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In Normandy, well before the Conquest of England, the surnaming protocol had been born of the feudal system. In Saxon England, surnames had not entered the social scheme of ownership and title and first names only were used, with some very rare exceptions. There could only ever be one person identifying himself with entitlement to the Norman domain. Along with that entitlement of domain, he was also the custodian of the family seal, the banner that represented the family in battle, the Coat of Arms, and any other family heirlooms which were carried with his dynasty. None of his progeny were ever allowed to use or copy those family relics during his lifetime. This created a problem if the old man lived to a ripe old age, and many did, there might be sons, even grandsons, requiring to be identified with their posterity and probable hereditary rights of their own new domains at some time in the future. What name would they use?
The first answer was Fitz, meaning the 'son of'. This did not mean, as was commonly supposed in earlier times, an illegitimate son. The Viking society rarely made any distinction between descendants in or out of wedlock. Duke William himself was a bastard who had achieved the Duchy of Normandy. Already the Danish Vikings were adopting the tag 'son' on the end of font names for distinction such as Ericson, Estrithson and others to overcome the problem of the continuity of the posterity. Hence, 'son' names are to be found mostly in northern England. Similarly, the prefix Mac was adopted by the Scottish, the "O" by the Irish, and the Ap or Ab by the Welsh. The Normans even introduced the Sr. and Jr. suffix to distinguish father and son but it was not popular. But no such prefix or suffix was adopted in the Saxon naming protocol as far as can be determined
To confuse the record books even more most Fitz names were of a temporary nature until such time as they were changed to a new heritable domain name, or one was acquired from the main hereditary family estates. Younger sons might be given a place name, a domain within the father's domain, which in turn would become their own lifetime domain/surnames. This made the establishment of a genealogical link from the younger sons to their father very difficult, and each of the younger sons grew within their own orbit with a different surname from the father. If they moved, to say, Norman settlements in England, tracing back, linking the younger son relationship to the main stem became an assumption, or was almost impossible. Sometimes the suffix I, II, or III was used and the eldest son's name could be the same as that of the father, so long as the suffix followed. So, Ralph Tesson must have been alive at the Conquest and shortly thereafter, but he must have been a very old man. His son added the numeric II. The grandson, the III. All with the continuity of the same surname but distinguishable one from another. But it was still domain driven, particularly for the younger sons, of which there were usually many. However, it shouldn't be assumed that this was a rigid procedure by any means. It was the beginning of a naming custom, and subject to personal interpretation or family convenience. There were many loopholes in this early system, nor was the procedure followed assiduously.
In Normandy, the scion of the family generally adopted his domain name as his own surname. For instance, Robert Guiscard, used the simple surname of Guiscard in 1045, in addition to many other later titles, including Duke of Sicily. Other Norman houses followed suit in this simple identification of their patrimony, and though the prefix "de" frequently preceded the locative domain name, it would eventually be dropped, considered clumsy by most families. Some retained it until the 14th and 15th centuries but mostly for affectation and distinction, others just blended the 'de' or 'd'' into the surname, as in Defoe.
Curiously, in the Norman culture, it meant that a man, Robert de Mortimer, for instance, might have two names during his own lifetime, a confusing headache no historian should need. If the eldest son, by primogeniture, the beneficiary of his father's estates, hung around for his inheritance he might assume the name, say, Robert FitzHugh, if his father's name was Hugh de Mortimer. On his father's death Robert would then revert to and inherit the old domain name Robert de Mortimer, and all its entitlements. In other words, Robert FitzHugh and Robert de Mortimer were one and the same person.
Norman Surnaming
