5 ms·

All surnames derived from occupations started at certain point of time. Ancestors of Tailor, Smith, Miller, Fletcher, Fisher, Cooper, etc. had different last na

by ranit 2y ago

All surnames derived from occupations started at certain point of time. Ancestors of Tailor, Smith, Miller, Fletcher, Fisher, Cooper, etc. had different last names at certain time in past. If a change didn't occur these "occupational" names would not exist.

edgyquant 2y ago
Some are locations etc
mkl 2y ago
A change in surname is not necessary, just a transition from no surname to surname, which happened relatively recently in many places, or from explicit parentage descriptions ("X son of Y", etc.) to inherited family names.
bluGill 2y ago
Maybe. Often when families immigrated to America they tried to pick a spelling that would allow English speakers to pronounce their name close enough to what they were used to that they would understand they were being called. Sometimes the this was a different English word that had nothing to do with the meaning in the original language. (I suspect the same happens with immigrants elsewhere, but I know my family name is based on getting close to the original sound and that happens to be a word that has a different meaning in English) I don't know if the original word was a occupation back in the old world or not. (the dialect my family spoke is no longer spoken so it would be difficult to research)
- 1-more 2y ago
  > Often when families immigrated to America they tried to pick a spelling that would allow English speakers to pronounce their name close enough to what they were used to that they would understand they were being called. Sometimes the this was a different English word that had nothing to do with the meaning in the original language. This is also the naming process for some places in the new world like Cuernavaca in Mexico
1-more 2y ago
Pretty sure that if they're in English, it happened around the time William the Conqueror did the Domesday book, the first census of England.
- mrguyorama 2y ago
  But this was also common in Germany, France, and Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Occupational_surnames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Occupational_surnames So it's very likely it is just a normal thing humans tend to do. Except I don't know much European history so I can't tell if those places got it from England
  - 1-more 2y ago
    right, I'm just putting a date on it for anyone wondering about when it happened in English. I have no idea when people got last names in those countries. Also they didn't have different last names before they got these names, they just didn't have last names at all.

by ranit 2y ago

edgyquant 2y ago

Some are locations etc

mkl 2y ago

A change in surname is not necessary, just a transition from no surname to surname, which happened relatively recently in many places, or from explicit parentage descriptions ("X son of Y", etc.) to inherited family names.

bluGill 2y ago

Maybe. Often when families immigrated to America they tried to pick a spelling that would allow English speakers to pronounce their name close enough to what they were used to that they would understand they were being called. Sometimes the this was a different English word that had nothing to do with the meaning in the original language. (I suspect the same happens with immigrants elsewhere, but I know my family name is based on getting close to the original sound and that happens to be a word that has a different meaning in English) I don't know if the original word was a occupation back in the old world or not. (the dialect my family spoke is no longer spoken so it would be difficult to research)

1-more 2y ago
> Often when families immigrated to America they tried to pick a spelling that would allow English speakers to pronounce their name close enough to what they were used to that they would understand they were being called. Sometimes the this was a different English word that had nothing to do with the meaning in the original language. This is also the naming process for some places in the new world like Cuernavaca in Mexico

1-more 2y ago

Pretty sure that if they're in English, it happened around the time William the Conqueror did the Domesday book, the first census of England.

mrguyorama 2y ago
But this was also common in Germany, France, and Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Occupational_surnames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Occupational_surnames So it's very likely it is just a normal thing humans tend to do. Except I don't know much European history so I can't tell if those places got it from England
- 1-more 2y ago
  right, I'm just putting a date on it for anyone wondering about when it happened in English. I have no idea when people got last names in those countries. Also they didn't have different last names before they got these names, they just didn't have last names at all.