Patronymic, matronymic, or ancestral. Patronymic surnames (those that come from a male given name) include Benson (âthe son of Benâ), Davis, Dawson, Evans, Harris, Harrison, Jackson, Jones (Welsh for John), Nicholson, Richardson, Robinson, Rogers, Simpson, Stephenson, Thompson, Watson, and Wilson.rom an English place name. A last name may have pointed to where a person was born, lived, worked, or owned land. It might be from the name of a house, farm, hamlet, town, or county. Some examples: Bedford, Burton, Hamilton, Hampshire, Sutton.
JOHN DICKINSON Delaware. Birth: 19 November 1732, at Crosiadore, Talbot County, Maryland Death: 14 February 1808, at Wilmington, Delaware Interment: Friends Burial Ground, Wilmington, Delaware. Oil on canvas, by Charles Willson Peale (1780); Independence National Historical Park. John Dickinson represented both Delaware and Pennsylvania at the founding of the republic. A man of the Enlightenment, he believed that government was a solemn social contract between the people and their sovereign.
John Steinbeck, Literary Legend. John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902  December 20, 1968) was one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century. Over his writing career, Steinbeck wrote nearly 30 books, including several novels, non-fiction books and short story collections. But he wasn't always a working writer.