2007-01-09 13:13:17 · 4 answers · asked by Billy 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
They have to do with profession (Baker, Smith, etc), location of where we lived (Hill, Woods, etc), our appearance (White if they had white hair, Russell for red, etc), parents' names (Johnson, as in "John's son," etc) and others.
2007-01-09 13:23:15 · answer #1 · answered by Kim 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read a book about last names which claimed that many Jewish Polish families have names unrelated to anything about them. Many of these families were forced to get last names from a less than understanding government administrator. That is one of the reason listed in the book as to why some Polish people have a surname relating to fish. Sorry I can't remember the title, I think it was The History of Surnames or something similar to that.
2007-01-09 21:36:50 · answer #2 · answered by 29 characters to work with...... 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well, you need to let us know your ethnic background, to be more specific. But, depending on where your ancestors came from it could be: "son/daughter of xxxx", an occupation, the village your family lived in, clan affiliation, a nickname/physical feature of an ancestor.
2007-01-09 21:23:49 · answer #3 · answered by jim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some countries, your family name came from your parents occupation ie miller,carpenter,tailor. Spelling variations came later.
2007-01-09 21:25:17 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