It took me a little while to remember that Roko has a last name, Basilisk. Wonder why more AIs don't seem to use last names? ("Corpse Witch" just seems like a first name to me, but I dunno.)
AIs probably don't have a last name because the primary reason they exist is to establish a family.
You sure about that? Or about the universal validity of that statement? When you have a registry or phonebook, that thought makes sense - only those are very, very recent innovations at least amongst Europids
Surnames have not always existed and today are not universal in all cultures. This tradition has arisen separately in different cultures around the world. In Europe, the concept of surnames became popular in the Roman Empire and expanded throughout the Mediterranean and Western Europe as a result. During the Middle Ages this practice died out as Germanic, Persian, and other influences took hold. During the late Middle Ages surnames gradually re-emerged, first in the form of bynames (typically indicating individual's occupation or area of residence), which gradually evolved into modern surnames. In China surnames have been the norm since at least the 2nd century BC.
The 14 most common surnames in Germany
all indicate (medieval) occupations (and IIRC, the concept of surnames didn't become widespread hereabouts until about 200 years ago):
1. Müller, occupation (miller)
2. Schmidt, occupation (smith) (all homophones combined would rank first)
3. Schneider, occupation (tailor)
4. Fischer, occupation (fisherman)
5. Weber, occupation (weaver)
6. Mayer, occupation (originally a manorial landlord, later a self-employed farmer) (all homophones combined would rank second)
7. Wagner, occupation (wainwright)
8. Becker, occupation (baker)
9. Schulz, occupation (medieval sheriff)
10. Hoffmann, occupation (steward or courtier)
11. Schäfer, occupation (shepherd)
12. Koch, occupation (cook)
13. Bauer, occupation (farmer or peasant)
14. Richter, occupation (judge)
The line is interrupted
for the first time at place 15 with "Klein" - "(the) little (one)".
The 100 most common surnames in German are derived from: occupations, traits, first names and, very rarely: housenames (König, Kaiser - King, Emperor, respectively) or tribe.
All in all,
47 of the 100 most common surnames in Germany indicate
occupations. The occupation of farmer ('Bauer' in German, place 13) was so widespread that it was unsuited to differentiate between different people living even in very small rural communities - hence, German farmers often had surnames referencing their place of residence ('Berg(mann)' or 'Bach(mann)' - mountain(-man) and 'creek(-man)', respectively).
Could be its different with you 'Merricans, but Krauts seemed to find it more practical to associate people with
what they were doing, or
where they were doing it - maybe because those are pretty handy ways of
locating the respective individual, when you don't have a county clerk's registry.
Edit:
Spanish naming customs even use
two surnames.