1. Estate
2. Geographical Features
3. Occupation
4. Patronage
5. Patronymic
6. Personal Characteristics
7. Place
* Re the above: Estates include names like Windsor (the Royal Family); Geographical Features are names like Bridge, Lake, Wood, etc. Occupational names include obvious ones like Baker and Butcher as well as less obvious ones like Wainwright and Walker, both dead or dying professions. Patronage includes names like Kilpatrick, meaning a follower of some important dude named Patrick. Patronymic or Ancestral Names may end in -son, eg Watson or Wilson. Scottish clan names are also Patronymics. Names derived from Personal Characteristics include Strong and Swift. Place Names include names of cities or towns such as Bedford or Sutton (in Surrey). Before the Norman Conquest, surnames were infrequent in England, ordinary people were generally known by their given names (Christian names), but with a growing population and just as importantly the development of civilisation, a fuller form of identification became necessary.
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