I've been wondering about this for a while?

Question

when were surnames (last names) invented and how were they chosen?

all surnames not just American. one of my friends has the surname Pusey. i don't think his ancestors would have chosen that surname through the Bible

Answer 1

"SURNAMES"

• The first people known to use surnames were the Chinese in 2852 B.C.

• Surnames were once taken from the location where they lived. For instance John who lived over the hill became - John Overhill. So names that end in -ford, -wood, -brook -well are placement names.

• Surnames that end in the word "son,"... Williamson, etc, are the "son of." Other countries used this also. Armenians used -ian; Danes & Norwegians used -sen; Finns -nen; Greeks - poulos; Spaniard -ez; Poles -wiecz.

• Surnames that have prefixes donating "son" are the Welsh -Ap; Scots & Irish -Mac; the Normans -Fitz.
The name David ap John, meaning David son of John, became David Upjohn.
The name John fitz Gerald means the son of Gerald and now would be John Fitzgerald

• During the Middle Ages, people were gradually acquiring a name to distinguish individuality. Places of birth or traits were used ... St. Frances of Assisi; Lambert Le Tort, an old French poet whose name means "Lambert the Twisted," but these were individual names ... not family names.

• The modern hereditary use of surnames is a practice that started among the Venetian aristocracy in Italy about the 10th or 11th century.

• By the 1370's the word 'Surname' was found in documents, throughout France, the British Isles, Germany, & Spain.

• By 1450 most people (in Europe) of any social rank had a fixed, hereditary surname.

• By the 15th & 16th centuries family names gained popularity in Poland & Russia.

• The Scandinavian Countries, bound by their custom of using the fathers name as a second name, did not start using family names until the 19th century.

• Not all people in Turkey used surnames until 1933 when the government forced the practice on people.

• In Ireland, a surname that starts with Mac, meant '"son of." An example is: MacDonald.
If it starts with "O," it meant "grandson of," ... example: O'Brien.

• The most common surname on the planet is Li, the second is Wang.

• After the Battle of Hastings, 1066 AD, William the Conqueror ordered every man in Britain to select any surname. For awhile a man could give his sons any surname, and in the same family one son might be William Hunter, one Edward Farmer, and the other James Cook.

Answer 2

Many of the surnames came from the occupation of the person. John the farmer became John Farmer etc. Or the location of their home-in the mountains, valley, country, or village. My maiden name came from Germany and means "One who lives on a hillside". Post civil war many of the blacks who had just been freed were given the surname of their last master. Surnames came from many sources and were first introduced during the middle ages.

Answer 3

I don't think there was any one invention for all cultures, just as there wasn't just one basis for determining what they should be. In many languages, names ending in -son, -sen, -sohn, -ovitch (son of)/-ovna (daughter of), O'-, M(a)c-, etc. are common. Surnames also came from occupations, such as Shuhmacher, Miller, Smith, Eisenhauer, Bauer, Schaefer. Some were revised by immigrants to sound more like words familiar to the new culture.

Just like languages themselves, you could probably fill several two-hour lectures on the history and evolution of surnames.

Answer 4

Some of them were based on your occupation and some were based on the landowner's name and some on the Lord of the Manor's name. For instance, if you were a miller and your given name was James, you may have been called, James, the miller, which got shortened to James Miller.
So if you were Mary and your husband was a carpenter and your son's name was, "Hey-Soos", then later down the line he would be called, "Hey-Soos Carprnter."
Sorry, it's late and I just couldn't resist.

Answer 5

They were invented since the middle ages. They were based on the lord's name.