SURNAME, that which is added to the proper name, for distinguishing persons and families. It signifies some name superadded to the proper name to distinguish the individual, as Artaxerxes Longimanus, Harold Harefoot, Malcolm Canmore. Surnames were introduced among all nations at an early period, and seem to have been formed at first by adding the name of the falber to that of the son. This was the practice among the Hebrews, as appears from the Scriptures. Caleb is denominated the son of Jephun-neh, and Joshua the son of Nun. That the same thing was customary among the Greeks, every one who has read the poems of Homer must remember. We have an instance of it in the very first line of the Iliad: ∏ηληιαδεω ' A χιληος , “Achilles the son of Peleus.” This is perhaps the general origin of surnames, for it has been common among most nations.

The Romans generally had three names. The first, called proenomen, answered to our Christian name, and was intended to distinguish the individuals of the same family; the second, called nomen, corresponded to the word clan in Scotland, and was given to all those who were sprung from the same stock; the third, called cognomen, expressed the particular branch of the tribe or clan from which an individual was sprung. Thus, in Publius Cornelius Scipio, Publius corresponded to our names John, Robert, William; Cornelius was the name of the clan or tribe, as Campbell was formerly the name of all the duke of Argyle’s clients, and Douglas the name of the retainers of the duke of Hamilton’s progenitors. Scipio being added, conveyed this information, that Publius, who was of the tribe of the Cornelii, was of the family of the Scipios, one of the branches or families into which that tribe was divided. Respecting the three names which were common among the Romans, we may say that the first was a name and the other two were surnames.

Du Chesne observes, that surnames were unknown in France before the year 987, when the lords began to assume the names of their demesnes. Camden relates, that they were first assumed in England a little before the conquest, under King Edward the Confessor; but he adds, they were never fully established among the common people till the time of Edward II.: till then they varied with the father’s name. Thus, if the father was called Richard, or Roger, the son was called Richardson, or Hodgson. The oldest surnames are those which we find in Domesday-Book, most of them taken from places, with the addition of de; as Godefridus de Mannevilla, Walterus de Vernon, Robert d’ Oyly, &c. ; others from their fathers, with filius, as Gulielmus filius Osberni; others from their offices, as Eudo Dapifer, Gulielmus Camerarius, Gislebertus Cocus. But the inferior people are merely noted by their Christian names.

Surnames seem to have been introduced into Scotland, in the time of William the Conqueror, by the English who accompanied Edgar Atheling when he fled into that kingdom. These had their proper surnames, as Moubray, Lovell, Lisle, using the particle de before them; which makes it probable that these surnames had been derived from the lands which their ancestors or they themselves had possessed. In Kenneth II.’s time, about the year 800, the great men had indeed begun to call their lands by their own names; but the ordinary distinctions then used were only personal, and did not descend to succeeding generations, such as those employed by the Hebrews and Greeks: for example, John the son of William; or the names of office, as Stewart; or accidental distinctions from complexion or station, Black, White, Long, Short; or the name of their trade, as Weaver, Tailor, Baxter, Brewster.

It was long before any surnames were used in Wales, except that of son. as Evan ap Rice, Evan the son of Rice; Evan ap Howel, Evan the son of Howel. But many of them have at length formed separate surnames, as the English and Scotish, by leaving out the a in ap, and joining the p to the father’s name: thus Evan ap Rice becomes Evan Price; Evan ap Howel, Evan Powel.

When we come to inquire into the etymology of surnames, we must allow that many of them were originally significant of the qualities of mind, as Bold, Hardy, Meck; some of the qualities of body, as Strong, Low, Short; others expressive of the trade or employment followed by the persons to whom they were applied, as Baker, Smith, Wright, Butler, Page, Marshall. But the greatest number, at least of the ancient surnames, were borrowed from the names of places. Camden avers that there is not a village in Normandy but has given its name to some family in England. He mentions as examples, Percy, Devereux, Tankerville, Mortimer, Warren, &c. They were introduced with William the Conqueror. Several have been derived from places in the Netherlands, as Gaunt, Tournay, Grandison; and many from the names of towns and villages in England and Scotland, as Wentworth, Markham, Murray, Aberdeen. Many have been formed from the names of animals, as quadrupeds, birds, fishes; from vegetables, and parts of vegetables, as trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruits; from minerals of different kinds. Others are formed from such a variety of accidents that it is impossible to particularize them.