A Brief Explanation for the Advent of Surnames Around the World

The Wicklow Mountains home of the Byrne family from Powerscourt Estate, Ireland in August 2000.

 

 

 

 

In the End There are Three Main Reasons Why Surnames Came into Usage


In the beginning, man identified himself by the use of a solitary name. Often this name characterized some special aspect or quality of the person upon whom it was bestowed. As the centuries passed and heraldic lines of kinship were increasingly more important to establish, man had to create a more efficient means of identifying himself. To solve this problem, the practice of assigning an additional name or using a recognizing moniker became commonplace. Although the entomology of each name is ultimately unique, there are three main reasons why surnames came into vogue: to describe a physical attribute, to distinguish between places of origin, or/and to denote the occupation of each individual.


The first reason, to describe a physical attribute, can be easily illustrated by using the example of two men known as “John” living side by side in their small community. Their fellow resident in the village acknowledged the first as “John the strong” since he was a big muscular guy. The second “John,” who appeared much smaller in stature by comparison, became known as “John the little one.” Over time, mainly for convenience sake, their neighbors began shortening the names to “John Strong” and “John Little” to continue to make a distinction between the two. These monikers were then passed down from father to son thus establishing the surnames of “Strong” and “Little” which still exist today.


In contrast, some regions of the world used an additional name as a means to provide a simpler way to distinguish one’s place of residence or ethnic group. Let’s look at the advent of the surname “POLASEK (Polášek)” for an excellent example. The term was really an ethnic name used to characterize a person who originally lived in Poland. So when immigrants arrived at the community hailing from that country/area, the villagers referred to these newcomers as “Polasek” in order to single them out from the other people already residing there. In time the whole family become accepted by that classification eventually giving birth to the surname of “Polasek.”


Lastly, the third main reason surname usage arose was to denote the occupation/life function of each individual. In another town, there resided a man named “Michael” who owned the only large oven in the area. As such he made himself responsible for baking all the goods for the entire community. It just so happened that before long a new farmer moved into the area who called himself “Michael” as well. In order to single out one from the other, the second man became recognized as “Michael the farmer” and the first one as “Michael the baker.” Once again, the names shortened over time producing the surnames “Baker” and “Farmer.”


Never Assume You Know A Surnames True Ethnic Root
Surnames actually began being used around the 10th century over 1,000 years ago! The farther back you can document your families lives, the better to determine your true roots. The research of surnames becomes quite an interesting look into the type of ancestors one has and a means to determine the parts in history they played.


Please remember, too, do not assume that just because a name looks of Irish, English, Czech or some other ethnic origin, that it really is. A story told by a fellow genealogist illustrates this problem to a “T.” His clients hired him to document their line truly believing that they had Irish roots. But after researching back several generations, records showed that their ancestors were in fact Chinese! Amazing but true!


Even today, as in days gone by, names in general are often corrupted because of bad spelling due to human error or because the record taker just tried to “spell it as it sounded.” Immigrants often decide to take a common name when they moved to another country in order to blend in better with the local population. The good news is that so far, the names on my family tree have kept their spelling and their roots intact. This helps tremendously when doing research back through the ages and should make all who bear these names very proud.