How, when and where did the human race name each other with a first and last name?

Have you ever wondered why your parents gave the name you have? Does anybody know when naming ourselves began and where? Also, the naming of our geographical makeup of cities, states, countries, etc.

How, when and where did the human race name each other with a first and last name?
In the stories and tales of the golden age of Greece we see only the use of first names. When we get to the Roman Empire we begin to see two names, a first and last, sometimes only depicting where they are from as a last name.


The names of our geographical make up were to a large extent brought over from Europe and the names of towns and cities that people were from were used as well as being named after people. For instance New York was initially called New Amsterdam when it was a Dutch Colony and then when it became an English colony it was renamed New York, after the Duke of York. Dover, Delaware was named after Dover England. New London, Connecticut was named after London. Frankfurt, Kentucky was named after Frankfurt, Germany. Many towns and cities in California, Arizona and New Mexico are named after saints. There doesn't appear to be any particular rhyme or reason that was followed for naming everything.
Reply:If you are a Christian you will believe that the first name came when God gave Adam the instructions to name everything. I have heard that the last name came from things like where you were from, or what your father did. This was because as the world started to get populated their were several people with the same names and so to tell who you were talking about you would say James of Big Lake if that is where he was from. Or if there was already a James of Big Lake they would choose the profession of your father, James Carpenter, I think that is why there are so many Johnson's,because John was a very common name and they would refer to the child that was John's son eventually turning into the name Johnson. I did some research and found out that my married name means Garbage collector. Pretty funny!!
Reply:In Europe, surnames began to be used in the 12th century, but it took several centuries before the majority of Europeans had one. The primary purpose of the surname was to further distinguish people from one another. In the 13th century about a third of the male population was named William, Richard or John {mainly because people have a habit of naming children after famous people and/or family members (who were originally named after a famous person)}. To uniquely identify specific people, people began referring to different Williams as William the son of Andrew (leading to Anderson), William the cook (leading to Cook), William from the river (leading to Rivers), William the brown-haired (leading to Brown), and so on. Eventually these surnames became inherited, being passed from parents to children.





Broadly, most surnames fall into four categories.





Surnames derived from First Names include Johnson, Williams, and Thompson. Most often they are patronymic, referring to a male ancestor, but occasionally they are matronymic such as Robinson. This also applies to names ending in "-ski", as that ending also means "son of"; such as in Grabowski, Kowalski, and Starrski.





Occupational surnames refer to the occupation of the bearer. Examples include Smith, Clark, and Wright.


Locational or Topographic surnames are derived from the place that the bearer lived. Examples include Hill, Woods, and Ford.


Surnames derived from Nicknames include White, Young, and Long.





For the second part of your question, place names are based on discoverer, founders, noted residents, or most recognized feature. America, for example, was named after Amerigo Vespucci by a fellow cartographer named Martin Waldseem眉ller who produced a world map on which he named the new continent "America" after Vespucci's first name because he felt Vespucci had been that regions "discoverer". Often the name might also have derived from the indigenous language form of any of the previously listed sources for place names (such as in Milwaukee and Oklahoma).

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