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{{Short description|Hereditary portion of a personal name}}
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[[File:FML names-2.png|thumb|300px|First/given, middle, and last/family/surname with [[John Fitzgerald Kennedy]] as example. This shows a structure typical for English-speaking cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names.]]
[[File:FML names-2.png|thumb|300px|First/given/forename, middle, and last/family/surname with [[John F. Kennedy|John Fitzgerald Kennedy]] as example. This shows a structure typical for Anglophonic cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names.]]
A '''surname''', '''family name''', or '''last name''' is the mostly hereditary portion of one's [[personal name]] that indicates one's family.<ref>{{cite web|title=Surname|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/surname|website=Britannica|access-date=11 April 2023|language=en|archive-date=17 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317203302/https://www.britannica.com/topic/surname|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=surname|encyclopedia=[[OxfordDictionaries.com|Oxford Dictionaries]]|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/surname|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120071049/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/surname|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 January 2017|access-date=3 October 2017}}</ref> It is typically combined with a [[given name]] to form the [[full name]] of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times the "hereditary" requirement is a traditional, although common, interpretation, since in most countries a person has a right for a [[name change]].


Depending on culture, the surname may be placed at either the start of a person's name, or at the end. The number of surnames given to an individual also varies: in most cases it is just one, but in Portuguese-speaking countries and many Spanish-speaking countries, two surnames (one inherited from the mother and another from the father) are used for legal purposes. Depending on culture, not all members of a family unit are required to have identical surnames. In some countries, surnames are modified depending on gender and family membership status of a person. Compound surnames can be composed of separate names.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Haas|first1=Ann|last2=Elliott|first2=Marc N|last3=Dembosky|first3=Jacob W|last4=Adams|first4=John L|last5=Wilson-Frederick|first5=Shondelle M|last6=Mallett|first6=Joshua S|last7=Gaillot|first7=Sarah|last8=Haffer|first8=Samuel C|last9=Haviland|first9=Amelia M|title=Imputation of race/ethnicity to enable measurement of HEDIS performance by race/ethnicity|journal=Health Services Research|date=1 February 2019|volume=54|issue=1|pages=13–23|doi=10.1111/1475-6773.13099|pmid=30506674|pmc=6338295|issn=1475-6773}}</ref>
A '''surname''', '''family name''', or '''last name''' is the portion (in some cultures) of a [[personal name]] that indicates a person's family (or tribe or community, depending on the culture).<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=surname |dictionary=[[OxfordDictionaries.com]] |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/surname |accessdate=October 3, 2017}}</ref> Depending on the culture, all members of a family unit may have identical surnames or there may be variations based on the cultural rules.


Using names has been documented in even the oldest historical records. Examples of surnames are documented in the 11th century by the [[baron]]s in England. English surnames began as a way of identifying a certain aspect of that individual, such as by trade, father's name, location of birth, or physical features, and were not necessarily inherited. By 1400 most English families, and those from Lowland Scotland, had adopted the use of hereditary surnames.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=BBC – Family History – What's in a Name? Your Link to the Past|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml|access-date=21 September 2020|website=BBC History|language=en-GB|archive-date=20 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920070313/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
In the [[English-speaking world]], a surname is commonly referred to as a last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's full name, after any given names. In many parts of Asia, as well as some parts of Europe and Africa, the family name is placed before a person's given name. In most [[Hispanophone|Spanish-speaking]] and [[Lusophone|Portuguese-speaking]] countries, two surnames are commonly used and in some families even three or more are used (often but not always due to a family claim to nobility).


The study of proper names (in family names, personal names, or places) is called [[onomastics]].
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 [[byname]]s (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.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The complex origins of Chinese names demystified |date=November 18, 2016 |author=Koon, Wee Kek |magazine=Post Magazine |url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2046955/complex-origins-chinese-names-demystified}}</ref>


==History==
A family name is typically a part of a person's [[personal name]] which, according to law or custom, is passed or given to children from one or both of their parents' family names. The use of family names is common in most cultures around the world, with each culture having its own rules as to how these names are formed, passed and used. However, the style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is [[#History|far from universal]]. In many cultures, it is common for people to have one name or [[mononym]], with some cultures not using family names. In most [[Slavic countries]], as well as other countries including [[Greece]] and [[Iceland]], for example, there are different family name forms for male and female members of the family. Issues of family name arise especially on the passing of a name to a new-born child, on the adoption of a common family name on marriage, on renouncing of a family name and on changing of a family name.
===Origin===
While the use of given names to identify individuals is attested in the oldest historical records, the advent of surnames is relatively recent.<ref name="Doll1992">{{Cite news|last=Doll|first=Cynthia Blevins|year=1992|title=Harmonizing Filial and Parental Rights in Names: Progress, Pitfalls, and Constitutional Problems|volume=35|page=227|work=Howard Law Journal|publisher=Howard University School of Law|issn=0018-6813}} ''Note: content available by subscription only. The first page of content is available via [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=info:LBmZUSt6tbgJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&lr=&output=viewport&shm=1&pg=1 Google Scholar]''.</ref> Many cultures have used and continue to use additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals. These terms may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation.<ref name="e082">{{cite web|last=Lederer|first=Richard|title=Our last names reveal a lot about our labor days|website=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=5 September 2015|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-last-names-english-language-lederer-2015sep05-story.html|access-date=2024-06-02}}</ref>


