How Long Have People Been Using Surnames?

Have you ever thought about your surname? How did you earn it?
It could have been from your parents. But how did they obtain it?
If you keep going back in time, your last name (or surname) must have started someplace, right?

Naturally, it did! People did not always have last names. China was among the first cultures to adopt surnames. Over three thousand years ago, people there purportedly took on family names to help enhance their census. For many years, moms passed down surnames. Today, however, most children in China, as in much of the rest of the world, adopt their father’s surname.

In the English-speaking world, surnames are usually referred to as “last names” since they occur after a person’s name. People’s identities haven’t always included their last names. China was one of the first cultures to use surnames. People there allegedly used family names as last names over three thousand years ago to improve their census. Last names took a long time to enter Europe, and they have a Middle Ages origin. During the period, the bulk of Europeans lived in small towns separated by wide swaths of farmland. This ensured that people from different locations rarely encountered one other, and there was no confusion when only first names were used. Last names were not required because everyone in the group knew everyone else.

Origin of Surname

The possible origins of names are nearly limitless: nicknames, physical characteristics, counties, trades, heraldic charges, and almost every object known to mankind. In practice, tracing a family tree entails looking at lists of these names – this is how we recognise our ancestors when we locate them. People did not have inherited surnames before the Norman Conquest of Britain; instead, they were recognised only by a personal name or nickname. Many people and families have changed their names or acquired an alias at some point in their lives. When communities were tiny, each person could be identified by a single name, but as the population grew, it became increasingly important to identify people.

Despite, or maybe because of, this complexity, certain surnames dominate particular parts of the world. Nonetheless, there is little debate about whose surname is the most common in the world: Wang. Wang, a Mandarin phrase for prince or monarch, is the surname of almost 106 million people. Given that China has the world’s greatest population, it’s not surprising that the top surname is Chinese. It was home to 1.45 billion people, or 18.5 percent of the world’s total, as of 2022.

Characteristics of Surname

Occupational

One method of differentiating persons was to specify their occupation. This gave rise to names like Miller, Smith, Tailor, and their variants.

Nickname

Surnames that reflect vocations, physical characteristics, or locations may have been imposed by friends or adversaries. Names like Little, Bigg, Redd, and so on may have been given to identify people with the same surname who lived in the same area.

Place Names

People may have been given names based on where they resided, such as Atwood, Woods, Lake, Berg, Beach, Meadows, and so on.

Naming Patterns

In some regions, custom mandates that newborns be named after specific relatives in a precise order. These customs aid genealogists in determining who the relatives may have been. Surnames are used in many countries.

Most Common Surnames in the World

Muller

This is the most popular surname in Germany and Switzerland, and it is an occupational name for people who work in the wheat milling industry. Miller (in its Anglicised form) is one of the most popular surnames in the United States.

Agarwal

The surname Agarwal is of Jain origin. The Agarwals are one of India’s most notable merchant families. The surname is derived from Agroha, the old capital of the ancient city of Agar Sen. One of the most popular Indian surnames.

Banerjee

The surname Banerjee is of Bengali origin. Its first ingredient ‘Ban’ is a short version of the village named Bandoghat and the last element ‘jee’, is derived from ‘jha’, which means ‘teacher’.

Wang

Wang is a patronymic (ancestral) name that means “king” in Mandarin and is shared by over 92 million individuals in China, making it the world’s most popular last name.

Devi

This common surname in India is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “goddess.” Devi is the Hindu mother goddess who takes on the forms of all the other goddesses.

Kim

In both North and South Korea, as well as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the most prevalent surname is Kim. This surname is shared by roughly 20% of South Koreans (and 25% of North Koreans).

Garcia

Garcia is a common surname in the Americas, the Philippines, and Spain. There are various ideas concerning its origin and history, but it is most likely Basque in origin. The connotation alludes to the descriptive word ‘the youthful’. Garcia is the most frequent surname in Spain (3.32% of the population) and the second most common surname in Cuba. Garcia is a surname shared by 4.1 million people in Mexico.

Smith

Smith is an English surname that originated in England. It is the most popular surname in the UK, Australia, and the United States, the second most common in Canada, and the fifth most frequent in Ireland.