Last names were ‘normalized’ and became more standardized with the advent of mass literacy, paper availability and documentation, and mobility.
For example, early patronymic Welsh surnames were the result of the Anglicizing of the historical Welsh naming system, which sometimes had included references to several generations: e.g., Llywelyn ap Gruffydd ap Morgan (Llywelyn son of Gruffydd son of Morgan), and which gave rise to the quip, "as long as a Welshman's pedigree."
A similar situation could, until relatively recently, be found in the continental Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, where hereditary family names came into widespread use for the general population during the course of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, ultimately as a consequence of legislation.
As the outcome of this, a large majority of Scandinavian family names originated as the patronymics borne by the heads of family at the times when these laws came into effect, and these surnames mostly display a limited variety reflecting the popularity of male given names during the 18th and 19th centuries in those countries.
Heraldry, like early pictographs, logos or icons, also helped designate families across much of Europe.