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Show How the Joneses, Hansons And Smiths Were Named Some family names grew out of first names. Thus, we have Johnson John-son (son of John), Peterson (son of Peter), Hanson (son of Hans), and so on. The common name of Jones also came from a first name. Long ago in England, it was the custom to speak of a man by a single name as John or Richard, or whatnot. Sometimes the members of his family were called "the John" of "the Johnses" or "the Richards" in the case of a family with Richard as the father. The names "Johnses" seems to have been changed to "Jones," to make it short. A great number of names sprang from occupations. The name of Smith became common in early days because there were so many smiths at work. Not only were there blacksmiths, but also goldsmiths, gold-smiths, silversmiths, arrowsmiths and locksmiths. |