Origin of Family Names
Family Ancestry Search
The origin of family names is just one of the discoveries you will make when you do a family ancestry search.
Fascinating speculations concern the origin of family names and the reasons why people began to use them in the first place. One theory is that when people first became sedentary due to invention of agriculture and began to form small villages, the need to differentiate from one "Bob" to another became necessary to avoid confusion. Living in one of these small groups, you might have mentioned to someone that "Bob" is a good stonecutter, only to be asked "Which Bob?" Explaining which "Bob" out of twenty other Bobs would have been confusing.
To eliminate potential problems from misrepresentation and, of course, gossiping, someone came up with the idea to attach a man's vocation to his name. This resulted in "Bob" being called "Bob the Stone Cutter" or a "Sam" being referred to as "Sam the Hunter". This idea must have been popular because it eventually became part of human culture and developed into the millions of surnames we have today, only in much different forms. This is why so many surnames directly deal with certain jobs or abilities and the origin of family names is such a fascinating subject to explore. If you are interested in doing a family ancestry search you can get started with a free trial at Ancestry.com.
A Little History
Exploring the origin of family names is extremely difficult because of the events occurring in Europe from around the 5th century A.D. until 1200 A.D. Before the Roman Empire collapsed, Romans were generally in the habit of employing family names but the disintegration of their society caused this practice to stop for awhile. Peasants during the Dark Ages mostly had one name, until around 1150 A.D, when Italian nobles (who never stopped using surnames) began to influence the behavior of commoners and using two names instead of one became popular once again.
Surnames, however, were constantly changing as a male matured and took up a certain vocation. Only the upper class retained the same last name until around the 1500's, when surnames became more of a hereditary concept. However, why is not exactly known, as the record, from this time period concerning the origin of family names are scarce and nondescript.
Cultural differences existed during this time also, mostly in Scandinavia, which gave rise to last names like "Peterson" or "Masterson". In Norway and Sweden, names were considered patronymic, which means a son was named after a father in such a way that his full name would be "Eric, son of Lars". This later, of course, evolved into last names like "Lars Ericson" or "Bjorn Olaffson".
Females living during this time often used the suffix "-datter", which meant the daughter of Eric would have been called "Hilda Ericsdatter". In addition, to trace family history as a Scandinavian would probably prove to be quite difficult as a large portion of their history is obscured in undocumented legends and myths.
Some countries were quite slow in adopting the use of a surname. Turkey resisted the use of surnames until a government mandate in 1933 by a ruler attempting to modernize the culture forced Turks to adopt last names.
Only the aristocracy in Japan used surnames until around the 19th century. Today, Japanese names remain distinctly different from American and most European names in that they put their last name first, as in "Suzuki Takahiro", with "Takahiro being the first name.
Finding the Meaning of Your Surname
With websites containing huge amounts of information regarding the origin of family names and the meaning behind thousands of surnames, anyone can easily discover at least something about a surname, which can help you in constructing a comprehensive family tree. For example, Ancestry.com has an application on its website in which you can enter any surname and have access to all sort of interesting facts about that name, such as meaning, its original form and even the occupations of individuals having that name in 1880.
Related Pages:
Family Ancestry Search
Tracing Genealogy
Best Genealogy Software
Genealogy Software Programs
Life in Legacy
Leave A Legacy
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