In China, according to legend, family names started with Emperor [[Fuxi|Fu Xi]] in 2000 BC.<ref name="Danesi2007">{{Cite book|last=Danesi|first=Marcel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=as6_qARSebIC|title=The Quest for Meaning|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8020-9514-5|page=48|access-date=21 September 2008}}</ref> His administration standardised the naming system to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. Originally, [[Chinese surname]]s were derived matrilineally,<ref name="naming">{{cite web|url-status=dead|website=Berkeley Linguistics|date=2004|url=http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-2004-names.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519142616/http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-2004-names.pdf|archive-date=19 May 2011|title=Naming practices|at=Chinese naming practices (Mak et al., 2003)}}</ref> although by the time of the [[Shang dynasty]] (1600 to 1046 BC) they had become patrilineal.<ref name="naming" /><ref name="Zhimin">{{Cite journal|last=Zhimin|first=An|year=1988|title=Archaeological Research on Neolithic China|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=29|issue=5|pages=753–759 [755, 758]|doi=10.1086/203698|jstor=2743616|s2cid=144920735}}</ref> Chinese women do not change their names upon marriage.<ref name="q448">{{cite book|last=Ch'ien|first=E.N.M.|title=Weird English|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-674-02953-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fx6o5NXOLoQC&pg=PA310|access-date=2024-06-02|page=310}}</ref> In China, surnames have been the norm since at least the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Koon|first=Wee Kek|date=18 November 2016|title=The complex origins of Chinese names demystified|url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2046955/complex-origins-chinese-names-demystified|magazine=Post Magazine|access-date=3 October 2017|archive-date=4 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004035355/http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2046955/complex-origins-chinese-names-demystified|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Surname law]]s vary around the world. Traditionally in many [[Europe]]an countries for the past few hundred years, it was the custom or law that a woman would on marriage use the surname of her husband and that children of a man would have the father's surname. If a child's paternity was not known, or if the [[putative father]] denied paternity, the new-born child would have the surname of the mother. That is still the custom or law in many countries. The surname for children of married parents is usually inherited from the father.<ref>Kelly, 99 W Va L Rev at 10; see id. at 10 n 25 (The custom of taking the father's surname assumes that the child is born to parents in a "state-sanctioned marriage." The custom is different for children born to unmarried parents.). Cited in [http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A127262.htm#N_15_ Doherty v. Wizner, Oregon Court of Appeals] (2005)</ref> In recent years there has been a trend towards equality of treatment in relation to family names, with women being not automatically required or expected, or in some places even forbidden, to take the husband's surname on marriage, and children not automatically being given the father's surname. In this article, family name and surname both mean the [[patrilineal]] surname, handed down from or inherited from the father's, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Thus, the term "maternal surname" means the ''patrilineal'' surname which one's mother inherited from either or both of her parents. For a discussion of ''[[matrilineal]]'' ('mother-line') surnames, passing from mothers to daughters, see [[matrilineal surname]].


In the early [[Islamic]] period (640–900 AD) and the [[Arab world]], the use of [[patronymics]] is well attested. The famous scholar [[Rhazes]] ({{circa|865–925 AD}}) is referred to as "al-Razi" (lit. the one from Ray) due to his origins from the city of [[Ray, Iran|Ray]], Iran. In the [[Levant]], surnames were in use as early as the [[High Middle Ages]] and it was common for people to derive their surname from a distant ancestor, and historically the surname would be often preceded with 'ibn' or 'son of'. Arab family names often denote either one's [[tribe]], [[profession]], a famous ancestor, or the place of origin; but they were not universal. For example, [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]] (fl. 850 AD) was known by the nisbah "al-'Ibadi", a federation of Arab Christian tribes that lived in [[Mesopotamia]] prior to the advent of [[Islam]].
It is common for women in the entertainment industry (like [[Celebrity|Celebrities]]) to keep their [[maiden name]] after they get married, especially if they achieved their fame before marriage. The same can be said for women who achieved their fame during a previous marriage; For example: [[Kris Jenner]] (born Kris Houghton) was married to her second husband [[Bruce Jenner]] when she rose to prominence in the reality show [[Keeping Up with the Kardashians]] and singer [[Britney Spears]] has been married twice after she rose to prominence but she still uses her maiden name.


