The origin of names is a funny thing. For the greater part of humanity, no one had a surname (aka Family name or last name). First names will do. Which probably got confusing when there were an entire family of Johns. Sometimes descriptors were added to better identify them. The oldest was referred to as John the Elder. The youngest as John the younger. If there were a middle child he was probably referred to as John the Ignored Middle Child.

As you can imagine as governments and countries grew, this could become an administrative nightmare. So the baker became Baker, Michael’s children became Michaelson, etc. Sometimes a description of the person was all that was needed to come up with their surname. A short man became “Short” while a tall man might become “Long”.

All of this got me wondering and quickly NOT wanting to think about the origin of “Dickinson”

Do you know the origins of your last name or how common it is? You can find out many places including here. Share it in the comments.