Relationship names “Surnames of this type existing at the present day are the survivors of a much larger number of surnames which can be found before 1400, many of them by-names which never became hereditary.” e.g. Childresfadre, Milnerstepson, Le Pristesbrother McKinley History of British Surnames Note: McKinley treats relationship surnames as a sub-division of the class of nicknames. Although they could be equally regarded as encompassing patronymics.