When did people start having last names?

Question

I have heard that last names were not added in England.

If someone was a carpenter, his last name was carpenter, is he worked on roads, his name was roads. It was like saying, John the carpenter or Mike the road guy.

But I don't know if this is true.

Answer 1

When all t of the first names were used up so they had to start repeating them over again.

Answer 2

It's a much longer answer than you might expect. The real answer is: It depends on which country you're discussing.

England adopted hereditary surnames about 800 years ago.

France has toyed with surnames since the 1400s, but they didn't standardize things until the 1800s when they finally abolished "dit" names under Napoleon.

It was also under Napoleon that Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands standardized surnames and did away with the patrynomic system.

German states adopted hereditary surnames at different points in history.

Scandinavia didn't adopt a formal hereditary surname system until the 1700s.

Russia is still not sure what they're doing with surnames.

Italy played with surnames since the 12th century, but they weren't actually hereditary until 1400.

Spain and Portugal started using them around 1300 and were basically using them by 1400 on a broad basis. But people were still changing things until 1900.

Answer 3

In England most of the common people had one by the end of the 14th century.  

They were based on a) being the son of someone b)their occupation c) where they lived d) some characateristic about them.  

When they got through taking a surname, it wasn't impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to have a different surname. Still they could have each shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

For instance you mentioned the name Carpenter.  Can you imagine how many carpenters that took the name Carpenter and one man who was a carpenter might have had a brother who was a blacksmith and he took the name Smith.

In the Netherlands it was not until the rule of Napoleon.  I have read that the Dutch thought it was something temporary and in good humour frequently gave themselves obnoxious and disgusting names.  Once they realized they were going to be permanent they had a heck of a time getting their names changed.

It is one reason why it isn't too wise to get overly involved in the origin of your surname when doing family history.  The surname can be helpful but in the long run a person needs records.