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How Surnames Began by Constance Mary Matthews is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is How Surnames Began about?

C.M. Matthews traces the development of the surname over the centuries, from its conception, to its unquestioned acceptance. This development was subject to historical events and social change, occurrences which shaped the lives of our ancestors as they advanced toward a more complex society and ordered civilisation. The first surnames were used purely to distinguish two people with the same Christian name. Many were simply a suffix to a name, a description which would specify a particular person. This usually fell to their occupation, some of the earliest surnames being Smith or Baker, a simple way to delineate one man from another. However, occupation was not the only influence. Description, such as 'Armstrong', parentage, such as 'Johnson', or locality, also played a role. As time progressed, these names no longer referred to one person, but were attributed to other family members, or were passed down from one generation to another. Whether or not the son had the same occupation as the father, he retained the name. As the author explains, this was not a conscious decision, but rather an organic process, which developed out of convenience. Surnames often changed from one generati

Author

Constance Mary Matthews

Publisher

Lutterworth Press

Published

2007

Language

EN

ISBN

9780718808990