From all around the world, there are many surnames which derive from past and modern occupations. In the UK and Europe, this process took place during the middle ages. Some obvious examples are Baker, Tailor and Shepherd. Some not so obvious examples are Brewster (female brewer), Arkwright (chest maker) and Bailey (bailiff). Throughout Europe, people took on their occupation as a surname just as in the UK, such as Boucher (French for butcher), Fischer (German for fisherman) and Guerrero (Spanish for warrior).
As there are countless examples of occupational surnames, there are just as many surnames named after geographical locations. Again there are some quite noticeable ones such as Hill, Woods and Brooke. Some people are even named after towns, e.g. Dover and Benton. In the UK, valleys were once frequently referred to as “bottoms”. Although it might seem otherwise, names such as Longbottom come from this. Holt originally meant a little forest and Wade is a synonym for ford.
There are also a group of surnames that once possibly was given to the family. These names tend to be complimentary, I don’t suppose they would stick really otherwise. Examples of these appreciative names are Trueman, Wise and Tait (joyous). However, there are some surnames which I suspect a few people wouldn’t approve of, such as Wilde, Bull and Unwin (unfriendly).
The diversity of surnames can be found all over the globe and it’s very interesting to see that these types of surnames exist all over the world. Nowadays, I don’t think that people take much notice (if any at all) into their heritage, but even from looking up stuff about your surname and its origin and the gigantic family tree, one can discover a lot about their ancestry.
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