Welcome to You Ask Andy

Laura Rosenthal, age 9, of New Hartford, N.Y., for her question:

HOW DID PEOPLE GET THEIR LAST NAMES?

The word ''surname'' comes from the French   "sur " meaning over, and ''nom" meaning name. It means a person's last name. Ancient people took family names simply as a way of keeping track of each other. In many places, even today, some primitive people have found there is no need to have family names  so they don't have them.

Someone says, " I'm going to see Mr. Brooks.'' It probably happened that the ancestors of the present day Mr. Brooks lived near a brook, and that's how he received the name. Mr. Jackson's forefather was undoubtedly the son of Jack. And where do you suppose Mr. Creek’s ancestors lived?

No one knows just when people started using surnames. They weren't needed in England, for example, until after the Norman Conquest in 1066. There wasn't a large population before that time, and most people lived in small villages where there weren't too many Williams or Roberts. Nobody got mixed up.

After the Normans went to England, cities began to grow. To keep tax records in proper order, family names became necessary. Names were often given out to match a person's trade or the place he worked. What do you suppose they named the man who was a carpenter?

Smith, or Smythe, came from an occupation. Every town had a smith with a forge who shod horses and made armor. Sometimes the blacksmith took the family name of Black. Smith, by the way, is the most common last name in both the United States and Canada. It is also a leading name in England, Scotland and wales. And there are the folks with the last name of Lefevre living in France. If you were to translate that, you'd come up with Smith again  just as you would by translating the German Schmidt.

And who couldn't pick out the occupations of people named Baker, Barber, Cook, Miller or Butler?

Some last names came from geographical locations: Lincoln, Kent, Weston, Leeds and London.

Some last names came from locations: Ford, Field, Wells, Meadows. Other names came from medieval nicknames: Long (for the tall man), Goodspeed (for good luck) and Lowe (for the short man) .

O'Brien means son of Brien while Fitzgerald means son of Gerald. MacAllister means son of Allister, and Ericson means son of Eric. Take a guess at this one: DeStefano. Did you say son of Stephen? You're right.

Second most popular name in the United States  what would you say it is? Jones? No. Jones means son of Jone, and it is number six on the list of most popular family names. It's an English Welsh name. Second most popular name is Johnson. Guess who this son had or a father?

 

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