C.M. Matthews traces the development of the surname over the centuries, from its conception, to its unquestioned acceptance. This development was subject to historical events and social change, occurrences which shaped the lives of our ancestors as they advanced toward a more complex society and ordered civilisation. The first surnames were used purely to distinguish two people with the same Christian name. Many were simply a suffix to a name, a description which would specify a particular person. This usually fell to their occupation, some of the earliest surnames being Smith or Baker, a...