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How did surnames persist when the original line ended?

This is a very basic question, but I cannot find an answer. My surname, Power,( hello, Waterford!)  is said to indicate descent from the de la Poer Norman family that held a large part of Waterford from the estate called Curraghmore.  There are maybe millions of us.

( My own g-gfather left Waterford for the US in 1874.None of his brothers stayed in Waterford, so I’m not closely connected to Power families living there now)
However, the last Marquess of that name died in 1704. He left a daughter who married a Marquis Beresford. Therefore, No more Power descendants.

So how did all of us contemporary Powers come by the name? Are we descended from younger sons born n the 17th century? Did the peasants on Power lands take the surnames of their masters? Was there a church or civil rule that determined surname usage?

Thanks in advance for your explanations

 

MegPower

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My understanding is that originally folk didn’t have surnames at all. When the need for one started to develop (some academics say around 1100 AD in Ireland) they were acquired in various different ways. Examples being the patronymic system where your father’s name was used, eg McDonnell being the son of Donnell, others were from natural features eg blond people sometimes became anglicised as Boyd (from the Irish word for yellow), others from an occupation eg Taggart is from the word for priest. Others appear to have taken the names of local big landowners. Power is probably in that category.

There was no compulsion or law involved, or none that I have ever read about.

In the 1901 Irish census there were over 11,000 people named Power in Ireland. Are they all descended from the original de la Poer family? I doubt it very much.

As Anglo-Normans the original Powers will have arrived in Ireland in the mid 1100s (from Wales or England and before that Normandy). So by the time the landowning Power family in Waterford became extinct in the early 1700s, there was plenty of opportunity for others to have acquired the name.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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