In Ancient Greece, as far back as the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Period]] clan names and [[patronymic]]s ("son of") were also common, as in [[Aristides]] as Λῡσῐμᾰ́χου – a genitive singular form meaning son of Lysimachus. For example, [[Alexander the Great]] was known as [[Heracleidae|''Heracleides'']], as a supposed descendant of [[Heracles]], and by the dynastic name [[Caranus of Macedon|''Karanos''/''Caranus'']], which referred to the founder of the [[Argead dynasty|dynasty to which he belonged]]. These patronymics are already attested for many characters in the works of [[Homer]]. At other times formal identification commonly included the place of origin.<ref name="Gill2008">{{Cite book|url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/|title=About Ancient / Classical History|publisher=The New York Times Company|editor-last=Gill|editor-first=N.S.|chapter=Ancient Names – Greek and Roman Names|chapter-url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/nameetymologies/p/AncientNames.htm|access-date=13 May 2016|archive-date=28 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128112818/http://ancienthistory.about.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In [[Anglosphere|English-speaking cultures]], family names are often used by children when referring to adults, but are also used to refer to someone in authority, the elderly, or in a formal setting, and are often used with a [[title]] or [[honorific]] such as [[Mr.]], [[Mrs.]], [[Ms.]], [[Miss]], [[Doctor (title)|Doctor]], and so on. It is also common in English-speaking cultures for individuals to be referred to by their surname instead of their given name by their friends.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} Generally the [[given name]], first name, forename, or personal name is the one used by friends, family, and other intimates to address an individual. It may also be used by someone who is in some way senior to the person being addressed. This practice also differs between cultures; see [[T–V distinction]].


Over the course of the Roman Republic and the later Empire, naming conventions went through multiple changes. (''See [[Roman naming conventions]].'') The [[Nomen gentilicium|''nomen'']], the name of the [[gens]] (tribe) inherited patrilineally, is thought to have already been in use by 650 BC.<ref name="Salway">[[Benet Salway]], "What's in a Name? A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700", in ''[[Journal of Roman Studies]]'', vol. 84, pp. 124–145 (1994).</ref> The ''nomen'' was to identify group kinship, while the ''[[praenomen]]'' (forename; plural ''praenomina'') was used to distinguish individuals within the group. Female ''praenomina'' were less common, as women had reduced public influence, and were commonly known by the feminine form of the ''nomen'' alone.
The study of proper names (in family names, personal names, or places) is called [[onomastics]]. A [[one-name study]] is a collection of vital and other biographical data about all persons worldwide sharing a particular surname.


===Medieval era and beyond===
== Order of names ==
Later with the gradual influence of Greek and [[Christian culture]] throughout the Empire, Christian religious names were sometimes put in front of traditional ''cognomina'', but eventually people reverted to single names.<ref name="Chavez2006">{{Cite web|last=Chavez|first=Berret|date=9 November 2006|title=Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era|url=http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/byzantine/introduction.html|access-date=21 September 2008|website=Official Web Page of the Laurel Sovereign of Arms for the Society for Creative Anachronism|publisher=Society for Creative Anachronism|archive-date=16 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916180738/http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/byzantine/introduction.html|url-status=live}}</ref> By the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. In Western Europe, where Germanic culture dominated the aristocracy, family names were almost non-existent. They would not significantly reappear again in Eastern Roman society until the 10th century, apparently influenced by the familial affiliations of the Armenian military aristocracy.<ref name="Chavez2006"/> The practice of using family names spread through the Eastern Roman Empire, however it was not until the 11th century that surnames came to be used in West Europe.<ref name="j891">{{cite book|last=Kennett|first=D.|title=The Surnames Handbook: A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century|publisher=History Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-7524-8349-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8UTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT19|access-date=2024-06-02|page=19-20}}</ref>
{{further|Personal name#Name order}}
In many cultures (particularly in [[Culture of Europe|European]] and European-influenced cultures in the Americas, Oceania, etc., as well as the Middle East, South Asia, and most African cultures), the surname or family name ("last name") is placed after the personal, [[Given name|forename]] (in Europe) or given name ("first name"). In other cultures the surname is placed first, followed by the given name or names. The latter is often called the [[Name order|Eastern order]] because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from the [[East Asian cultural sphere]], specifically [[Japanese name|Japan]], [[Chinese name|China (mainland and Taiwan)]], [[Korean name|Korea (Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea)]] and [[Vietnamese name|Vietnam]]. This is also the case in [[Hungary]], [[Romania]], [[Bavaria]], [[Austria]], [[Albanian name|Albania and Kosovo]], parts of [[South India]], [[Sri Lanka]], and [[Madagascar]].


