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Question: Where do last names come from!? What are there origins!? How do people get the same last name!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Surnames first came into use during the 1200-1400s!. Before that, people were just known by a first name!. But back then, parents weren't real creative when it came to naming their kids!. The same names were used over and over!. Every family had a John, a William or a Thomas - and it got confusing! In order to distinguish one John from another, people had to tack on a description:

"I saw John the other day!."
"Oh, which John!?"
"John the baker!."

So he became known as John Baker!. Tom the candlemaker was called Tom Chandler!. Bill, the guy who fixed people's carts, became Bill Cartwright!.

Occupations were one way to describe someone, but there were other ways, too!. People could be described by the place they lived:

John who lived on the edge of town was called John Townsend
John who lived in the glen was called John Glenn
John who lived at the woods was called John Atwood

You could describe someone by a family relationship:

Tom, John's son = Tom Johnson
Tom, Carl's son = Tom Carlson
Tom, Paul's son = Tom Paulson

Or by a physical or character trait:

Bill with red hair was called Bill Reid
Bill with the big muscles was called Bill Armstrong
Bill, the loyal, trustworthy guy, was called Bill Trueman

It's not always obvious how a surname started, because it might come from an old-fashioned word that's no longer used, or from another language!. But every last name has a meaning - either an occupation, a place, a family relationship, or a personal description!.

At first, last names were just attached to one person!. But eventually they stuck, and were passed down to children, grandchildren, etc!. John who owned the mill might have hundreds of descendants living today, all named Miller!.

If you have the same last name as someone else, you could be related to them - but not necessarily!. Lots of people worked as bakers back in the 1300s, but they weren't all related to each other - so neither are all the Baker families today!. However, if two people share a really uncommon surname, there's a pretty good chance that it started with the same ancestor, somewhere back in time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There are 5 major ways that names developed:

1!. Patrynoms: using your father's last name to help identify your lineage!. Examples are Johnson, Ivanovic, McNaughton, Alexander, etc

2!. Occupational: Being identified by your occupation, then later your children were identified as your son by your occupation!.
Butcher, Baker, Goldsmith, Kowalski, Schmidt, Fisher, Lavigne

3!. Geographic: Being identified by a geographic feature near your home or (if you were far from home) the place that you came from!.
Hill, Knoll, Brooks, Mountbatten, Cousture, Tuscano, Romano, Frank

4 Physical features: We all remember Eric the Red, well his counterparts had names like Rojas, Black, Short, Small, Moreno, Shortshanks, Calvo, Flaco!.

5!. Religious: More common in once obsessively devout countries like Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and Italy!. They took the names of their patron saints or a religious artifact to show their devotion!. It also became common among Jewish, Germanic and Ukrainian families!.
St!. John, St!. Amand, Cruz, Santangelo, Sangreal, Santos, Pasqual, Paz, de Sales, Aquino, Christos, Krzyzaniak, Kantor, Priest, Temple, Gabbai, de Jesus, Dos Santos, PentangeliWww@QuestionHome@Com

A lot of names in early times derived from their occupations!. One of the most famous last names is Smith, coming from Blacksmiths!. And we also have the last name Black!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The only info I can offer is that there were so many people of the same name that surnames became a necessity!.Www@QuestionHome@Com