How do surnames originate?

Question:

How do surnames originate?

Who decides to create one? When this thing started? Are we allowed to create one today?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Lat names started at different times in different parts of the world. Surnames, for the most part, drew their meanings from the lives of men in the Middle Ages, and their origins can be divided into four main categories:

OCCUPATIONS
Many names as you probably already know like Baker, Farmer, Miller, and Carpenter are names that reflect the persons trade.

PLACES
Other names especially names in the Netherlands are reflective of places. The prefix "van" means from and "van der" means "from the" like van Heukelem, van Appeldorn, van Dijk, etc. Other examples of place names are Westwood, Parris, Springfield, and Holland.

PATRONYMIC
English and Scandinavian names ending in "son" are patronymic surnames, as are many names prefixed with the Gaelic "Mac," the Norman "Fitz," the Irish "O," and the Welsh "ap."
Examples Erickson, Williamson, and Ellison, O'Neil, O'Brien, Hendriks, Williams, McDonald etc

DESCRIPTIVE
These are derived from a physical or other characteristic of first bearer. They make up an estimated 10% of all surname or family names. These descriptive surnames are thought to have originally evolved as nicknames during the Middle Ages when men created nicknames or pet names for his neighbors and friends based on personality or physical appearance. Examples Strong, Goodman, etc

Without knowing what your last name is, it is hard to tell what your name means. But keep in mind that there are names that don't fit any of these catagories. It is fairly common for different branches of the same family to carry different last names, as the majority of English and American surnames have, in their history, appeared in four to more than a dozen variant spellings. Some people changed their surnames to something totally different. People are still creating new surnames. Some couples combine their surname to come up with a new one. My friend did that so the answer to your question is yes, you can still create new ones.

Wikipedia has a really great article on the typical origins of surnames from all different parts of the world. If there is a particular place in the world that you would like to know about this is a great resource

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/last_name...

I hope this helps.