How did we come to have last name...how did they originate at first?

Question:So way back then did people just go ahead and make last names and we just came to live with it or what?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: So way back then did people just go ahead and make last names and we just came to live with it or what?

European surnames first occurred between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, with some patronymic surnames in Scandinavia being acquired as late as the nineteenth century. Prior to this time period, particularly during the "Dark Ages" between the fifth and eleventh centuries, people were largely illiterate, lived in rural areas or small villages, and had little need of distinction beyond their given names. During Biblical times people were often referred to by their given names and the locality in which they resided such as "Jesus of Nazareth." However, as populations grew, the need to identify individuals by surnames became a necessity. The acquisition of surnames during the past eight hundred years has been affected by many factors, including social class and social structure, cultural tradition, and naming practices in neighboring cultures.

The majority of surnames are derived from patronymics, i.e. the forming of a surname from the father's given name such as Johnson, meaning literally "the son of John." In some rare cases, the naming practice was metronymic, wherin the surname was derived from the mother's give name such as Catling, Marguerite or Dyott.

Other popular methods of origin for surnames are derived from place names or geographical names such as England, occupational names such as Smith or Carpenter in the British Isles; Schmidt or Zimmerman in Germany, etc. Less popular methods of surname origins include housenames such as Rothchild, surnames derived from nicknames of physical descriptions such as Blake or Hoch, or after one's character such as Stern or Gentile. In some cases an individual was named after a bird or an animal such as Lamb for a gentile or inoffensive person, while Fox was used for a person who was cunning. Surnames were also derived from anectodotal events such as Death and Leggatt, or seasons such as Winter and Spring, and status such as Bachelor, Knight and Squire.

Surname spelling and pronunciation has evolved over centuries, with our current generation often unaware of the origin and evolution of their surnames. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among the illiterate, individuals had little choice but to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks, and priests who officially bestowed upon them new versions of their surnames, just as they had meekly accepted the surnames which they were born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization. In the United States such processes of official and accidental change caused Bauch to become Baugh, Micsza to become McShea, Siminowicz to become Simmons, etc. Many immigrants deliberately Anglicized or changed their surnames upon arrival in the New World, so that Mlynar became Miller, Zimmerman became Carpenter, and Schwarz became Black.

Hence, regardless of the current spelling of your surname, the spelling and pronunciation of your surname has evolved over the centuries. In many cases, the current generation may be aware of the change. However, in many cases the change of the surname occurred so long ago that they are not aware of the original spelling and pronunciation of their surname. To the trained genealogist, the change or evolution of most surnames is obvious and very interesting, particularly to the bearer of that surname.

Good question.

not sure about all last names but i remember hearing that the vikings helped create some last names like Leif Ericson translated from Eric's Son and the same went for Johnson and other names of that nature.

One name was adequate at the beginning. (Like in the days of Adam and Eve and Jehovah and Lucifer. Jesus had only one name. "Christ" is not a name.) There are still Cultures in the world that use only one name.
Nowadays, because there are so many people around, using only one name will mean that many people will have the same name. Confusion.
Because there are so many people around, it is becoming more and more practical to have more than two names. Look in the telephone directory and you will see a lot of people with the same two names.
Last names (surnames, family names) came about in order to indicate the family or the profession the person was in. Example, McDonald meant "from the family of Donald" or "the son of Donald". "Smith" meant the person was a "black smith". This custom did not present problems for a long time because there weren't millions and millions of people around.
For the purpose of silent written records, nothing beats a combination of letters and numbers. Like car licence plates.

The Normans introduced them in Britain for taxation purposes. Noblemen got them first but most people had them by the end of the 14th century. They were taken indicating a man was the son of someone, i.e. Johnson, Jones, son of John, their occupation i.e., smith, miller, fisher, taylor, baker, wright, clark(clerk), etc., where they lived.i.e. name of town or maybe castle they lived close to or Sam that lived on a hill became Sam Hill, etc., or some characteristic about them, i.e., black meaning black hair, short, stout, little, fairchild, white etc.

After they were through legitimate sons of the same man could each have a different surname but they each shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

In Western Europe surnames developed as a necessity as the population grew. Some surnames are based on where people lived as in John of the Spring which became John Spring or Springer. Some surnames are based on what an ancestor looked like as in John with the red hair which in Irish became John Flanagan (Flanagan means red headed man). Some surnames had to do with occupations as in Smith (from Blacksmith) or Baker or Miller. Then, some surnames had to do with the father's first name - instead of saying James son of John it became James Johnson.

Surnames, or last names, originated from a need to differentiate between different people of the same name and to determine social class.
For example, the English Surname "Brown" was originally used to refer to people with brown features; hair and eyes.
"The Michael with Brown hair; Michael Brown."
The Surname "West" originally referred to someone who lived to the west of town.
"Michael from the West; Michael West."
"Michael Jacobson; Michael [who is] Jacob's Son."
And so on.

Nice to see people have been reading my answers over the past months!
A few corrections - "Smith" did not mean a "Blacksmith".
The words smith and wright were originally general names for any craftsman who actually made something. Smith became used for those making things out of metal. 'Wright' was also used in the north of England and Scotland for tradesmen of all kinds.

The introduction of surnames in the 11th century by the Normans for tax purposes was applied to all persons that needed to be taxed, not just noblemen. Most noblemen already had grander names than the common people, often relating to the area they had authority over. e.g. Guy of Gisborne etc.
The answer to your question is:
Surnames derived from a person's job, appearance, place of residence or birth and relationship to others. They were picked by, conferred on or given to people from the 11th century on, although they had been in use unofficially before this to differentiate between those with similar names.
We were given official surnames because those in power over us needed to keep closer tabs on people. This was originally done for tax purposes and as a form of control.
The only people that do not need to use their surnames are famous female singers -Cher, Lulu, etc. and royalty.
Royalty never uses a surname! Queen Elizabeth is just "Elizabeth". Prince Philip is just that.
This reinforces the fact that they do not need to be kept track of by their surnames!
Anyone else not using a surname today would quickly be identified and hounded by the system! Try it!

Taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes.

Surnames were in almost all cases "fixed" because of governmental action, most notably the collection of taxes. They government had to have a way to determine who paid, who needed to pay what, and WHO DIDN'T....including their families. Saying that Dave needs to pay taxes didn't help much - or even Dave of London...or Dave son of Mike. But Dave could claim that Mike paid the taxes - but which Mike?

So the answer in most areas were taxes, taxes, taxes.

In many eastern european areas, this actually happened as late as the latter part of the 1800s. Some areas to this day don't use surnames (last names) but use either patronymics (son of), geonymics (regional surnames such as the city), etc.

How people formed their surnames is as varied as the people - and quite interesting even if of little or no use from a genealogical standpoint.