The colonists had surnames prior to migrating to the new world, so the statement above is nonsense.
Alden, Allerton, Adams, Billington, Bradford, Brewster, Bitteridge, Carter, Butten, Bosworth, Boswell, Carpenter, Rice, Delano, Carver, Bacon, Cooke, Doty, Fuller
Those are several of the surnames of the passengers of the first 4 ships to New England, and just up to the letter 'F'
In France in 575 AD if you were a barrel maker your name might be Cooper but in colonial america you took your father's surname.