I think that originally they came from the profession that you had. Smith came from being a blacksmith Cooper came from being a barrel maker. (this is what I was told in Primary School in England)

Because we got tired of 10 people turning around every time we said, "Hey Fred..." JK, :P Good question though. +

The use of surnames has popped up throughout history. In many cultures, the practice of using additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals has arisen. These identifying terms or descriptors may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation. Often these descriptors developed into fixed clan identifications which became family names in the sense that we know them today. In China they added surnames for census taking. In ancient Greece they would use your place of origin as a surname. The Romans used clan names. Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types: 1.Occupations (e.g., Smith, Archer, Baker, Clark, Dyer, Walker, Woodman) 2. Personal characteristics (e.g., Short, Brown, Whitehead, Long) 3. Geographical features (e.g., Hill, Lee, Wood, Fields, Morley—Old English for mōr lÄ“ah = marsh in the woodland clearing) 4. Place names (e.g., London, Hamilton, Sutton, Flint, Laughton) 5. For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, manor or estate 6. Patronymics, Matronymics or ancestral, often from a person's given name (e.g., from male name: Richardson, Williams, Johnson or female names Molson (from Moll for Mary), Madison (from Magdalen or Madeline), Emmott (from Emma), Marriott (from Mary)) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., MacDonald, Forbes) with "Mac" Scottish Gaelic for son. 7. Patronal, from patronage (Hickman meaning Hick's man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religion Kilpatrick (follower of Patrick) or Kilbride (follower of Bridget).

its similar to the scientific process of nomenclature.. Just not to confuse btween 2 individuals.. I think there should also be sir name "pro"

It happened over time in some places, and arbitrarilly in others. When the French took control of the Netherlands during the time of Napolean, they required that all the Dutch take last names (they had none at the time). In order to have a laugh they created ridiculous last names like pooping-stocking, that the French were oblivious too. However, they didn't think the names would last and they would get rid of them when the French left. As it turns out, they did last, and many people in Holland have very strange and often funny last names.

The old Norse and modern Icelanders use last names based on the fathers name, ie. Father's name: Þór Son's name: Jónas Daughter's name: Harpa So from memory the boy's full name is Jónas Þórsson and the daughters Harpa Þórsdóttir (Þor's Daugther literally) Jónas children will then inherit his name and so forth. That's how names like Svensson, Svenssen, Andersson etc. came to be. In German speaking countries, depending on where you live the last names were most often occupations like: Schmidt (Smith) Bauer (farmer) Bäcker (Baker) Schuhmacher (Shoemaker) etc. That's as much as I know about these names :D Harlekkin

Thank you everybody, it helps a little my last name is rare for last names, but as a word means a great deal. it's not orgin, occupation, from a first name but the patron and religious has given me a better chance to find something out.