English surnames of Norman origin
Some family names contain clues as to their origin, like English surnames of Norman Origin. William, Duke of Normandy, successfully invaded England in 1066, and this invasion left a lasting legacy in the English language, in general, and in surnames, in particular. According to Christopher Daniell, in "From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta", 1140 marked what might be the first recorded use of a modern surname, inherited by multiple generations. The sons of a Norman named Robert used a modern inheritable surname, "FitzGerald", in honour of an earlier relative, named "Gerald". According to Joslin Fiennes 's "Origins of English surnames" modern surnames were not used until the fourteenth century: Beginning in the late 1500s and peaking in the wake of the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685), French Protestant refugees from France, the Huguenots, brought surnames like Dubarry, Blanchard, Duhamel and Dupuy, from Normandy, into the English namespace, when the historical record shows these names had not been present prior to the fifteenth century.