The History of Surnames...!!!

For a long time people didn't have family names. People have first name only. This custom slowly change, the Romans introduced a combination of personal and family names. They usually used three names "Prenomen, Nomen and Cognomen". In England people started to use surnames in 13 centuries. Many family names came from jobs like Baker, Cook, Carpenter, Miller show an occupation. People used places for family names like River, Hill are some examples. Other surnames come from personal names, for example Stevenson, Richardason. Lots of Gaelic names are preceded by MC or O' like O'Brien, some surnames from Nicknames.