Medieval Spain used a patronymic system. For example, Álvaro, a son of Rodrigo, would be named Álvaro Rodríguez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodríguez, but Juan Álvarez. Over time, many of these patronymics became family names, and they are some of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world today. Other sources of surnames are personal appearance or habit, e.g. Delgado ("thin") and Moreno ("dark"); geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemán ("German"); and occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller"), Zapatero ("shoe-maker") and Guerrero ("warrior"), although occupational names are much more often found in a shortened form referring to the trade itself, e.g. Molina ("mill"), Guerra ("war"), or Zapata (archaic form of ''zapato'', "shoe").<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is the origin of the last name Molina?|url=https://www.last-names.net/lastname/molina/|access-date=2023-08-01|website=Last Name Meanings|language=en-US|archive-date=1 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801151148/https://www.last-names.net/lastname/molina/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Since family names are normally written last in European societies, the terms last name or surname are commonly used for the family name, while in Japan (with vertical writing) the family name may be referred to as upper name ({{Nihongo||上の名前|ue-no-namae}}).


In England the introduction of family names is generally attributed to the preparation of the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086, following the [[Norman Conquest]]. Evidence indicates that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and slowly spread to other parts of society. Some of the early Norman nobility who arrived in England during the Norman conquest differentiated themselves by affixing 'de' (of) before the name of their village in France. This is what is known as a territorial surname, a consequence of feudal landownership. By the 14th century, most [[English surnames|English]] and most [[Scottish surnames|Scottish]] people used surnames and in Wales following unification under Henry VIII in 1536.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml#:~:text=Over%20time%20many%20names%20became,and%20to%20get%20passed%20on.|title=BBC – Family History – What's in a Name? Your Link to the Past|access-date=17 May 2022|archive-date=17 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517182045/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml#:~:text=Over%20time%20many%20names%20became,and%20to%20get%20passed%20on.|url-status=live}}</ref>
When those from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong write their personal name in the [[Latin alphabet]], it is common to reverse the order of the given and family names for the convenience of Westerners, so that they know which name is the family name for official/formal purposes. Reversing the order of names for the same reason is also [[Norm (social)|customary]] for the [[Baltic Finns|Baltic Fennic peoples]] and the [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], but other [[Uralic languages|Uralic peoples]] traditionally did not have surnames, perhaps because of the [[clan]] structure of their societies. The [[Samis]] saw no change or a transformation of their name. For example: some Sire became Siri,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://snl.no/Aslak_Jacobsen_H%C3%A6tta |title=Guttorm |publisher=Snl.no |date= 2017-05-29|accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref> Hætta Jáhkoš Ásslat became [[Aslak Hætta|Aslak Jacobsen Hætta]] — as was the [[Convention (norm)|norm]]. Recently, integration into the [[European Union|EU]] and increased communications with foreigners prompted many Samis to reverse the order of their full name to given name followed by surname, to avoid their given name being mistaken for and used as a surname.


A four-year study led by the [[University of the West of England]], which concluded in 2016, analysed sources dating from the 11th to the 19th century to explain the origins of the surnames in the [[British Isles]].<ref name="Origin study">{{Cite news|date=17 November 2016|title=Most common surnames in Britain and Ireland revealed|agency=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38003201|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-date=2 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102104217/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38003201|url-status=live}}</ref> The study found that over 90% of the 45,602 surnames in the dictionary are native to Britain and Ireland, with the most common in the UK being [[Smith (surname)|Smith]], [[Jones (surname)|Jones]], [[Williams (surname)|Williams]], [[Brown (surname)|Brown]], [[Taylor (surname)|Taylor]], [[Davies]], and [[Wilson (name)|Wilson]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hanks|first1=Patrick|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677764.001.0001/acref-9780199677764|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland|last2=Coates|first2=Richard|last3=McClure|first3=Peter|date=17 November 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-967776-4|language=en-US|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199677764.001.0001|access-date=1 March 2020|archive-date=26 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526105824/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677764.001.0001/acref-9780199677764|url-status=live}}</ref> The findings have been published in the ''Oxford English Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland'', with project leader Richard Coates calling the study "more detailed and accurate" than those before.<ref name="Origin study" /> He elaborated on the origins: "Some surnames have origins that are occupational – obvious examples are Smith and Baker. Other names can be [[Toponymic surname|linked to a place]], for example, Hill or Green, which relates to a [[village green]]. Surnames that are 'patronymic' are those which originally enshrined the father's name – such as [[Jackson (name)|Jackson]], or [[Jenkinson]]. There are also names where the origin describes the original bearer such as Brown, [[Short stature|Short]], or Thin – though Short may in fact be an ironic 'nickname' surname for a tall person."<ref name="Origin study"/>
Indian surnames may often denote [[caste]], profession, and village and are invariably mentioned along with the personal names. However, hereditary last names are not universal. In Indian passports the surname is shown first. In telephone directories the surname is used for [[collation]]. In North Indian states the surname is placed after given names where it exists. In parts of south India, surname is placed before personal name and in most cases it is only shown as an initial (for example 'S.' for Suryapeth).{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}


