Timeline for Is there a reason American parents choose common words as surnames for their children?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
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| Aug 24, 2020 at 12:55 | comment | added | AsheraH | In part of Europe at least, some surnames actually sound silly, because when the bureaucratic requirement that every citizen be registered was implemented, people got to choose their own name and to spite the government they went for a ridiculous one, not realising their entire family tree for years to come would be stuck with it. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 19:12 | comment | added | Joe | @BartvanIngenSchenau I interpreted those questions more as being confused as to how surnames work in the west, but certainly it does indicate possibly a good followup question :) | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 17:50 | comment | added | Bart van Ingen Schenau | @Joe, it was the follow up comments of the OP that made me think the question was not really about parenting after all. If it was the initial question, I'd have commented on that. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 15:38 | history | edited | Joe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 22, 2020 at 15:28 | comment | added | Joe | Definitely would be a better fit on History to get more of the details, @BartvanIngenSchenau, but I think it's okay here - at least as it was initially considered, which is "why do parents [do x]". Turns out they don't really do that - but it's okay to ask a question that the answer is that way. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 9:06 | comment | added | Bart van Ingen Schenau | @Nav, a question about the history of surnames and why some are so strange might be better suited for History. I know that when formal surnames were mandated (in the early 1800's in the Netherlands), not everybody was very creative or took it seriously. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 6:42 | history | edited | Joe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 22, 2020 at 6:36 | comment | added | Joe | @Nav Names came from trade names in the 1000s-1400s. Then the names were passed down over the centuries, generally keeping the father's surname. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 6:30 | comment | added | Nav | Thank you. Names came from trade names? Sandra Bullock's parents were an opera singer and an army-man whose dad was a rocket scientist. Perhaps it's a name carried on from much earlier in the family tree. Tom Cruise? Unlikely they manufactured cruise liners. Jessica Null? There seems to be some other aspect to naming, which we haven't considered. Though I do remember names like "Engineerwala" among Parsis. | |
| Aug 22, 2020 at 5:36 | history | edited | Joe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 22, 2020 at 5:26 | history | answered | Joe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |