There Are 7 Types of English Surnames — Which One Is Yours?

 
From Ancestry.co.uk:
 
Many of us have surnames passed down to us from ancestors in England. Last names weren’t widely used until after the Norman conquest in 1066, but as the country’s population grew, people found it necessary to be more specific when they were talking about somebody else. Thus arose descriptions like Thomas the Baker, Norman son of Richard, Henry the Whitehead, Elizabeth of the Field, and Joan of York that, ultimately, led to many of our current surnames.
 
There are perhaps 45,000 different English surnames, but most had their origins as one of these seven types.
 

• Occupational:

Occupational names identified people based on their job or position in society. Calling a man “Thomas Carpenter” indicated that he worked with wood for a living, while someone named Knight bore a sword. Other occupational names include Archer, Baker, Brewer, Butcher, Carter, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Dyer, Farmer, Faulkner, Fisher, Fuller, Gardener, Glover, Head, Hunt or Hunter, Judge, Mason, Page, Parker, Potter, Sawyer, Slater, Smith, Taylor, Thatcher, Turner, Weaver, Woodman, and Wright (or variations such as Cartwright and Wainwright) — and there are many more.
 
This kind of name also gave a clue about whom a servant worked for. Someone named Vickers might have been a servant to Mr. Vicker, and someone named Williams might either have served a William or been adopted by him.
 
From the obscure fact department: In medieval England, before the time of professional theater, craft guilds put on “mystery plays” (“mystery” meaning “miracle”), which told Bible stories and had a call-and-response style of singing. A participant’s surname — such as King, Lord, Virgin, or Death — may have reflected his or her role, which some people played for life and passed down to their eldest son.
 

• Describing a personal characteristic:

Some names, often adjectives, were based on nicknames that described a person. They may have described a person’s size (Short, Long, Little), coloring (Black, White, Green, or Red, which could have evolved into “Reed”), or another character trait (Stern, Strong, Swift). Someone named Peacock might have been considered vain.
 

• From an English place name:

A last name may have pointed to where a person was born, lived, worked, or owned land. It might be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county. Some examples: Bedford, Burton, Hamilton, Hampshire, Sutton. Writer Jack London’s ancestor may have hailed from London.
 

• From the name of an estate:

Those descended from landowners may have taken as their surname the name of their holdings, castle, manor, or estate, such as Ernle or Staunton. Windsor is a famous example — it was the surname George V adopted for the British royal family.
 

• From a geographical feature of the landscape:

Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp, Fields, Forest, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Lake, Moore, Perry, Stone, Wold, Wood, and Woodruff. Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”
 

• Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral:

Patronymic surnames (those that come from a male given name) include Benson (“the son of Ben”), Davis, Dawson, Evans, Harris, Harrison, Jackson, Jones (Welsh for John), Nicholson, Richardson, Robinson, Rogers, Simpson, Stephenson, Thompson, Watson, and Wilson.
 
Matronymic ones, surnames derived from a female given name, include Molson (from Moll, for Mary), Madison (from Maud), Emmott (from Emma), and Marriott (from Mary).
 
Scottish clan names make up one set of ancestral surnames. These include Armstrong, Cameron, Campbell, Crawford, Douglas, Forbes, Grant, Henderson, Hunter, MacDonald, and Stewart.
 

• Signifying patronage:

Some surnames honored a patron. Hickman was Hick’s man (Hick being a nickname for Richard). Kilpatrick was a follower of Patrick.

I'd always assumed that my English surname, Townsend, originated with somebody who lived out on the edge of town. However, one geneological resource offers a more interesting explanation that doesn't fit into any of the 7 categories.
 
The original spelling was "Townshend", and the majority of my U.K. brethren still spell it that way, although Americans are prone to dropping silent letters from their names. The silent "h" is significant, though, because it changes the meaning from "town's end" to "town's hend". "Hend" is a contraction of an Old English word "gehenden", meaning to take possession or to conquer.
 
The surname is most common in the northeastern part of England, site of many Viking incursions. The name may actually be derived from distant ancestors who arrived via the North Sea to do mischief, then got so worn out from the raping and pillaging they just decided to stay in England.
 
At least, that's the etymology I choose to believe, because it's much cooler than having some ancestor who just happened to be an early suburbanite.

Spacey, I don't think that "human" is a requirement.

SteveStrummerUK

• From a geographical feature of the landscape:

Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp, Fields, Forest, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Lake, Moore, Perry, Stone, Wold, Wood, and Woodruff. Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”
 

'Tis where mine came from.

I was told mine is derived from cup/container. My ancestors in Poland were probably potters.
 
I just changed the first "t" to "s".

Kenny LOL ...I can sure relate but can't repeat what I was called...not sure what it meant but I know it wasn't nice.
 
So if my last name was Henley; is that English? Is that good if it is? I know the cops always asked if I was related to Don and if that was my real name lol.

jamesg1213
Roughly, it means 'high wood' (kind of appropriate eh?) from Old English 'Hean' (high) + 'Leah' (wood)

That is cool! Thanks James.

 
You can enter your surname on Ancestry here to see its meaning:

• http://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

bapu
I was told mine is derived from cup/container. My ancestors in Poland were probably potters.
 
I just changed the first "t" to "s".

Isn't Bapu a name more common in Mumbai?

craigb

SteveStrummerUK

• From a geographical feature of the landscape:

Some examples are Bridge, Brooks, Bush, Camp, Fields, Forest, Greenwood, Grove, Hill, Knolles, Lake, Moore, Perry, Stone, Wold, Wood, and Woodruff. Author Margaret Atwood is probably descended from someone who lived “at the wood.”
 

'Tis where mine came from.

Craig Bush ?  that would explain a lot ;)

So I wood be S. Plit Personality?

Maternal grandfather's name was Garner, a derivative of gardener.
He was a gardener.

Martin
 
Martin Name Meaning            English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak, Spanish (Martín), Italian (Venice), etc.: from a personal name (Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, genitive Martis, the Roman god of fertility and war, whose name may derive ultimately from a root mar ‘gleam’). This was borne by a famous 4th-century saint, Martin of Tours, and consequently became extremely popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. As a North American surname, this form has absorbed many cognates from other European forms.English: habitational name from any of several places so called, principally in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Worcestershire, named in Old English as ‘settlement by a lake’ (from mere or mær ‘pool’, ‘lake’ + tun ‘settlement’) or as ‘settlement by a boundary’ (from (ge)mære ‘boundary’ + tun ‘settlement’). The place name has been charged from Marton under the influence of the personal name Martin.
 
Roman God of fertility and war...I can live with that.

I had always assumed Barnes was related owning or barn or working in a barn. Intrestingly there is an alternative source.

name borne by the son or servant of a barne, a term used in the early Middle Ages for a member of the upper classes, although its precise meaning is not clear (it derives from Old English beorn, Old Norse barn ‘young warrior’).

Interesting topic, Sir Strummer,
 
In the Netherlands we have these 7 types too. What I noticed is that each type is more dominant in a particular region. Examples:
In the Southwest of the Netherlands; Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral
In the South of the Netherlands:  From an Dutch place name
In the East of the Netherlands: From a geographical feature of the landscape