Surnames: How did you get to be a Fisher, Small or Underhill?
Most surnames are pretty normal, but some are downright outrageous.
MANY modern surnames can be traced back to medieval Europe, says the wonderopolis.org website.
The website goes on to say that in the Middle Ages, most Europeans lived in small villages separated from their neighbours by open spaces.
At that time, populations were small and often the settlements were miles apart, so everyone in a particular village knew everyone else.
Over time, though, villages and populations grew. People travelled more and as each village probably had at least one ‘John’ or ‘Michael’, it became difficult to tell them apart.
Some surnames identify people as their fathers’ children. For example, a father named James might have a son named Simon. Simon would then become Simon James.
Or a father named John might have had a son named Stephen. Stephen may have gone by the name Stephen Johnson, which would indicate he was the Stephen who was John’s son.
Other surnames identify people based upon where they were born, lived or worked or the land they owned. For example, Simon York was probably the Simon who lived in the town of York and Theodore Underhill or Robert Atwood probably got their names from references to landmarks near their homes.
The work people did also came into play. George Smith would have been the George in the village who was the blacksmith and David Fletcher would have been the local arrow maker.
Other common surnames come from a physical description or characteristic, such as Little, Brown, Short or Jolly.
Visit the Wonderopolis website for more on this interesting topic.
And if you hate your surname, spare a thought for those saddled with these, as reported by Metro.co.uk
- Cock
- Hickinbottom
- Handcock
- Haggard
- Daft
- Shufflebottom
- Grave
- Stranger
- Jelly
- Slow
- Crankshaw
- Onion
- Willy
- Pigg
- Poor
- Paddy
- Hustler
- Hickinbotham
- Glasscock
- Nutter
- Bottom
- Winterbottom
Read more on Britain’s silliest surnames on the Metro.co.uk website HERE
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