Where do the family names come from?
http://forebears.co.uk/surnames
Surnames and family names have arisen throughout history as civilisations advance and become increasingly useful to distinguish people when they are recorded in written records, particularly tax records.
The earliest surnames in Western Europe grew out of existing methods of distinguishing people. Thus, a noble ruling from Savoy may have been known as Umberto de Savoy, a blacksmith may have been known as John le Smith and a bald man may be known as William the Bald; much in the same way we refer to people in similar ways today, such as John the Gob or Rachel the Bean Counter. These names were not necessarily hereditary, but were dictated by circumstance. The son of the noble, Umberto de Savoy, may rule at Lorraine and be known as Lothair de Lorraine, the son of John le Smith may be a cheese-maker and known as Dominic Cheeseman and the son of William the Bald may have a head shaped like an onion and known as Darren Onionhead. Surnames only arose when families decided they were going to stick to a 'pseudo-surname''. This change occurred at different periods in different regions. For example, surnames were largely adopted between the 11th and 16th centuries in England, between the 16th and 19th centuries in Wales and between the 11th and 19th centuries in Scotland. Each family has to be taken on a case by case basis. Though it is not possible to prove the origin of most surnames, it is possible to make educated guesses in some cases.
A surname's origin is influenced by the progenitor's social class and the culture they lived in. Those of higher social status often took surnames that are uncommon today; whereas people of lower social status often took what are today common surnames. It is also clear that people of lower social status had less control over their surnames, no doubt handed to them by aldermen, lords and other authorities. Thus we find numerous insulting surnames, such as 'Tew', Welsh for fat; Tardiff, meaning sluggish and Dullard, meaning a hard and conceited man.
Types of family names
There are four general types of family names:
Patronymic Surnames
The majority of surnames are derived from the name of a male ancestor. These evolved from pre-existing non-permanent naming customs whereby an individual was identified by reference to a male ancestor or ancestors. Some example are: Bedo ap Batho ap Heylin (Welsh: Bedo, son of Batho, son of Heylin), which would become Bedo Batho; Lars Andersen (Scandianvian), Andrew MacDonald (Scottish: Andrew son of Donald) and Henry fil. Grimbald (English: Henry son of Grimbald). Such names are essentially the name of the father, sometimes with a suffix or prefix to denote the name as a patronym.
Occupational Surnames
Surnames derived from the occupation of an ancestor are also common, with Smith being the most common surname in the UK. This category of surnames is divided into two groups: standard occupations and titular occupations, such as Stewart, derived from an ancient clan title in Scotland.
Topographical Surnames
Topographical surnames can be derived from features of a landscape (Hill, Ford) or from place names (London, Aston, Eaton, Molyneux). Those surnames derived from place names were initially adopted by families that held land. However, later such adoptions of surnames derived from place names occurred when people moved from one place to another.
Descriptive Surnames
Descriptive surnames are less common, partly as they were often derived from unflattering characteristics such as: stupidity, girth, baldness and sometimes outright insults like Blackinthemouth. Many of these surnames have disappeared. There is on the other hand good survival of surnames derived from positive or neutral characteristics; Trow & Triggs (meaning trustworthy), Young, White and Good.
What about the Schochenmaiers? What aren't we all?
1. Our family name doesn't come from any
patronym. There is no first name related to "Schochenmaier".
2. Our family name doesn't come from any common word. That is why it's not
descriptive surname.
3. All in all, we may have either topographic or occupational origin, additionally thereto we can be either of mixed origin or of any specific emergence based on any special events.
First theory of Schochenmaier's origin
According to the Occam's razor, which states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected, we should start with the theory advocated by the Schochenmaiers themselves. To my knowledge, there is only one story put into writing, that of Jacob Schochenmaier (1861-1923). The scan of the story can be found on Facebook page of Janet Schochenmaier:
Transcript of it:
"
In Germany, many years ago, there was a wagon and buggy company formed. There were two families involved in this company, the Schoch's and the Mair's, and in some way, these two names were rolled into one, and that is the way that the name Schochenmaier came into being.
When Jacob reached early manhood he became a wheelwright in the company. This trade, for the rest of his life, didn't appeal to him and after his marriage to Barbara Ellen Martin, they made their home on their first homestead in Odessa, U.S.S.R. From Odessa they traveled on a sailing ship to America..."
It was noticed by Clarence Schochenmaier (1920) - grandson of Jacob. As we can see, the familial tradition gives over such an interesting version of the Schochenmaier's origin. One the one hand, it's reliable: the Germans were keeping their traditions and stories for many years. But, on the other hand, it could be a sort of interpretation, a legend or a myth, a pop etymology like eggcorn or something like that. As for me, I do believe in this legend. Only one question is then arisen: what time in the history is it about? If Jacob meant the beginning of the 19 century, then we may consider the story being historically true. However, if it's about 16 or 17 century, then I would be very careful in determining the likelihood ratio... We must confess that we have no idea what Jacob meant by "many years ago"...
By the way, how do you understand this text?
First: Jacob became a wheelwright in the company... but he was born in Russia in 1861 (St. Petersburg Archives under the name of "
Jacob Schochenmeier"). Does it mean that they re-founded their company in the Russian Rohrbach?
Second: "after his marriage ..., they made their home on their first homestead in Odessa". I don't get the chronology of these events. Both of them were born in Ukraine, but it's after the marriage that they made their first homestead in Odessa... Why "after"? If "first homestead" means Russia after Germany, then where had they been before?
So, my opinion is that it's a bit mixed up, but it doesn't trouble the theory of the Schochenmaiers' origin)))
In order to define the time period, let's find out what's the first mention of the Schochenmaiers at all. It will be our next post.
