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Originally Posted by Mohoender
Churches were indeed a target but that also how we came to have some very nice fortified churches (very common in certain regions). Marc, you also forgot about the war of religions, french revolution and the various revolutions that spread from it.
The problem with family name is that they are fairly recent except for the nobility. Up to the 18th century most people were registered without family name:
Paul son of Peter and Magdalena, born on the 4th days after easter. Brought to god by Paul and Mary (and that's when you are lucky).
Then, when civil registration became mendatory, family name were added much in the way they were for slaves.
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Further;
The evolution of language, pronunciation, coupled with illiteracy and misspelling would cause names to change. And then translated from one language to the other, or just spelling it phoneticaly, and that is how our family name changed when we came to the U.S. because here the sound starts with "W" and not the "OUE"
And again the evolution of languages and spelling. Anyone try reading things written in their original form from the 16th Century, or how about from the 10th Century.