In the modern era, governments have enacted laws to require people to adopt surnames. This served the purpose of uniquely identifying subjects for taxation purposes or for inheritance.{{sfn|Kennett|2012|p=20}} In the late [[Middle Ages]] in Europe, there were several revolts against the mandate to have a surname.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Raymond A.|title=Credit Intelligence and Modelling: Many Paths Through the Forest of Credit Rating and Scoring|date=2022|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-284419-4|page=193-194|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04lNEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193|language=en}}</ref>
In English and other languages like Spanish—although the usual order of names is "first middle last"—for the purpose of cataloging in libraries and in citing the names of authors in scholarly papers, the order is changed to "last, first middle," with the last and first names separated by a comma, and items are alphabetized by the last name.<ref>[http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet27 "Filing Rules"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121153423/http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet27 |date=2013-01-21 }} on the [[American Library Association]] website</ref><ref>[http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/ "MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format"] on the [[Purdue Online Writing Lab]] website, [[Purdue University]]</ref> In [[France]], [[Italy]], [[Spain]], [[Belgium]] and [[Latin America]], administrative usage is to put the surname before the first on official documents.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}


== History ==
===Modern era===
During the modern era many cultures around the world adopted family names, particularly for administrative reasons, especially during the age of European expansion and particularly since 1600. The Napoleonic Code, adopted in various parts of Europe, stipulated that people should be known by both their given name(s) and a family name that would not change across generations. Other notable examples include the Netherlands (1795–1811), Japan (1870s), Thailand (1920), and Turkey (1934). The structure of the [[Japanese name]] was formalized by the government as ''family name'' + ''given name'' in 1868.<ref>Nagata, Mary Louise. "Names and Name Changing in Early Modern Kyoto, Japan." ''International Review of Social History'' 07/2002; 47(02):243 – 259. P. 246.</ref> <!-- Not verified; simply copied from "[[Japanese name]]" - Lembit Staan -->
{{See also|Name change}}
While given names have been used from the most distant times{{vague|date=February 2018}} to identify individuals, the advent of surnames is a relatively recent{{when|date=February 2018}} phenomenon.<ref name="Doll1992">{{Cite news |last=Doll |first=Cynthia Blevins |publication-date= |date= |year=1992 |title=Harmonizing Filial and Parental Rights in Names: Progress, Pitfalls, and Constitutional Problems |periodical=Howard Law Journal |publisher=Howard University School of Law |volume=35 |issue= |page=227 |url= |issn=0018-6813}} ''Note: content available by subscription only. First page of content available via [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=info:LBmZUSt6tbgJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&lr=&output=viewport&shm=1&pg=1 Google Scholar]''.</ref> A four-year study led by the [[University of the West of England]], which concluded in 2016, analysed sources dating from the 11th to the 19th century to explain the origins of the surnames in the [[British isles]].<ref name="Origin study">{{cite news |title=Most common surnames in Britain and Ireland revealed |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38003201 |agency=BBC |date=17 November 2016}}</ref> The study found that over 90% of the 45,602 surnames in the dictionary are native to Britain and Ireland, with the most common in the UK being [[Smith (surname)|Smith]], [[Jones (surname)|Jones]], [[Williams (surname)|Williams]], [[Brown (surname)|Brown]], [[Taylor (surname)|Taylor]], [[Johnson]], and [[Lee (English name)|Lee]].<ref name="Origin study" /> The findings have been published in the ''Oxford English Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland'', with project leader, Professor Richard Coates calling the study "more detailed and accurate" than those before.<ref name="Origin study" /> He elaborated on the origins; "Some surnames have origins that are occupational – obvious examples are Smith and [[Baker]]. Other names can be linked to a place, for example [[Hill]] or [[Green]], which relates to a village green. Surnames which are 'patronymic' are those which originally enshrined the father's name – such as [[Jackson (name)|Jackson]], or [[Jenkinson]]. There are also names where the origin describes the original bearer such as Brown, [[Short stature|Short]], or Thin – though Short may in fact be an ironic 'nickname' surname for a tall person."<ref name="Origin study" />


