 Some early Norman nobles in England chose to drop the French derivations and call themselves instead after their new English holdings.Surnames were uncommon prior to the 12th century, and still somewhat rare into the 13th; most European surnames were originally occupational or locational, and served to distinguish one person from another if they happened to live near one another (e.g., two different people named John could conceivably be identified as 'John Butcher' and 'John Chandler').This still happens, in some communities where a surname is particularly common.