Surnames in England did not come into general use until after William the Conqueror in the 11th century and with the Doomesday Book listing people for tax purposes. Then it become important to tell one John from another John so they could be taxed. This was probably the case in other countries, taxes, taxes.
 
Anyone tracing their ancestery prior to the use of surnames is fooling themselves. There was no census and few other except records as to who had whom except for the Kings and Queens and probably none for those born out of wedlock..
 
I have seen gencoms with ancestors as far back as 400 AD. They have to be kidding!
 
They would have to show me all the souces and copies of the records before I would believe it and then with more than one grain of salt.
 
Try tracing church or other records of your ancestors before 1550 and it becomes very difficult as many of those records were burned during Henry 8th's take over of the churches and also during the English Civil War. 
 
It is hard enough doing researach in the South with all the records burned during our Civil War without going into fairytale land as some seemed to have done.
 
Clay

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