This was all right and suited the purposes of the Greeks and Romans, who had plenty of time to give full explanations in this way. But in Europe, for instance, civilization demanded more speed, and the increase of population demanded more names, so that nicknames and names indicating personal descriptions and peculiarities came into use. Such names as Long, Short, Small, Brown, White, Green and others of the same kind came from this source, and as families grew these surnames stuck to the family and parents gave their children Christian names to further distinguish them as individuals. Other surnames such as Fowler, Sadler, Smith, Farmer, etc., became attached to people because of the occupations in which they were engaged, and yet other names were derived from places. The owner of an extensive estate would be designated by a Christian name which might be George (after his King) and then to indicate his landownership, von (meaning of) Wood, making the combination of George von Wood, meaning George, the owner of the place called Wood. On the other hand, he might have working for him a laborer who lived at the place and, if his name was Hiram, they would, to indicate where he belonged, put the Wood after the Hiram; but, lest there be confusion as to his class, they would put an At before the Wood and make him Hiram Atwood, indicating his Christian name, where he worked and the fact that he was not a landowner. Many other names were invented in similar manner. When Adams became so common that there would likely be confusion on account of there being so many of them, a son of one of the Adams family would add to the name the fact that he was a son by writing his name Adamson, and thus start a new family name. Thus, in the same way also came Willson, Clarkson, and other names of that kind. For a long time the Jews had only one word for a name, such as Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc. They became so numerous that it was impossible to distinguish them, and so a commission was named to give surnames to all the Jews in addition to their other names. As the race was then, as now, held in derision by the rulers of many nations into which the tribe had become scattered, the people who had charge of the naming of the Jews took advantage of the opportunity to make sport of them, and gave them such names as Rosenstock (Rose bush), Rosenszweig (Rose twig), Rosenbaum (Rose tree), Blumenstock (Flower bush), Blumenthal (Flower valley), etc., etc. Our Christian names are from similar sources, and while many of them are well selected because of their beautiful meanings, there are many of them which mean nothing as words as they were only invented for the purpose of giving a new name to a new child. Why Can You Blow Out a Candle?