In Breslau Prussia enacted the Hoym Ordinance in 1790, mandating the adoption of Jewish surnames.{{cn|date=June 2024}}<ref name="o738">{{cite book|last=Ury|first=S.|title=Barricades and Banners: The Revolution of 1905 and the Transformation of Warsaw Jewry|publisher=Stanford University Press|series=Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8047-8104-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_W-DuzHlAEC&pg=PA32|access-date=2024-06-02|page=32}}</ref> Napoleon also insisted on Jews adopting fixed names in a decree issued in 1808.<ref name="r467">{{cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=James C.|last2=Tehranian|first2=John|last3=Mathias|first3=Jeremy|title=The Production of Legal Identities Proper to States: The Case of the Permanent Family Surname|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=44|issue=1|year=2002|issn=0010-4175|jstor=3879399|pages=4–44|doi=10.1017/S0010417502000026 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3879399|access-date=2024-06-02}}</ref>
By 1400, most [[English surnames|English]] and some [[Scottish surnames|Scottish]] people used surnames, but many Scottish and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or later. [[Henry VIII]] (ruled 1509–1547) ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father.<ref name="Doll1992" /> In England and cultures derived from there, there has long been a tradition for a woman to change her surname upon marriage from her [[Name at birth|birth name]] to her husband's family name. (See [[Maiden and married names]].) The first known instance in the United States of a woman insisting on the use of her birth name was that of [[Lucy Stone]] in 1855; and there has been a general increase in the rate of women using their birth name. This has gone through periods of flux, however, and the 1990s saw a decline in the percentage of name retention among women.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} As of 2006, more than 80% of American women adopted the husband's family name after marriage.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482928 "American Women, Changing Their Names"], ''[[National Public Radio]]''. Retrieved April 10, 2013.</ref>


Names can sometimes be changed to protect individual privacy (such as in [[witness protection]]), or in cases where groups of people are escaping persecution.<ref name="x631">{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=S.R.|title=Preventing Identity Crime: Identity Theft and Identity Fraud: An Identity Crime Model and Legislative Analysis with Recommendations for Preventing Identity Crime|publisher=Brill|year=2020|isbn=978-90-04-39597-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPPcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|access-date=2024-06-02|page=39}}</ref> After arriving in the United States, European Jews who fled Nazi persecution sometimes [[anglicization|anglicized]] their surnames to avoid discrimination.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Holton|first1=G.|last2=Sonnert|first2=G.|title=What Happened to the Children Who Fled Nazi Persecution|date=25 December 2006|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-60179-6|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAeMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA96|language=en}}</ref> Governments can also forcibly change people's names, as when the [[National Socialist]] government of Germany assigned German names to European people in the territories they conquered.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lemkin|first1=Raphael|title=Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress|date=2014|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-58477-576-8|page=82|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ChhmqYeVS80C&pg=PA82|language=en}}</ref> In the 1980s, the [[People's Republic of Bulgaria]] forcibly changed the first and last names of its [[Turks in Bulgaria|Turkish citizens]] to Bulgarian names.<ref name="i395">{{cite book|last=Neuburger|first=M.C.|title=The Orient Within: Muslim Minorities and the Negotiation of Nationhood in Modern Bulgaria|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-5017-2023-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf6tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA77|access-date=2024-06-02|page=77}}</ref>
Many cultures have used and continue to use additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals. These terms may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation. These descriptors often developed into fixed clan identifications that in turn became family names as we know them today.


== Origins of particular surnames ==
In China, according to legend, family names started with Emperor [[Fu Xi]] in 2852 BC.<ref name="Seng2008">{{Cite book |last=Seng |first=Serena |date=2008-09-15 |contribution=The Origin of Chinese Surnames |contribution-url=http://genealogy.about.com/library/authors/ucboey2a.htm |editor-last=Powell |editor-first=Kimberly |title=About Genealogy |publisher=The New York Times Company |url=http://genealogy.about.com/ |postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref><ref name="Danesi2007">{{Cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |year=2007 |title=The Quest for Meaning |place= |publisher=University of Toronto Press |page=48 |isbn=978-0-8020-9514-5 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=as6_qARSebIC |accessdate=2008-09-21 |postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> His administration standardised the naming system in order to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. Originally, [[Chinese surname]]s were derived matrilineally,<ref name="naming">linguistics.berkeley.edu (2004). http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-2004-names.pdf, "Naming practices". A PDF file with a section on "Chinese naming practices (Mak et al., 2003)". Archived at WebCite https://www.webcitation.org/5xd5YvhE3?url=http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/%7Erosemary/55-2004-names.pdf on 1Apr11.</ref> although by the time of the [[Shang dynasty]] (1600 to 1046 BCE) they had become patrilineal.<ref name="naming" /><ref name="Zhimin">{{cite journal |last1=Zhimin |first1=An |year=1988 |title=Archaeological Research on Neolithic China |url= |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=753–759 [755, 758] |jstor=2743616 |doi=10.1086/203698}} (The first few sentences are accessible online via JSTOR at https://www.jstor.org/stable/2743616, i.e., p.753.)</ref> Chinese women do not change their names upon marriage. They can be referred to either as their full birth names or as their husband's surname plus the word for wife. In the past, women's given name were often not publicly known and women were referred in official documents by their family name plus the character "Shi" and when married by their husband's surname, their birth surname, and the character "Shi".{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}


