Changes

Slowly throughout the late Medieval period more families began to use fixed surnames. In Europe, people were still commonly referred to by their occupation (e.g., Butchers, Carpenters, etc.), but those designations began to be fixed as lower classes began to imitate the upper classes, even though they may have not held any significant land holdings. In some parts of Spain, people would use a patronymic system, where it would take the name of the father as the surname, but in the Medieval and late Medieval period those names began to become more fixed. By the 1400s, many people began to have fixed surnames. In England, Henry VIII in the 16th century ordered that children take a fixed surname from their fathers. This allowed people to be more easily recorded and this may have helped further establish the system of a fixed surname. Recent studies have shown that most surnames that derive from Europe has four different types of origin. They are either place-based (place of origin), occupation name (i.e., a likely trade conducted by past members of the family), derived from their fathers' name (often first name), or simply a nickname given to someone at some point that stayed in the family. Surnames are a combination of a single place origin, that is the surname was derived at one place and one time, while other surnames are combinations of different events and circumstances. For instance, having a surname that combines an occupation and nickname.

It was mostly after 1600, as European powers expanded or increased their influence, surnames became globally prevalent. It became easier for rulers and administrators to designating people with fixed surnames, as this facilitated records in keeping track of people. Japan, Thailand, and Turkey are examples of countries that changed their normal family name systems to adopt fixed surnames due to Western influence.  Since the early Medieval period, women often adopted designations, or whatever was used as a surname, from their husbands. This practice carried over as more people began to adopt fixed surnames. It was only in more recent periods in the 20th century that women began to forgo adopting their husbands' last names. In 1979, part of the UN declaration for womens' equality called for the end of the practice of forcing women to adopt their husbands' surnames.