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         A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.

         Using the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated; "to say `he spent the evening reading Shakespeare' is metonymic because it substitutes the author himself for the author's works".

         Click here for further definition/examples (Wikipedia).

         Some names were simply added when those without a surname suddenly needed one.

         A lady-in-waiting for royalty might have had no traditional surname, but would require one if no longer in the service of royalty. In times of political turmoil, a deposed ruler might require a smaller staff, and long-time servants would find themselves among commoners -- and suddenly in need of a surname.

         Names were sometimes invented as combinations of other words.

         A family name derived from name of your father or a paternal ancestor (especially with an affix (such as -son in English or O'- in Irish) added to the name of your father or a paternal ancestor)

         Of or derived from a personal or family name.

         A patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother is a matronym. Each is a means of conveying lineage.

         The most widely found category is that which contains surnames derived from a place easily recognizable when surnames were adopted.

         When a man left his homeland and moved to another country, he was distinguished from his neighbors by the identity of his homeland -- Walsh hailed from Wales, Norman was from Normandy, Norris was Norwegian.

         Some men were from cities well-enough known that the city was the distinguishing reference as in Paris. Towns were used in the same fashion, as were major rivers and geographic features. Less obvious now are those names which identified a man by the location of his house. John Atwood lived at the woods, but exactly which one has long since been lost. Other names can be traced to the exact locale where the first to bear the name kept his residence. As with the Patronymic designators, languages varied in the way a place was denoted, as in the Dutch name Van Gelder (from the county of Gelder). The Germans used Von as the French used de or De, and both often reflected aristocracy.

         Surnames representing localities are easy to spot if they come from a specific geographical area or part of land: Marsh, Middleton, Sidney, or Ireland, for example. The evolution of language has made others are less obvious: Cullen ("back of the river"), and Dunlop ("muddy hill").

Some sources include: American Surnames by Elsdon C. Smith, Baltimore, 1969; A Dictionary of Surnames , by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, New York, 1994; Family Names: How Our Surnames Came To America , by J. N. Hook, New York, 1982.