Well, just remember that people went by meaningful names - Sergei Kuznets is Sergei, the blacksmith. Plus, recall that -er names are often occupational. So Tom Blackthumb learned to respect hammers that day, Old Greta is not the village beauty by that name (tho’ she probably had her day), plus names like Pukey or Puddinhead that refer to unfortunate childhoods, &c.
[I had a character who reflected the reality of Russia up to the 20th century: Irina Sergeievna Kuznets was just that, “child of Sergei the blacksmith.” She had no idea what year it was; her village was simply “the village,” and needed no other name; the priest was “Father Georg,” and her world ended at the horizon. She was illiterate and superstitious, a walking Dark Age, and of course none of that mattered to the man who saw her and fell base over apex…]
no subject
[I had a character who reflected the reality of Russia up to the 20th century: Irina Sergeievna Kuznets was just that, “child of Sergei the blacksmith.” She had no idea what year it was; her village was simply “the village,” and needed no other name; the priest was “Father Georg,” and her world ended at the horizon. She was illiterate and superstitious, a walking Dark Age, and of course none of that mattered to the man who saw her and fell base over apex…]