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First names have likely existed since possibly soon after humans evolved into their modern forms. However, the origin and development of surnames (or last names) is far less known and is likely a more recent phenomenon. People were often designated by their larger kinship groups, often through a male line but sometimes female, as part of their identification in more ancient periods. Distinguishing by a specific surname for a person though is still not universal throughout the world, although it is now very common.

====Recent Developments====

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.