Many family names come from "son of" etc. The "O'" in Irish names supposedly came from "grandson of". My surname is "Ward", apparantly from "Mac an Bhaird" (Though I'm not sure how it got from the long form to the short form. I do know that Gaelic pronunciation is a [to me anyway] strange art.) And my mother's (Oh blast I'm going have to change the security on all my bank accounts now e) is "Bowen" from "Ap Owen", son of Owen. Price from Ap Rhys is another of this form.
I have searched back a way and found some fun names. Tylcoat is my grandmother's name which means either the man who tiled roofs/rooves or who lived in one (when it was a rarity). I once dined with another Tylcoat where our family branches met in 1520.
And we have traced the Dubois branch of our tree back to a Jacquet du Boz who emigrated to Switzerland from France about 1450.
But the name I would like to find out more about is Scheichelbauer (sp?) who apparently emigrated to London from Belgium about 1830. I haven't found any other instances of this yet.
Rod