It’s the first day of school. The teacher is taking attendance. The whole class listens as the teacher hopelessly tries to pronounce some poor kid’s last name. Sound familiar?

Where did last names come from? How did some of us end up with really unique last names that are impossible to pronounce while others of us get stuck with common ones like Johnson or Smith?

Well, the original purpose of last names, or surnames, was to distinguish people from others with the same first name. Many people adopted their father’s name as their surname. Sometimes they added son to the end, like in Johnson and Richardson.

Other early surnames were based on key features of a person’s appearance. Names like Little and Short were based on their size; White and Brown described complexion or hair color. Some names even combined adjectives with nouns to form surnames like Longfellow and Blackbeard.

Occupation was another source for surnames. Baker, Smith and Carpenter all originally came from an ancestor’s job.

This explains the origins of more common last names. But what about those less common ones?

Many last names probably started out as something common, but as time went on, the pronunciation or spelling changed slightly. The surname Reed for example probably started out as Red, but as it was inherited from generation to generation, its spelling changed.

In America, there are people with all sorts of racial backgrounds. Many last names are derived from different languages.

It’s true, less common last names can often be more difficult to pronounce. But whether your last name is in the top five most common, top 100, or not even on the list, wear it with pride.