When did we as people begin to give ourselves last names?

Answer 1

This is a great question,

In Europe, surnames began to be used in the 12th century, but it took several centuries before the majority of Europeans had one. The primary purpose of the surname was to further distinguish people from one another. In the 13th century about a third of the male population was named William, Richard or John *. To uniquely identify them, people began referring to different Williams as William the son of Andrew (leading to Anderson), William the cook (leading to Cook), William from the river (leading to Rivers), William the brown-haired (leading to Brown), and so on. Eventually these surnames became inherited, being passed from parents to children.

Broadly, most surnames fall into four categories.

1. Surnames derived from First Names include Johnson, Williams, and Thompson. Most often they are patronymic, referring to a male ancestor, but occasionally they are matronymic.
2. Occupational surnames refer to the occupation of the bearer. Examples include Smith, Clark, and Wright.
3. Locational or Topographic surnames are derived from the place that the bearer lived. Examples include Hill, Woods, and Ford.
4. Surnames derived from Nicknames include White, Young, and Long.

The Chinese were the first to adopt surnames to honor their forebears, with the family name placed first, rather than last. Thus, the family name of Sun Yat-sen is Sun. Surnames that describe a man by his relatives are only one of the several categories of surnames.

Answer 2

well now we give ourselves first names and our last names are our family names and we are given those. i guess people started using last names to tell each other apart...there are many people names steven or alex or michelle...
a long time ago last names also told others a little about urself
for example the last name Johnson meant u were son of John
likewise Greenfield might mean u lived in a green field
now they are used to identify which family u come from

Answer 3

Last names were ways to differentiate from another group or clan. Often they took the names of their trades... so, names like Smith ( for blacksmith), Carpenter, Fisher, Farmer, Cook, emerged. When slaves were emancipated, they took the last names of their owners or of presidents.... so we now have many Washingtons and Lincolns.