===Patronymic and matronymic surnames=== <!-- [[Ancestral surname]] redirects here -->
In [[Japanese name|Japan]], family names were uncommon except among the aristocracy until the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%B9%B3%E6%B0%91%E8%87%AA%E4%BB%8A%E5%BF%85%E8%8B%97%E5%AD%97%E3%83%B2%E5%94%B1%E3%83%98%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A0 |title=平民自今必苗字ヲ唱ヘシム - Wikisource |language=ja |publisher=Ja.wikisource.org |date=2013-07-29 |accessdate=2013-08-16}}</ref>
{{Main|Patronymic surname|Matronymic surname}}
{{See also|Icelandic name|Habesha name|Arabic name|Hebrew name}}
{{Category see also|Patronymic surnames|Matronymic surnames}}
These are the oldest and most common type of surname.<ref name="hanks" /> They may be a first name such as "Wilhelm", a [[patronymic]] such as "[[Andersen]]", a [[matronymic]] such as "[[Beaton (surname)|Beaton]]", or a clan name such as "[[O'Brien dynasty|O'Brien]]". Multiple surnames may be derived from a single given name: e.g. there are thought to be over 90 Italian surnames based on the given name "[[Giovanni (name)|Giovanni]]".<ref name="hanks">[[Patrick Hanks|Hanks, Patrick]] and Hodges, Flavia. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-19-211592-8}}.</ref> [[File:Icelandic Patronyms.svg|thumb|250px|A family tree showing the Icelandic patronymic naming system]]


====Examples====
In Ancient Greece, during some periods, formal identification commonly included place of origin.<ref name="Gill2008">{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=N.S. |date=2008-01-25 |contribution=Ancient Names – Greek and Roman Names |contribution-url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/nameetymologies/p/AncientNames.htm |editor-last=Gill |editor-first=N.S. |title=About Ancient / Classical History |publisher=The New York Times Company |url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/ |postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> At other times clan names and [[patronymic]]s ("son of") were also common, as in [[Aristides]] Lysimachu. For example, [[Alexander the Great]] was known as [[Heracleidae|''Heracleides'']], as a supposed descendant of [[Heracles]], and by the dynastic name [[Caranus of Macedon|''Karanos''/''Caranus'']], which referred to the founder of the [[Argead dynasty|dynasty to which he belonged]]. In none of these cases, though, were these names considered essential parts of the person's name, nor were they explicitly inherited in the manner that is common in many cultures today.
* '''Patronal''' from patronage (''Hickman'' meaning Hick's man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religion ''Kilpatrick'' (follower of [[Patrick (given name)|Patrick]]) or ''Kilbride'' (follower of Saint [[Brigid of Kildare]]).{{fact|date=May 2024}}
* '''[[Patronymic]]s, [[matronymic]]s or ancestral''', often from a person's given name. e.g., from male name: ''[[Richardson (surname)|Richardson]]'', ''[[Stephenson]]'', ''[[Jones (surname)|Jones]]'' (Welsh for Johnson), ''[[Williams (surname)|Williams]]'', ''[[Jackson (name)|Jackson]]'', ''[[Wilson (surname)|Wilson]]'', ''[[Thompson (surname)|Thompson]]'', ''[[Benson (surname)|Benson]]'', ''[[Johnson (surname)|Johnson]]'', ''[[Harris (surname)|Harris]]'', ''[[Evans (surname)|Evans]]'', ''[[Simpson (surname)|Simpson]]'', ''[[Willis (surname)|Willis]]'', ''[[Davies]]'', ''[[Reynolds (surname)|Reynolds]]'', ''[[Adams (surname)|Adams]]'', ''[[Dawson (surname)|Dawson]]'', ''[[Lewis (surname)|Lewis]]'', ''[[Rogers (surname)|Rogers]]'', ''[[Murphy]]'', ''[[Morrow (surname)|Morrow]]'', ''[[Nicholson (surname)|Nicholson]]'', ''[[Robinson (name)|Robinson]]'', ''[[Powell (surname)|Powell]]'', ''[[Ferguson (name)|Ferguson]]'', ''[[Davis (surname)|Davis]]'', ''[[Edwards (surname)|Edwards]]'', ''[[Hudson (surname)|Hudson]]'', ''[[Roberts (surname)|Roberts]]'', ''[[Harrison (name)|Harrison]]'', ''[[Watson (surname)|Watson]]'', or female names ''Molson'' (from Moll for Mary), ''[[Madison (name)|Madison]]'' (from Maud), ''Emmott'' (from Emma), ''Marriott'' (from Mary) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., ''[[Macdonald (name)|MacDonald]]'', ''[[Clan Forbes|Forbes]]'', ''[[Henderson (surname)|Henderson]]'', ''[[Armstrong (surname)|Armstrong]]'', ''[[Grant (surname)|Grant]]'', ''[[Cameron (surname)|Cameron]]'', ''[[Stewart (name)|Stewart]]'', ''[[Douglas (surname)|Douglas]]'', ''[[Crawford (name)|Crawford]]'', ''[[Campbell (surname)|Campbell]]'', ''[[Hunter (name)|Hunter]]'') with "Mac" [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] for son.<ref>Katherine M. Spadaro, Katie Graham (2001) ''Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: the complete course for beginners'' p.16. Routledge, 2001</ref>


