During the Old English period, single names were the norm and additional names were a rarity although a certain number of additional, descriptive, names are sometimes encountered.
The proportion of additional names became considerably larger after the Norman conquest of 1066 and one analysis of between five and six thousand names encountered in documents written between the conquest and the turn of the 12th century discovered that additional names were used in some fourty per cent of cases. These are encountered in English, Latin and French, and fell (approximately) into several groups;
names indicating occupation such as Theobald thegn (the thane) and Hugo Diaconus (the deacon)
names indicating a relationship such as Almarus frater Stigandi (brother of Stigand)
place names in the form Radulphus de... (of...) or Willelmus Flanderensis (of Flanders), and,
names describing a characteristic such as Aluric Petit (short) or Edric Lang (tall)
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the incidence of additional names in written records increases steadily until, by the end of the 13th century, practically every person in any official records is mentioned using two names. This is probably due more to the increase in the number of written records than everyday usage as the scribes needed to distinguish between many peple with popular names such as Godfrey, Godwin, Hugo and Ralph. The incidence of place names incresed significantly towards the end of this period as has that of English names, especailly when these describe an occupation.
It is also towards the end of the 13th century that surnames began to appear as hereditary family names and the custom of using such surnames spread throughout all strata of society though perhaps more rapidly amongst the upper classes. By the 15th century, records show some three quarters of the population using hereditary surnames.
A large proportion of the surnames encountered in the 15th century have survived into modern times although the same surname might be used by several familes (as, for example, in surnames denoting an occupation, or by inheritance) and spelling may vary slightly because the names tended to be written as pronounced locally.
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