Last Names Explained
An episode in the series "Kan Sakranim". Until the first millennium CE, most people in the world didn't have family names. When they needed to distinguish between people, they added the name of one of the parents, and if really necessary, also that of the grandparents. Another option was to mention the profession or place of residence, as these didn't change much. Most people only received a family name much later, and this happened thanks to everyone's favorite thing: forms. Lots of forms. Daniela explains how we all got family names, and recruits Dr. Avshalom Kor for the mission.