Last names?
 

Why aren't there more unique last names? Why are there so many smiths, johnsons, wongs, etc? Just curious..

People originally took last names based on occupations or other descriptions (Smith, Cooper, Johnson/John's son)

There were a lot of people doing physical labor back then, and a lot of people who didn't have anythign particular to distinguish them aside from their father's name. So, a bunch of guys working in the fields became Johnson, a bunch of other guys got labor-related names, and it stuck like that.

my last name is so weird, it's supposed to be polish but it does not *really* seem that polish to me...just awkward.

maybe I'll be inspired to research it a bit and see what it could mean.

Researching my family tree, while I don't have a very common last name, when my ancestors arrived on Ellis Island, the name was changed to something less Gaelic. Other people probably had the same problem, I can't imagine my ancestors being unique.

Mine is unique as a last name, but not as a first. I have tried to research my family in the past, but I think we just sprung out of the dirt one day.

Basically, the reason we don't have more unique last names is because we all started from the same family, and we don't just decide when to change our names. We are just swapping the names that are around already.

My real last name translates to "Land Destroyer". This from a warrior in the early middle ages in what would become Switzerland. Of course it's become abreviated and bastardized since then, but that's the origin.

Re: Last names?
 

Most names developed from descriptions of people e.g. john the smith, john the baker, and over time simply became john smith e.t.c.
Also, alot of names developed from descriptions of the lands people lived on, or who their lord was. Of course, lots of words have either been lost, or changed meanings, so they simply become names, with their meaning obscured by time.


My surname relates to the extensive catacombs in the hills where the lord of the area lived. When that lord was granted a knight-hood, the lands he owned were the distungishing feature, so he used them for his name.

does it end in "ski" or "sky" hehehhe?

My grandparents came over on the boat, so instead of the common last name, mine is constantly mispronounced. no biggie though, it's the price I pay for walking around with a sauseeege in my pants :lol:

I swear I'm the only one with my last name in the US(well and my family of course).
I have never met anyone with it, and it seems like it could be a basic name.
Now given it was created at Ellis Island and I can't remember the original Polish version.

I guess you don't deal with customer service on a regular basis. I see/hear so many interesting last names just about every day.

I have a fairly unusual last name, which means that I'm always spelling it out for people. It's Norman-French in origin, however people with that name only seem to live in central England, or Perth, Western Australia. There are loads of us in Perth, so I got to assume that rather a few were transported back when Australia was a prison.

A little research has traced that we had an Alderman of the City of Birmingham in 1804, much before that seems to be lost.

My last name doesn't mean shit.

It's Irish. Just something we thought up while drunk I'm sure.

I wonder how Asian last names came to be.
And, aren't their names switched around or something?

Yes, actually they are. They go with the last names first (last name being the "family name" as they call it) and first names last...kind of confusing and also interesting how cultures differ from the "western world". :-\

My last name is German..and no one else has in the US has it unless they are related to me..so yep its unique. It's German and so I always have to spell it out because no one can spell it..or pronounce it. I wish it was simple and common..I wouldn't have all the hassle.

Well my last name is Romeo, so it's pretty clear - a certain city in Italy gives the actual word, and here in America, Mr. Shakespeare gives the pronunciation. :)

It always amazes me the number of people I meet who try the correct Italian pronunciation first, since I wouldn't know it if it weren't my name. :lol:

Same here.

My first name is American (Jennifer), but my last name is Hungarian. No one has it unless they are related to me :) It's spelled phonetically though and no one can spell it as it is :)

My last name is unique to the 5 in my family, its double barreled, id put money on us being the only 5 in the world with that name :) though i think double barrelled names are cheating a bit, 2 strange last names together equals uniqueness squared heh

My name is pretty unique. My family is the only one that I know that has my last name. I don't quite know the origins of the name, but it's French, "Du". Weird thing is that we're Chinese and are from Vietnam.

My last name is derived from a musical instrument my ancestors used to play.

Colonists?

I wonder what the hell a 'Berry' did?

The Custom of using last names was introduced by Napoleon, who made it obligatory for all residents of his 'empire'.

At a certain point every citizen had to register his last name, since most of the population had no interest or clue on what their last name should be, they often took their occupation or family as a reference for the last name.

Some of the population were actually quite clever and thought up something original that sounded nice in their ears or made them sound important.
Others (like a lot of the Dutch apparently) defied the rule and came up with very funny names at the registration office ... little did they know the custom would be used for generations and become very common ...

So most names are pretty common since a lot of people had similar occupations at that point.
others are hilarious or even embarassing in their own language. (I know several people who's last name is the equivalent of Cunt or Dick)

The nordics already had this tradition and had been using them since long before it became obligatory.
Usually they use 'Son of <Fathersname>' resulting in : Johanson (sweden & norway) or Johanssen (denmark)
In Iceland and Finland, they use Daughter of <mothersname> resulting commonly in 'Ser' at the end of the name (not 100% sure of this)

My last name is Wilson. Its so easy. haha.