"a family name (last name also, Last name or official name is simply German) complementary to the first name of better distinctness of persons.
is a sociological and historical terms with the family name of the individual belonging to a family. The maiden name (deprecated in women referred to as a maiden name) expresses the membership of the parent family, the married name belonging to the family of the spouse and the double name belonging to two families of the marriage partners. Also apply to artists and religious name as a surname without this, a kinship terms have.
development the family name in Europe
In the 9th Century was first passed in Venice, a family name. This custom spread from there in the 10th Century northern Italy and southern France from. In the 11th Century came the use to Catalonia and Northern France in the 12th Century England and in the area of \u200b\u200bSwitzerland. Thereafter, the use of a fixed family name in the western and southern towns was common. Early 15th Century, family names everywhere in the German language to be found, but not consistently. Nor was the family name change yet, for example, emigration or due to new employment. While the nobility since the heritability the fief in 1037 fixed family names was in order to make his claim inheritance rights, followed later by the patricians and burghers. Rural areas were without a fixed surname until 17 or 18 Century, in Friesland, he was only in the 19th Century, introduced by law. " (Wikipedia)
