how was our last name determined...and those of our ancestors?

Answer 1

Dear Yoko: Don't know about yours but we Anglo-Saxons derived our last name from the work of the head of the family. Later, by the relationship, such as Johnson would be son of John, etc. I wonder if the name Robberson once meant 'son of (the bank) robber or such. Perhaps Smith was derived from those who were blacksmiths in the old days. After some time families made changes to shorten names or to divorce themselves from a nortorius murderer. I am sure the Lecter family changed their name after Hannibal started eating people.
The American Indian was very specific by naming offspring in a way that their name told much about their character: Chief Running Bull obviously had a specific meaning to the time and may have been because as a youth he ran with the bulls faster than any other brave. This is fun. My last name is Dahl and, yes, I am one. (ummm, love me...)

Answer 2

Last names or surnames were determined in different ways. Many surnames are patronymic, meaning they come from the father. An example of a patronymic surname would be Peterson, the son of Peter. Other countries where Germanic languages are spoken might also have similar surnames such as Peterssohn or Petersen, also meaning son of Peter. The Visigothic-Spanish suffix "ez" means "son of" so the surname Pérez mean the son of Pedro. The "es" suffix of Portuguese surnames is the same. In Scotland and Ireland we have the prefix Mac, or Mc, which also mean son of and in Ireland the prefix O' meaning grandson of. Many Irish have a Fitz prefix which comes from the Norman language, also meaning son of. The Hebrew and Arabic prefices ben and bin also mean son of. The Arab prefix Abu means father of. The suffices vic,vitch,vich,vits,vitz,wicz and so on that appear in many slavic surnames also indicate son of. While most European cultures now use the "son" suffix for both males and females the Icelandic culture makes a distinction. If Ewald has a son the son's surname is Ewaldsson but the daughter's surname would be Ewaldsdóttir.

Other surnames might be derived from physical attributes such as Short, Long,Small, Redhead, etc. Some were derived from the area in which a person lived ( Woods, Rivers,Fields) or specific places ( London, Freiburg, de la Madrid).

Colors can be surnames: Green, Blue, White, Black, to name a few. These could have been references to hair color, complexion, as in the case of the Spanish Moreno(dark haired or dark skinned) or a reference to a color that someone was fond of wearing.

Still other surnames come from trades such as Carpenter, Plumber, Farmer and so on.

Surnames in Europe were once reserved for the nobilty. But as the population grew the need became apparent for a way to distinguish between all the different men named John, or Joseph, or William in the same village, neighborhood or city. Surnames made this possible. If someone refered to John Farmer , who lived outside the village we knew he was not talking about John Carpenter who made furniture in a shop near the town center next to the shop of William Johnson who was a candle maker, but not the inventor of the wax that made the carpenter's furniture so shiny.

The surnames we use now have, for the most part, been used by our families for many generations. New immigrants to the United States of America from non English speaking countries have had their surnames changed upon arrival by immigration agents who could not understand or communicate with the newcomers. This goes all the way back to English colonial times. Surnames have become shortened, respelled, mispelled or simply changed to something more pronounceable.That is why some people have such a hard time tracing family history.

I hope this is somewhat helpful for you.

Answer 3

I don't know about originality but I do know that when my ancestors came to this country the spelling was changed as most immigrants didn't speak English therefor they spelled it as it was pronounced

Answer 4

Some times by things they did - like potter, smith, cook, etc.
I don't know about other ones - there are some strange last names out there. It is something to think about and look for in libraries and the Internet.

Answer 5

It varies with what culture you came from. I'm Irish and most are son of or grandson of someone. Me son of hound of formoyle meaning son a warrior who was famous once at a battle at place called formoyle

Answer 6

Well see my mom married my dad and gave brith to me, and my last name is a well known Germany name.