Marcia Van Ingen, Age 11, Of Rochester, N.Y., For Her Question:
How did we get our last names?
Nowadays it is hard to find a bread baker named Mr. Baker. As likely as not, Jane Hill lives in the valley and Peter West lives on the east coast. Our baker may be named Mr. Butcher. But there was a time when most family names made sense and told something
About their owners for the English speaking peoples family names were adopted soon after the Norman Conquest. England was conquered by William of Normandy, who then became King William I and set about putting the country in order. He listed the names of his new subjects in a book the doomsday book. Since there were no family names, the job led to confusion.
There were long lists. Of Johns and Sams and no way to tell one john from another or which Sam was which it seemed sensible to add a scrap of extra information after a person's given name.
This one was John the Baker, that one was john the tailor. There was Sam the Carter and Sam the Smith. The sensible system was soon shortened, and peop1e were ca11ed John Baker.
Sam Smith and so on. The second name was adopted by the whole family. John Bakerts children used baker as a second name; Sam Smith's youngsters were the Smith children.
This system of choosing second names failed to make sense when young peter baker, the Baker's son, decided to become a mi11er. He kept the family name of baker, and his children after him were bakers.
Other family names were taken from the father's first name. The first Bill Johnson was William son of John. The Scots tacked the syllable mac in front of the father’s name.
Alan Macdonald was Alan son of Donald. The Irish put an O in front of the father's given name. The first James O'brian was James son of Brian.
Some people took their family names from a place. The original Moores may have lived near a moor, the first Fords may have tended the ford in a river. The hills and the lakes, the Wellses and the Woodses so took their family names from places.
Many family names were taken from animals. Maybe the first Lyons were very brave and the lambs very gentle, the first foxes may have been Ciever and the wolf~ hungry. But this is not likely. Old inns and taverns displayed signs and iron cutouts over their doors, often of animals. A family name may have been taken from the lamb or the wolf over the door.
Family names grew in much the same way among peop1e of other countries, using different languages. There were trade names and place names and many other second names that told something about the people who us ed them. A distant ancestor had a good reason for taking this or that family name. And he handed it on to his children and down to his distant descendants whether it suited them or not.