AT THIS POINT, IT MIGHT BE BENEFICIAL TO DESCRIBE HOW NAMES really came about. We all take pride in our ancestry, but in reality, we could have been called anything.

PRIOR TO 1100 A.D., MOST PEOPLE LIVING IN EUROPE HAD ONLY one name. As populations increased, it was increasingly difficult to distinguish one "John" from another.  Therefore, a second name was added, to give a person a surname and a family name.  These family names were derived from either the occupation, or familiar trait of a man, or the location where he worked or lived.  Also, the name of his father may have been accounted for.  As examples, a house builder, food prepare, and a grain grinder may have had names such as John Carpenter, John Cook, or John Miller. As familiar traits, a small man might have had the name such as "Short," "Little," or "Small." A sly person may have had the name, "Fox." A quiet man's name may have been "Dove." A man who lived on the other side of a large hill may have attracted the name of "Overhill." A man living near a brook may have been called "Brookside," or "Rivers." A man may have derived his name from his father, such as "Johnson'; or "Stevenson."

FROM THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION, IT CAN BE SEEN THAT FAMILY names only came into being during the tenth or eleventh century or later. This does not account for the change; in names because of misspellings or wrong interpretation, say when moving to one village or town or another.

REASONS FOR NAME CHANGES:

DEILER STATES THAT THE RECORDS OF THE FIRST ST. JOHN THE Baptist Church in Edgard, Louisiana (built in 1771) began with the name of Anton Manz, from Strassburg, Germany (now France). The reason that this name "Manz became "Montz" is really quite clear.

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