We didn't always have a surname; indeed it's still the norm in some countries such as Burma for people not to have a surname. But in other countries, surnames gradually became a necessity as the population increased, to help differentiate family members and other people living in the same community. In the United Kingdom this happened around the time of the Norman Conquest.

Surnames developed organically from a variety of different sources, such as where the person lived, who their father was, what their job was, any obvious physical attributes, their personality, and many, many other sources. This leads to an enormous number Binary Meta Bot Reviews of surnames, with well over 40,000 in the UK alone. The person the surname was intended for usually didn't have a say in their own surname, meaning they were often the subject of mocking, insulting, or just plain bizarre surnames as a result. William, Prince of Orange, having lost a part of his nose in battle, was called William with the Short nose by others.

Here are some other interesting examples:

Choate - meaning fat or chubby.
Beanshop - someone who owned a bean shop!
Balch - arrogant or haughty person.
Dalrymple - dale of the crooked pool.
Peabody -as handsome as a peacock.
And some more pleasant ones: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/binary-meta-bot-review-meghan-g Godard - someone of a divine nature or disposition.
Osborn - hero's son.
Truebody - trusty messenger.