Changes

Surnames, of sorts, are known from ancient periods. However, these surnames often had to do with clan names or names of places used as a way to distinguish a person. For instance, in ancient Greece, it would be common to refer to a person from an ancient city. Another way people were distinguished, which is still used such as in tribal groups in the Middle East today, is to refer to the name of the father for the son or daughter as the person's second name. Someone would be referred to as the son or daughter of someone, where the father's first name would then be used as something akin to a surname. In Africa and Asia, clan names have been used as something similar to a fixed surname, as clan names tend to be more static. However, these could change over a long period. In the Roman Empire, family names were sometimes used, but often this had links to clans or if other systems were used family names would often drop or not be carried from generation to generation. Ancient China may have one of the oldest traditions in using a type of surname. It seems a matrilineal and later a patrilineal system emerged where the child would take on a fixed surname that would designate the person's lineage. However, it is possible these names could have changed after multiple generations. <ref>For more on the ancient origin of surnames around the world, see: Redmonds, G., King, T., & Hey, D. (2011). <i>Surnames, DNA, and family history</i>. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>

Early surnames were generally not fixed and this meant that after one or two generations, it was common to lose links with someone's more distant past. The first recorded surname where that surname appears to be fixed appears in the 10th century in Ireland, where the surname Ó Cleirigh could be the oldest continuous surname. <ref>For more on the origins of Irish surnames, see: MacLysaght, E. (1985). <I>The surnames of Ireland (6th ed)</I>. Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Irish Academic Press.</ref> However, centuries later surnames were still uncommon in most of Europe and if surnames were used it was usually in reference to an occupation or sometimes in reference to someone's father. In effect, these surnames did not continue beyond a few generations. Surnames may have begun to become more established in the West during and after the Norman conquest (Figure 1). At around the 11th century, the Norman nobility began adopting surnames the denoted location of origin or land in which they held. This allowed them to make claims to land and it was common to use the French 'de' (of) in connotation to a place or land. This then became a way the noble classes could distinguish themselves from others and it also allowed them to use this second name as a way to pass that name to their kin so that land could be inherited. It effectively became a status symbol to have a fixed surname so that there was no ambiguity of the person's status. This was similar to how French feudal land owners also used designations such as 'de' to identify their land ownership.<ref>For more on the history of English surnames, see: Fiennes, J. (2015). <i>The origins of English surnames: the story of who we were</i>. Robert Hale Ltd; 1st Edition edition.</ref>