They were created to differentiate repeated names – a common fact since the most ancient cultures. The first known surnames are patronymics – names that refer to the father: Simão Filho de Jonas, for example. This genre became widespread in the English language, where there are a large number of surnames that end in son (son) – such as Stevenson, or “son of Steven”. As this method was limited, some surnames began to also identify the place of birth: Heron of Alexandria. They became hereditary as land ownership passed from generation to generation. For this very reason, nobility and clergy were the first segments of society to have a surname, while the lower classes were called only by their first names.
The last name, identifying the family, was even used as a “document” when buying and selling land, a luxury reserved only for the most favored. “There are documents from 1161 in which the people mentioned already had surnames”, says historian Rosemeire Monteiro, from the Federal University of Ceará. The custom expanded with the inclusion of physical and geographic characteristics or names of professions. Thus, the name Rocha means that the patriarch of this family probably lived in a rocky region. Silveira, for example, comes from the Latin silvester (from forest), which also gave rise to the popular Silva. The systematic registration of family names, regardless of social class, began in the 16th century, by decree of the Catholic Church, at the Council of Trent (1563).
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