Surnames were imposed on people by the sovereign - and the people did not like it. The rollout of surnames throughout the nations of Europe seems to have occured almost simultaneously suggesting a bigger plan at work behind the scenes. Why were surnames introduced? Not, as you were probably told, to distinguish different people of the same name - since pre-biblical times a man did this by providing his geneology - David son of Jesse son of Boaz son of ... Besides, how many David Smith's do you know? The surname is not really helping the way we are told it is meant too. So what is it really for?