How did people get surnames???

Question

what i mean is how did our ancestors get their surnames or somrthing like that......

and where did our family name GUDALUPE come from and what does it mean..........

Answer 1

Usually we'd tell you that an Hispanic surname could belong to any of the Latin American countries. But Guadalupe is different. It specifically comes from Our Lady of Guadalupe and is unique among Mexicans.

In most of Europe there were three ways that people picked names:

Based on a geographic marker or unique landmark (like Hill, Dale, Pasture, etc) or physical characteristic (Blackhead, Strong, etc)

Based on occupation (Smith, Cooper, etc)

Based on father's name (Johnson, McNeil)

But in heavily Catholic and Orthodox countries it was also common to take the surname from the person's patron saint or parish. That's why names like St John and Santos are so common in this world. In Mexico, Guadalupe is an extremely popular name, both for surnames and first names.

Answer 2

The basic concept of surnames came from the person's occupation or caste. This was used to know what a person did or what community the individual belonged to.

The surnames were gradually used as the extension to their first names which continues till date.

We also have people who used the name of their villages as the second name or the surname. Some also used their father's name as the second name.

Answer 3

Well, many surnames came from the person's occupation. I.E. Baker, Smith, Fletcher.
Other's came from their parent's names, such as in Scotland, where Mac means son. So you'd have Mac(Whatever), and you'd be known as 'Yourname Son of Whoever'.

Try looking at a site like ancestry.com to look for your surname, or just google it or something.