Prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066, people were known mainly by their first names. After the conquest and the introduction of the feudal system, it was essential that each feudal superior knew exactly what a subordinate owed. Although, the Normans brought with them a whole new set of forenames that proved to be popular, there were still too few forenames and too many people to be able to distinguish one from another. (Many of the names we consider thoroughly English were actually introduced into the country by the Normans. Included are William, Robert, Richard, and John. The first two became the two most popular names in England in the 12th century with William at 10% of the popularity and Robert at 7%. By the 14th century, John (34%) was the most popular.)

With money at risk, the equivalents to our modern-day lawyers wanted to ensure that any parties to money being owed, land being transferred, or criminal proceedings were thoroughly identified. At first, this might be by some long-winded explanation of who they were. For example, they might be identified as "John, the son of ...." Or, identification might be through a description of his land. Alternatively, there might be some personal nickname such as "John with the red beard," "David with the bad puns," or anything (good or bad) that distinguished that person from another same-named person in the same village. In time, these descriptions became abbreviated and the surname was born.

At first, surnames were not necessarily hereditary. Walter the Laughingstock, for example, might have a son named Bartholomew of the Crooked Nose. By the 1100s, hereditary surnames existed in the noble classes in England. They were occasionally found with commoners in the early 1200s, were fairly frequent by 1299, and increased rapidly in the 1300s. By the end of the century, most common folk in England had a surname. In the case of the Wightons in Norfolk, the first surname appeared in 1195 in the form of Alan de Wihton. By 1400, the "of/de" designation had been dropped.

Lowland Scottish surnames developed along the same lines as in England, although they were slower to become hereditary.

Sources

Reaney, P. H. (1991). A Dictionary of English Surnames. Victoria Public Library, 929.42 REA