on why do people have last names as a color and how did they get them?

Question

I’ve heard of Green, Brown, Black, White. I’m just curious was to how the originated as a family name? How many more are there?

In: Other

Answer 1

They are typically descriptive names telling a feature about an ancestor. So Green would likely be someone’s eye color, Red hair, Brown both as well as possibly skin tone, etc.

Some of them, like green may also have geographical connections such as someone who lived on or next to a village green, or in a particularly wooded area.