The origin of surnames and coats of arms  have a very long history. In the Past surnames were not used, this possibly as a result of low population and the existing small towns, where everyone was known by only one name without the need more distinctions.

It was in ancient Rome, where for the first time the surname was used to identify people. As an example, we "Galius Scipio Cicero", where "Galius" is the name of the individual, "Scipio", the name to identify the people or family (specifically a surname), and the name "Cicero", which was a kind nickname of the person to identify a more precise manner.

This custom was lost at the beginning of the Middle Ages, and individuals were known only by his baptismal name, around the year 1000 AD, when the city of Venice, and then with a lot of people a second name was added the first name to avoid confusion.

The use of surnames quickly spread from the nobility to all social classes, and by the sixteenth century the majority of surnames were formed.
By the year 1564 the Council of Trent ordained priests of the parishes to create a register with name and surname of each person.

The use of surnames by the resurgent need to distinguish people with the same name, most often the father's name was added to the name as an example we have "Luis the son of Hernan" where after drift Luis Hernandez. When the father was not known, which is presented to people who migrated from one place to another, the names were used in this case used the name of the place of origin.
Sometimes it was work or occupation, which was taken as a surname, for example the name or Herrera Herrero.

Types of names

Patronymic surnames

Patrimonicos names are present in almost all cultures, and refer to a person identified by his relationship with another person, usually his father, and rarely to her mother:
The patrimonicos are identifying by name a person is "son of" the father, is distinguished in English by "Son" as Johnson mianing "Son of John"
In Italy we have "di", "de", for example: Di Giovanni, De Luca, though most Italian surnames end in "o" (male name) and i-from a Latin masculine genitive (eg Bernardi means "Bernardo").

Surname Toponomicos

Toponomics Surnames  identify when a person lived, for example the region of Lombardy in Italy (We have the surnames Lombard, Lombardi, Lombardini)
in local areas if the name was associated with a well-known by the community, eg, Fontana, La Porta (of the source, gate)
and in terms of geographical origin arises as a result of migration of people, so this place had to be known by the community, if the person has any village, the village's name was used, we have a clear example of this in the film The Godfather (The Godfather), Vitto Corleone where he adopted the name of his hometown (Corleone, Sicily, Italy), but this movie really reflects what happened in many cases of immigrants upon arrival in America.

Occupational surname

Work or occupation was used as a distinctive occasions in people added to their name, eg Fabbri Ferrari, Carpenter Smith.

Nicknames as surnames

Sometimes the characteristics of appearance or personality of an individual, determined that nickname was used, some of those ironic nicknames had an origin like Savage (Salbaje in English), Short (short in English), Calvo (Spanish). On occasions were the characteristics that determine hair nickname like Rossi (Italian Red), Red (Spanish), Rubio (Spanish), Ricci (ripple in Italian).

Other nicknames that eventually resulted in surnames are derived from moral characteristics, or as Selvaggio Allegretti (Alegre) "Happy".

There were also animal-related nicknames, nicknames that some were related to animals resulted in the nickname surnames Mosca (small or annoying someone), Cavallo (someone big, noisy or large front teeth), Gatto (one person and agile clever).

It was in the Middle Ages when surnames began to identify families and in most cases the names were connected to a shield.

The name identifies the family to which we belong, have been inherited by generations of parents, leading to our lineage.

Usually everyone has two names one by the father and one from the mother, now the father's name is first, but this was not always so, with that old knight during the Middle Ages took the surname of the mother and even took the first name and surname of the mother.