When doing ancestry research, it is not uncommon to hit a brick wall once in a while, and when you do, some knowledge of naming conventions can help.
A long time
ago before we started keeping records, most people had just the one name and
members of the same family did not have a common family name. As the size of
villages grew and several people ended up with the same name, it became
necessary to differentiate people with the same name in order to avoid
confusion. For example, in a village where several people were called John, the
village people may have differentiated the Johns as follows: John who hunted
with a bow and arrow was called John the Archer; John who baked the village
bread would have been called John the Baker; John who made a living carving
wood would have been called John the Carver; and John, the son of William would
have been called John, William’s son.
Over time,
these names would have morphed to John Archer, John Baker, John Carver, and
John Williamson.
Surnames (last names or family names) generally had four basic sources: Patronymic names, Geographic and place names, Occupational names, Descriptive names.
Patronymic Names
In countries such as Finland, the use of patronyms instead of family names was very common well into the 19th century, and was the rule in rural parishes prior to 1900. Thus, Karl Johansson means Karl, the son of Johan. And Lovisa Martensdotter means Lovisa, the daughter of Marten.
Courtesy of
the Vikings, the English name John Williamson meant John, the son of William.
Geographic and Place Names
Toponyms are
another important source of surnames. Thus, the names of villages, towns or
other geographical areas and places often ended up as family names.
For example,
people with the surname of Waldeck may trace their heritage back to the sovereign
principality of Waldeck that comprised territories that are now included in
parts of the present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony in Germany. The most common surname in Portugal,
Almeida, is derived from a town name. The most popular family name in Austria,
Gruber, comes from a word meaning ‘pit or mine’.
In some locations
such as eastern Finland, farm names were sometimes used as family names. The French surname, Fontaine is a topographic name for someone who lived
near a spring or well. And the last name Carlton is a locational name.
Occupational Names
The second
most common origin for surnames stems from occupations (called metonymic names): Miller, Carpenter,
Smith (the most common surname in England), Carver, Baker, Joiner, Archer, etc.
Occupational
names appeared across language and geographical borders. Thus Carpenter in English
was Zimmerman in German and Timmerman in Dutch. Miller in English was Melnik in the Ukraine, Müller in Switzerland
and Germany, and Mylläri
or Möllare in Finland and Sweden.
Descriptive Names
Quite often,
the physical characteristics of a person became the surname e.g. Long, Short,
Strong. The surname Olifant (meaning elephant) was given to a large, lumbering individual.
Things can
get a little confusing if your ancestors migrated because many immigrants
changed their names when arriving in their new country, especially if they
spoke another language. For example, many Finland-Swedish immigrants settled in
America in the late 1800’s. A way of adapting one's last name to another
language or culture, a practice widely applied in Finland, is to translate or
to reshape the name. This practice was used often by Finland-Swedish immigrants.
Thus, upon arrival in America, the family name Båtman became Boatman, Viktor Albert Mattsson Storkung became Albert
Mattson, and Amanda Johansdotter Anneberg became Manda Berg.
Genealogy research is difficult at the best of times, but understanding naming conventions can be of considerable help when you hit the proverbial brick wall!
Genealogy research is difficult at the best of times, but understanding naming conventions can be of considerable help when you hit the proverbial brick wall!
