THE HISTORY OF SURNAMES

For a long time people didn't have family names, people had first names only.
This custom slowly change.
The Romans introduced a combination of personal and family name. They usually used three names "PRAENOMEN, NOMEN and COGNOMEN".
In England people started to use surnames in the 13th century. Many family name came from jobs.
Names like BAKER, COOK, CARPENTER show an occupation.
People also used places for family names, in fact, in the UK more then alf family names came from places; RIVER, HILL are some examples.
Other surnames came from personal names, for example RICHARDSON , STEVENSON.
Lots of Gaelic names are preceded by MC (son) or O', for examples MC DONALD, O'BRIAN.
Some surnames come from nicknames.