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Family names are a matter of custom, and not all societies have used them. Even today, there are populous countries where they are not used much. In medieval Europe, there was no custom of using them.

There really was no need for them. In Western Europe, most people farmed and lived on farming estates. The estates were small, and everyone knew everyone else, so there was no need to retain information about a person's family in his name.

Our oldest evidence of medieval family names being used comes from Ireland, in the early 10th century. The use of family names was possibly established in England by the Normans, who used the name of the continental village their people came from as a name. Various English laws encouraged people to use family names, and they became commonplace there before the end of the Middle Ages.

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13y ago

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