What kind of name is Johnson?

Answer 1

Last names are a relatively recent invention in human history. Long ago, people only had a given name, and if there were two people in the village with the same name, there were a few ways to tell them apart.

One was by their job. If Robert was a blackmith, he might be called "Robert the smith", and if James was a candlemaker, he might be called "James the chandler".

Another way to tell people was by their birthplace; If John can come from York, he would be "John of York".

Another way of telling people apart would be by using a "patronymic" or "father's name". If John from York had a son named Richard, Richard could be Richard, John's son". The Russians have long used patronymics as middle names, using suffixes like "vich" which means "son" and 'ova" which means "daughter". So Gregory son of John would become "Gregor Ivanovich", and his sister Katherine became "Katarina Ivanova"

Soon the "the" and "froms" were dropped; Robert the smith became Robert Smith, and Richard became "Richard Johnson". And his son Jason becomes "Jason Richardson".