So the other day I'm trying to figure out what Mary's (Jesus' mother) last name was. In my research I came to find out that in those days, many people did not have last names. In fact, "most" didn't.
Think about it, many names in the Bible (go through the books of the Bible like Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) do not have last names. I know... you're thinking Simon Paul or Mary Magdaline (if that's spelled right) but maybe those were just considered one whole name... like Mia-Grace or Billy-Joe.
Back to my point. Back in those days, people used references to their city name, their job profession or from whom they decended. For example (these names are fictional for sample purpose):
Mark of Winterville
Timothy the Potter
John, Son of Zebedee
So, with that said... maybe thats how we got some of those last names we have today. Last names like:
Potter
Tailor
Cooke
Smith
Miller
Fisher
Goldman
Booker
Baker, etc.... (tons more)
You get my point. Don't know any of this for a fact. Just something to think about. The more over populated the towns/world became, the use of "last names" became a must.
Thoughts?
A very interesting concept
ReplyDeleteMany of them may have had last names, the bible may just not have record of them. It doesn't hold record of EVERYTHING that happened then haha. I'm sure that's an insurmountable task for any history book let alone the bible. It may also be just that there was no need for them to have last names if they carried no means of hereditary title. There's a number of different possibilities and no one is more likely than the next.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Who knows. That's why I said "Don't know any of this for a fact. Just something to think about."
ReplyDeleteI like posting fun things to think about. What's your theory of how people created last names back in the beginning?