People had first names only.
This custom slowly change,the Romans introduced a combination of personal and family names.They usually used three names "PRENOMEN,NOMEN and COGNOMEN".
In England people started to use surnames in 1200.Many family names come from jobs name like BAKER,COOK,CARPENTER,MILLER show an occupation.
People also used places for family names,infact, in the UK,more than half of family names come from places River, hill are some examples.
Other surnames come from personal names,for example RICHARDSON,STEVENSON,JACKSON.
Lot's of Gaelic names are preceted by Macson' or O'Brian .Some nick names
