Why, for the most part, did the use of changing surnames (Ex. Johnson for son of John) stop in many countries?

Question

Surnames were given according to the fathers first name, or the person's occupation, characteristics, etc at one point, but are no longer seen in many societies, why?

Answer 1

The practice petered out during the early 1800's when such names as mentioned had become the norm. Up to about 1600 no one anywhere on Earth gave a great deal of thought to last names and the practice was rather fluid especially for the poorer sorts. Last names became more important as issues of inheritance became important for the majority and not simply a handfull of blue-blooded nobles.
You ought o know that you bring up a fun point when you mention names such as Johnson. Across the Globe the most common 'middle' name is 'Son of' not only the 'obvious' Johnson, Peterson, Smithson BUT such names as MacMillian and McManners, in Scotland Mac is Son and so MacMillan is Son of, whereas in Ireland it is Mc...... And you have no doubt heard of 'Ben Hur,' well among Jews the word for son is Ben thus you find Ben Hur s and Ben Mendoch, etc...

And oddly enough in Wales it was Ap and thus Ap Rhys, son of Rhys, in time became Price as spelling changed and people 'forgot' the original spelling. My Asian languages are rusty as Heck but you will find similar Son of - - names in Japan and Korea and China...

As for professions as said right around the early 1800's with the proliferation of writing, the printing press, etc, last names became more or less set. In America the greatest 'upheavel' occurred after the not so Civil War when thousands upon thousands of Negroes found themselves 'suddenly' needing surnames, and that story could fill a book by itself.... That said a lot of Abramson's and Abrahamson s entered the American Record, and once more many former slaves found it convenient to simply adopt their proffession as a last name. Guess what was a common job for Negroes (those not in the fields busting soil, etc)???? Next time you meet a ***** named Barber you will know the answer!!!

Peace......... o o o p p p o o o p p p o o o

PS For Swedes the equivalent of Johnson is Jensen, and of course Petersen BUT in America it was apparently a tongue twister to called someone Svensen so it (mostly) became Svenson and the same thing happened to Olson (though there are a few Olsen s around)......

Answer 2

Those second names were used to differentiate the John John's son to John Barry's son and worked well with a small population.

With the arrival of birth registry the names started to become official, especially during period of population growth. With a limited supply of names you started to have too many John's son. You can imagine the headache both to call the right guy and for inheriting the land! So instead of making it John John the farrier's son (what a mouthful!) or try to see which John's son was the son of the right John 'the heir to that little land there', it was better to keep one name per patriarchal line.

However, it didn't happen at the same time everywhere. Denmark for example kept the -sen (son) use until the 19th century. France started using fixed second name in the 14th century, in Ireland it was during the 12th century, Portugal in the 16th century....

Answer 3

A great question! There's only a footnote left after Bears* post:

After mobility and communications rendered "son/daughter of.." confusing, place names to identify a person's home or origin became a popular alternative for genealogy. The use of place names was already in use for noble families, hence it's expansion to apply to commoners was a familiar practice and inherent to feudalism. Next in popularity is the use of crafts and professions. For that reason "smith" is the most common English name due to widespread practice of the craft.

Asian nomenclature is a different matter altogether, where last names were much slower to be used. In Central Asia a single name is still common. For example, the largest part of Korea's populace share five last names of historic significance. Therefore requests for marriage licenses require a genealogical search to document the absence of inbreeding.
In Vietnam, the most common last name is Nguyen, who was the ruler of the first dynasty to unite the nation.
Ideographs used in Chinese and Japanese result in an altogether different pattern, due to the ease of combining character into more descriptive names.

Answer 4

The practice was outlawed in the last remaining countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and France (with their dit names) under the Napoleonic code. The Netherlands resisted it the most, but the realities of their international economy and the desire not to be absorbed into Napoleon's empire and disappear forever forced them to adopt stagnant surnames. It's really too bad. It made our genealogy research so much easier when they lived with patrynoms.