Smiths and millers were common enough professions that basically every village had one but rare enough to be useful as a description. John the farmer would have been way too vague, leading to names that come from physical appearance, place of origin or relatives‘ given names.
Smiths and millers were common enough professions that basically every village had one but rare enough to be useful as a description. John the farmer would have been way too vague, leading to names that come from physical appearance, place of origin or relatives‘ given names.
“De boer”, or “the farmer” is the 10th most common surname in the Netherlands. Top three are “The young”, “son of Jan” and “The Frisian”.
Who’s Jan
ur mom
(???)