Thanks, Bran. The story one usually hears is that in 1811 Napoleon, who was currently in charge of the Low Countries, decreed that all families should have surnames, those being optional until that point. Lots of Dutch families choose surnames at that point. Names from occupations are common in many parts of Europe. In German, the Latin title major, literally 'bigger' (as in major domo), came to be the common surname Meier (many other spellings); this title is similar to the English one of steward which ultimately became the name of the royal house in England and Scotland. Schulz is a contraction of Schultheiß 'mayor; praetorius', the Schult being cognate with Dutch schout. I also ran across a 16th century, German theologian named Michael Praetorius whose German surname was Schulteis.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.