In our modern society having a surname and sometimes a double-barrel surname is normal, it has always been this way for us. Surnames evolved from a need to be able to identify a person better. Until roughly the twelfth century people did not have surnames, but were identified by their name plus their location, or occupation or a specific physical characteristic that made them identifiable.
As the world’s population grew it became a necessity to identify people specifically and not just in a vague sense. From the general descriptions such as William the Woodcutter, there came the surname Wood and William the smithy gave us Smith.
Over time the surnames evolved and changes in spelling occurred so when a genealogy search is made it is very important to take into consideration any changes that may have occurred.
Another important aspect in researching surnames would be that there may have been life-threatening reasons why people dropped their surname completely. During times of persecution when families became scattered in their fleeing to safety often they replaced their surnames with completely new ones to keep their identity secret, for their survival depended on this.
Bear in mind that to research maiden names bring specific problems as female names were mostly never recorded because women were considered to be the property of their fathers and husbands.
A surname search is intensive and time-consuming but with the guide-lines we give and the research tools we provide you will be able to track your ancestors as long as you do your search systematically and document each step and finding for later reference; thus you can unravel your past.
