Where do last names really come from?

Answer 1

from our parents.

Answer 2

Surnames came about as a way to identify people. Usually the name had something to do with a persons profession, the region they came from or the way they looked. Baker was a baker, Johnson was John's son. Smith was the blacksmith. Surnames began when people started keeping records mainly for tax purposes. If there were 5 Johns how do you tell the difference? John #1 was a Farmer, hence John Farmer. John #2 was an arrow maker; John Fletcher and so on.

Answer 3

The origins of last names came from a persons vocation. Schumaker was Shoe Maker, Baker was baker:), and so on. Through the years, people shortened and made changes to the names and this is where we get such a variety of the same name.
Willson, Wilson. Shoemaker, Schumacher, Schumaker.

Why people changed the names, I don't know. I have a good idea though. Just as many of the children of those who lived through the depression, didn't want to be associated in any way, with poverty.

Answer 4

Surnames as already stated by others indicated a person was the son of someone, like Jackson,Johnson etc. Usually a name ending with lin means lineage of.
There were occupations names.
There were names indicating where a person came from or the castle they lived near.
Sam who lived on a hlll became Sam Hill.

Celtic prefixes indicate lineage., O means descendant of. Descendants of Brian Boru (Brian Mac Cennetig -in English Brian MacKennedy) are called O'Briens but there were other Brians that had sons.

Mac, Mc and Fitz means son of.

Not everyone with the same surname come from the same common ancestor.

Answer 5

The previous answer is right, but surnames in Britain were first written down by the Normans after they invaded in 1066. They needed a way to keep tax records so they took the "extra" names that applied to the Saxons - John the Carpenter, John the Little, John who lives in the Field, and added them as "surnoms" i.e. surnames.
As populations grew and literacy increased there was more need to differentiate between people and the Scots and Irish used their Clan chieftains names as surnames as detailed above. Similar things happened in Europe.

Answer 6

In some cultures the last name was the name of the father - so you might be Robert, son of John, and he was John son of Henry. You see echoes of that in names like Robertson, Neilson, etc

Some were the names of a profession. Albert the blacksmith became Albert Smith - and you have last names of Tailor, Cook, Carpenter and so on.

Some are mis-spellings of foreign names - when foreigners arrived at Ellis Island or other ports of entry, the people writing the records often did not speak other languages and so wrote the names as they heard them - or shortened them if they thought they were too long or too difficult. Many Polish names and Slav names were thus changed.

Some last names are tribal, or belong to a line of descent. Some people change their names to make them more interesting, or less "ethnic" - so they wouldn't "sound" Jewish or Irish or whatever.

Answer 7

It depends on the culture. My understanding is that people's lastnames were originally linked to their profession -- Baker, Smith, etc. Then some lastnames come from your Father's first name -- Johnson for instance came from "son of John". I also think that people started making up last names to differentiate themselves from others with the same name and passed those names down through the generations. And of course they probably pulled last names from the name of their town and streets.

Answer 8

Well I can tell you that the Armenian last names usually mean "son of someone"

Answer 9

The slaves made up their own last names.

Answer 10

Royalty. At least mine does...lol.

Answer 11

Good question!