"It might be a good idea to suggest that each one have a sort of surname, so that there will be no difficulty of that kind hereafter," suggested John.
"A family name would be the proper thing," added the Professor.
"For my part, I don't see how people can get along without it," remarked George.
"But it has not always been the custom to have surnames, or family names," suggested the Professor.
"Yes, they had three names: the first was the prenomen, which was a distinctive mark of the individual; then the nomen, or the name of the clan; and third, the cognomen, which was the family name. The first name was usually written with a capital letter only, like M. Thus, M. Tullius Cicero."
"Well, that is the first time it ever occurred to me that the Romans parted their names in the middle," said George, as he smiled at the allusion.
"The ancient Greeks, with the exception of a few of the leading families in Athens and Sparta, had only a single name. Among the German and Celtic nations each individual had only one name, and that was also true of the ancient Hebrews; the names Abraham, David, Aaron and the others were used singly, and this was also the case in Egypt, Syria and Persia, and throughout all of Western Asia."
"But it has never been so in England, has it?" asked Harry.
"During the entire period that England was under the dominion of the Saxons, the single name was prevalent. But that was changed later when feudalism was established and the different lords began to gather their vassals, and to register them."
"But what is the principle on which the names are built?"
"In various ways; at first they distinguished father and son by adding the word _son_ to the father's name. If he was of German descent _sohn_ would be added; if of Danish origin, the word _sen_, so that the son's name in either case would be William_son_, or Ander_sohn_, or Thorwald_sen_, or a given name with the designation _son_ added."
"But how about the many other names, and those coming after the second generation?"
"They had to be named after the locality, like John _Brook_, or David _Hill_, or something of that kind, even to an occupation, like the _Smiths_, or the _Fishers_, as well as qualifications, such as _Wise_ and _Good_ were adopted as surnames."