How did people get surnames???

Question:

How did people get surnames???

what i mean is how did our ancestors get their surnames or somrthing like that......

and where did our family name GUDALUPE come from and what does it mean..........

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Usually we'd tell you that an Hispanic surname could belong to any of the Latin American countries. But Guadalupe is different. It specifically comes from Our Lady of Guadalupe and is unique among Mexicans.

In most of Europe there were three ways that people picked names:

Based on a geographic marker or unique landmark (like Hill, Dale, Pasture, etc) or physical characteristic (Blackhead, Strong, etc)

Based on occupation (Smith, Cooper, etc)

Based on father's name (Johnson, McNeil)

But in heavily Catholic and Orthodox countries it was also common to take the surname from the person's patron saint or parish. That's why names like St John and Santos are so common in this world. In Mexico, Guadalupe is an extremely popular name, both for surnames and first names.