
Small - Body size
Armstrong - strong arms
Sharpe - sharp, smart

Answer 9

most last names origionall mean son of or daughter of someone. or discribe a job that the family held hundreds of years ago. these have been slurred into todays names. richards for example means son of richard. etc and so forth. many names such as mine lay have been slurred so heavily they dont appear to benames anymoire. but lay comes frmo mclay which comes from another name which eventually coems down to son-of-someone