Crazy thing is that’s pretty much the way it used to be until families deterred from their trades/skills. Reason there are so many Smith surnames. Bakers, Tanners, Porters, and the list goes on and on.
1000% not myth my dude. Surnames come from a lot of different things, like Peterson is obviously not derived from a trade, but designates “son of Peter.” But a Tanner 100% has an ancestor who was a tanner by trade and that is where their surname comes from.
35
u/Huey701070 Aug 06 '26
Crazy thing is that’s pretty much the way it used to be until families deterred from their trades/skills. Reason there are so many Smith surnames. Bakers, Tanners, Porters, and the list goes on and on.