Welsh: The prefix "Ap" means "son of," leading to names like Bowen (son of John) and Powell (son of Hywel). Baker, Butcher, Mason, Taylor: These names remain instantly understandable, representing the foundational trades that built medieval economies.
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Icelandic: The system remains active today, where individuals are known by their given name followed by their father's name, such as Magnusson. This system varies significantly across different languages, but the core concept remains the same: "son of" or "daughter of.
" English and Scandinavian: The suffix "-son" is the clearest indicator. Similarly, prefixes like "Van" (Dutch), "Von" (German), and "De" (Spanish, French) literally mean "from," pointing to a person's ancestral homeland.
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A person named "de Lyon" was someone from Lyon; "Van Dyke" referred to someone from the Dutch city of Dijk. Wright: Meaning a craftsman or builder, as in shipwright or wheelwright.
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