Last name

The oldest use of family names or surnames is unclear. Surnames have arisen in cultures with large, concentrated populations where single, personal names for individuals became insufficient to identify them clearly. Many cultures use additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals. These terms may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation. These descriptors often developed into fixed clan identifications which in turn became family names as we know them today.

In Ancient Greece, during some periods, it became common to use one’s place of origin as a part of a person’s official identification. At other times, clan names and patronymics (“son of”) were also common. For example, Alexander the Great was known by the clan name Heracles and was, therefore, Heracleides (as a supposed descendant of Heracles) and by the dynastic name Karanos/Caranus, which referred to the founder of the dynasty to which he belonged. In none of these cases, though, were these names considered formal parts of the person’s name, nor were they explicitly inherited in the manner which is common in many cultures today.

In the Roman Empire, the bestowal and use of clan and family names waxed and waned with changes in the various subcultures of the realm. (See Roman naming conventions.) At the outset, they were not strictly inherited in the way that family names are inherited in many cultures today. Eventually, though, family names began to be used in a manner similar to most modern European societies. With the gradual influence of Greek/Christian culture throughout the Empire, the use of formal family names declined. By the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the Eastern Roman (i.e. Byzantine) Empire. In Western Europe where Germanic culture dominated the aristocracy, family names were almost non-existent. They would not significantly reappear again in Eastern Roman society until the 10th century, apparently influenced by the familial affiliations of the Armenian military aristocracy. The practice of using family names spread through the Eastern Roman Empire and gradually into Western Europe although it was not until the modern era that family names came to be explicitly inherited in the way that they are today.

In the case of England, the most accepted theory of the origin of family names is to attribute their introduction to the Normans and the Domesday Book of 1086. As such, documents indicate that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and only slowly spread to the other parts of society. Some of the early Norman nobility arriving in England during the Norman Conquest differentiated themselves by affixing ‘de’ (of) in front of the name of their village in France. This is what is known as a territorial surname, a consequence of feudal landownership. In medieval times in France, those distinguishing themselves by this manner indicated lordship, or ownership, of their village. But some early Norman nobles in England chose to drop the French derivations and simply call themselves after the name of their new English holdings.

During the modern era, many cultures around the world adopted the practice of using family names, particularly for administrative reasons, especially during the imperialistic age of European expansion and particularly from the 17th to 19th centuries onward. Notable examples include the Netherlands (1811), Japan (1870s), Thailand (1920), and Turkey (1934). Nonetheless, their use is not universal: Icelanders, Tibetans, Burmese, and Javanese do not use family names.

Family names sometimes change or are replaced by non-family-name surnames under political pressure to avoid persecution. Examples are the cases with Chinese Indonesians and Chinese Thais after migration there during the 20th century, or the Jews who fled to different European countries to avoid persecution from the Nazis during World War Two.

British Names

In Britain, hereditary surnames were adopted in the 13th and 14th centuries, initially by the aristocracy but eventually by everyone. By 1400, most English and Scottish people had acquired surnames, but many Scottish and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or even later. Henry VIII (1491–1547) ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father.

Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types:

Occupations e.g. Smith, Sawyer, Fuller, Brewer, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Carpenter, Bailey, Parker, Forrester, Head, Palmer, Archer, Hunt, Baker, Miller, Dyer, Walker, Woodman, Taylor, Turner, Knight, Slater, Mason, Weaver, Carter, Wright

Personal characteristics e.g., Short, Brown, Black, Whitehead, Young, Long, White

Geographical features e.g., Bridge, Camp, Hill, Bush, Lake, Lee, Wood, Holmes, Forest, Underwood, Hall, Brooks, Fields, Stone, Morley, Moore, Perry

Place names e.g., Washington, Everingham, Burton, London, Leighton, Hamilton, Sutton, Flint, Laughton

Estate For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, manor or estate

Patronymics, matronymics or ancestral, often from a person’s given name. e.g., from male name: Richardson, Jones (Welsh for John), Williams, Jackson, Wilson, Thompson, Johnson, Harris, Evans, Simpson, Willis, Davies, Reynolds, Adams, Dawson, Lewis, Rogers, Murphy, Nicholson, Robinson, Powell, Ferguson, Davis, Edwards, Hudson, Roberts, Harrison, Watson, or female names Molson (from Moll for Mary), Madison (from Maud), Emmott (from Emma), Marriott (from Mary) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., MacDonald, Forbes, Henderson, Armstrong, Grant, Cameron, Stewart, Douglas, Crawford, Campbell, Hunter) with “Mac” Scottish Gaelic for son.

Patronal from patronage (Hickman meaning Hick’s man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religion Kilpatrick (follower of Patrick) or Kilbride (follower of Bridget). It might be worth noting that Kil may come from the Gaelic word ‘Cill’ which means Church. This would certainly support the claim that the surname is tied to the religion. (Approximately 79 percent of white Americans have surnames that are of English, Irish, or Scottish derivation)

The original meaning of the name may no longer be obvious in modern English (e.g., a Cooper is one who makes barrels, and the name Tillotson is a matronymic from a diminutive for Matilda). A much smaller category of names relates to religion, though some of this category is also occupations. The names Bishop, Priest, or Abbot, for example, may indicate that an ancestor worked for a bishop, a priest, or an abbot, respectively, or possibly took such a role in a popular religious play (see pageant play).