Who had the first surname and what was it?

Question

just bored and want to make u all think.
lol.

Answer 1

When language was finally manageable, people had their names and professions. There may not have been many names back then, so let's say there were a lot of Johns. Now, how did you know what John you were talking about? Well, there was John the carpenter, John the fisher, John the healer, and John the bum.
So the 'the' probably got taken out, creating John Carpenter, John Fisher, John Healer(Helper?), and John Bum.

Answer 2

Next time you are bored, you can perhaps make an investigation into Dutch surnames.

The surname was imposed by Napolean, while he conquered The Netherlands. The dutch thought it a ridiculeous concept that would soon disappear again after Napoleon left - and had no idea that it did NOT go away.

Hence the dutch surnames are among the most embarassing in the world ;)

So in Holland ; the era of Napoleon. I don't know for the rest of the world.

Answer 3

The first recorded surname was used by Emporeor Fu Xi (Xi - meaning unknown) in China 2852BC.

the oldest recorded European surname is O'Clery.

In England i don't know, but surnames started to come in in the middle ages as most of the male population was either called, John, William or Robert.

so the names Johnson, Williamson and Robertson could be the oldest, meaning for example John Son of William.

Answer 4

Surname's are based on either

Occupation's Nick Name's , Place Name's
and just short of evolved into a system find a good book on Surname's the Oxford book of name's is wonderful and just browse, you can learn so much.

Answer 5

A lot of surnames come from your ancestors job title


Bob The Builder

Answer 6

Smith

Answer 7

Well, they say that prostetution is the oldest trade, and since surnames original from trade, probably.

Ms Hooker, Ms Lovulontime or Ms Sukisuki.

Answer 8

Ericsson

From Leif, Eric the Red's son

Answer 9

The Romans had family names too, don't forget.
Like Gaius Julius Caesar.

Answer 10

It was probably a place name - Like 'Eve of Eden' or 'Bill of Gathering-of-small huts-by-the-side-of the-large-lake'. Obviously , this was far too long and probably got shortened...