There are many common English last names that originate from occupations i!.e!. Mason, Miller, Smith, Barnes, Turner, etc!.
When can we expect surnames like!.!.!. Stripper, Programmer, Astronaut!.!.!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Genealogy> Can we expect new English surnames based on contemporary occupations?Question: Can we expect new English surnames based on contemporary occupations!? There are many common English last names that originate from occupations i!.e!. Mason, Miller, Smith, Barnes, Turner, etc!.
When can we expect surnames like!.!.!. Stripper, Programmer, Astronaut!.!.!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Names of science fiction heroes like Luke Skywalker might lead the public to think that in the future people might adopt new occupational last names, but this is probably not likely since everyone already has a last name that doesn't necessarily fit his or her occupation, nor does it have any descriptive meaning like it might have had in the 15th or 16th century!. Commoners in Europe adopted last names at a time when very few people outside the nobility had surnames, so for the most part, they choose last names that either identified what they did as a living (Baker, Miller, Carpenter, Farmer, Smith, Tailor, Clark),* were descriptive of a landscape feature where they lived (Hill, Brooks, Forrest), or else were patronymics (Johnson, Anderson)!. Similarly, Anglicized versions of Gaelic patronymics have also come into the English language; for example, O'Hara and Macdonald or McDonald!. Of course, Buzz Lightyear has a certain ring to it!. ------ P!. S!. Since the above question asked about English surnames, I didn't furnish various equivalents of the above in different European languages!. However, other European cultures also took last names from occupations, for example: German---Bauer (farmer), Baurnhauser (treechopper), Becker (baker), Fleischer/ Metzger (butcher), Farber (dyer), Hauer (hewer), Huber (estate manager), Koch (cook), Kaufmann (merchant), Kueper (cooper), Lukas and Fischer (fisherman), Meyer (dairy farmer), Mueller (miller), Schultz (mayor or originally debt collector), Schumacher (shoemaker), Schmidt (smith), Zimmermann (carpenter) French--Bonnet (hat maker), LeFebvre (smith), Fournier (one who lives in a furnance) Italian---Contadino (farmer), Ferrari (smith) Polish---Kowalski (smith), Krawiec (tailor) Spanish--Gurerrero (soldier), Herrera (smith), Vasquez (shepherd) I apologize in advance if I didn't include your country of origin; however, I just gained a new incentive to drive a Ferrari: My last name is Smith!.Www@QuestionHome@Com No, because we don't need to identify people this way as they already have a surname!. Surnames came about naturally because they were needed, but are now institutionalised!. Sometimes people do identify like this people when they don't know their surnames ("Joe from Stores"; "Eric from Bristol"), and when they do that you're seeing the same process that happened in medieval times when people got the surnames their descendants have today - but that process has stopped for now!.Www@QuestionHome@Com lol I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few people out there with those names!. I mean you have the odd idiot naming their child 'Jesus'!. But I guess occupational surnames derive from hundreds of years worth of economical and historical growth!. Nevertheless, I doubt we can expect surnames of the sort lol!. There will of course be the odd poor soul who's childhood is quite negatively effected by this, until that lucky day when they legally change it, but no, people have kept and will probably choose to keep the older surnames because they are rooted in tradition and I think that's what people need!. Some history!. Otherwise, what are we!? It would be the farcical beginning of moral decline in my opinion, caused by the continuous message of excessive freedom and choice shoved down our throats by the idiot elite!. There's nothing wrong with a bit of reason and respect, a few morals here and there and that ever so slight dash of patriotism!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I doubt it, at least for some of those!. After all, there have always been "strippers", the OLDEST PROFESSION!. But, hey, new surnames are constantly being coined, either due to clerical errors, or folks wanting to change or combine surnames!.Www@QuestionHome@Com not all millers or fishers were english as they could have come from the german last names Meuller and Fischer which some people probably had changed to more English looking names when they were processed through at places like Ellis islandWww@QuestionHome@Com |