Japanese is more like 'bob from the long field', 'steve from the middle of the village', etc. and are often place references (certain classes had more rights before people had the right to surnames, so a bit different that far back).
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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There are a lot of surnames like that in English. Westfield, Norwood, Whitmore, Blackwell, etc.
In Danish you get some very precise locations of farms relative to villages and see names like Nordestgaard (North East Farm), Højgaard (high farm, i.e., on a hill), Bjerregaard (mountain farm)
Yep, very true. I couldn't think of any examples when writing, but I often mention that when people talk about how cool Japanese names are "because they have (characters that have) meaning". We have those in English, too!
“Son, you come from a long line of Dontanswers. Now do your ancestors an honorable turn and impose the most annoying phone conversation in history on this near-stranger.”
Dad, we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty.
The past had a LOT of smiths.
Or maybe it was the sexiest profession back then.
It’s because most anvils were tuned to G. It was considered the original root scale step because anvils often worked best when tuned to G. But back in those days, it was called Sol (Solfège.) In french, Sol means ground, which is at the bottom. Ergo, every hammer driven by the smith was really just a sort of mating call that sent all the bottoms running to the smith’s doorstep. This is where the expression “she built like an anvil” comes from
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Metalsmith, Blacksmith, Gunsmith, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Locksmith, Coppersmith, Tinsmith, Wordsmith, Songsmith
Poopsmith
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Smiths and millers were common enough professions that basically every village had one but rare enough to be useful as a description. John the farmer would have been way too vague, leading to names that come from physical appearance, place of origin or relatives‘ given names.
John the farmer would have been way too vague
"De boer", or "the farmer" is the 10th most common surname in the Netherlands. Top three are "The young", "son of Jan" and "The Frisian".
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Smiths were generally wealthier so they had a better diet and what amounted to medical care, and they were rarely put in combat because they were needed to make weapons. So more of them survived.
[smiths] were rarely put in combat because they were needed to make weapons. So more of them survived.
That's how it works for my dwarves, too.
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I do this, too, and my best friend is in my phone by just his last name (the name he goes by), so when I added his wife to my phone when they got married, I put her in as "Name Hislastname," in that same way of association, like you would add someone as "bill plumber," or whatever. And I realized, wait, is this how married couples sharing a name started? Lol
In one of the British cultures the head of a family/clan went by just the last name, so yeah maybe
Kenny can fuck off and get a job.
Landlord isn't a job.
I'm a school bus driver. Our director of transportation is in my phone as "Patti Busboss". I genuinely have no idea what her real last name is.
What about Stacy's mom?
Lots of Dutch last names are ridiculous, allegedly in defiance of foreign empires forcing the people to adopt them for registration purposes.
according to Wikipedia it's a myth
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You forgot to add the location. John Philadelphia Carpenter.
Hence names like Lee, Stone, Woods, Green, Moore...
Joseph Nazareth Carpenter
I have a friend whose surname is Fletcher. I learned recently that's just an arrow maker. That said I've seen in other regions people are named for what time and location they are born and by gender.
"Just" an arrow maker!? Let's see you make some quality remote stabby-sticks...
Bluetooth stabbers
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Eddie cocaine, mike shit weed.
Ah, you must be talking about Eddie White and Mike Greene.
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Mr. Burns was not an accident on the simpsons.
Matamoros is the one I don't like thinking about.
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