===Cognominal surnames===<!-- [[Cognominal surname]], [[Eke-name]], and [[Nickname surname]] redirects here -->
In the Roman Empire, the bestowal and use of clan and family names waxed and waned with changes in the various subcultures of the realm. (''See [[Roman naming conventions]].'') The nomen, which was the gens name, was inherited much like last names are, but their purposes were quite different{{how|date=February 2018}}. In later{{when|date=February 2018}} Europe, last names were developed to distinguish between individuals. The nomen were to identify group kinship. The praenomen was the "forename" and was originally used like a first name today. In later times{{when|date=February 2018}}, praenomen became less useful for distinguishing individuals as it was often passed down for males along with the nomen (like an entire culture where "John Smith, Jr." was the norm), and females, were often given no praenomen at all or functional names like Major and Minor ("Older" and "Younger") or Maxima, Maio, and Mino ("Biggest," "Middle," "Littlest") or ordinal numbers rather than what we might think of as names: Prima, Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, etc. Around this time,{{when|date=February 2018}} the nomen became followed by one or more additional names called cognomen. It became usual that one of these cognomen was inherited, but as the praenomen and nomen became more rigidly used and less useful for identifying individuals, additional personal cognomen were more often used, to the point that the first the praenomen and then the nomen fell out of use entirely.{{when|date=February 2018}} With the gradual influence of Greek and Christian culture throughout the Empire, Christian religious names were sometimes put in front of traditional cognomen, but eventually, people reverted to single names.<ref name="Chavez2006">{{cite web |url=http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/byzantine/introduction.html |title=Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era |accessdate=2008-09-21 |last=Chavez |first=Berret |date=2006-11-09 |work=Official Web Page of the Laurel Sovereign of Arms for the Society for Creative Anachronism |publisher=Society for Creative Anachronism}}</ref> By the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. In Western Europe, where Germanic culture dominated the aristocracy, family names were almost non-existent. They would not significantly reappear again in Eastern Roman society until the 10th century, apparently influenced by the familial affiliations of the Armenian military aristocracy.<ref name="Chavez2006" /> The practice of using family names spread through the Eastern Roman Empire and gradually into Western Europe, although it was not until the modern era that family names came to be explicitly inherited as they are today.
This is the broadest class of surnames, originating from nicknames,<ref name=bede>[[Bernard Deacon (linguist)|Bernard Deacon]], [https://bernarddeacon.com/cornish-surnames/classifying-surnames/ Classifying surnames]</ref> encompassing many types of origin. These include names based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and possibly "Caesar",<ref name="hanks" /> and names based on temperament and personality such as "Daft", "Gutman", and "Maiden", which, according to a number of sources, was an English nickname meaning "effeminate".<ref name="hanks" /><ref name="cottle" />


A group of nicknames look like occupational ones: [[King (surname)|King]], [[Bishop (surname)|Bishop]], [[Abbot (surname)|Abbot]], [[Sheriff (surname)|Sheriff]], [[Knight (surname)|Knight]], etc. but it is rather unlikely that a person with surname King was a king or descended from a king. [[Bernard Deacon (linguist)|Bernard Deacon]] suggests that the first nickname/surname bearer may have acted as a king or bishop, or was corpulent as bishop. etc.<ref name=bede/>
In Ireland, the use of surnames has a very old history. Ireland was the first country in Europe to use fixed surnames{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}. As noted in the Annals, the first recorded fixed{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} surname was Ó Cleirigh, which recorded the death of Tigherneach Ua Cleirigh, lord of Aidhne in Galway in the year 916.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Origins of Irish Surnames |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/surname/index.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409124022/http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/surname/index.htm |archivedate=April 9, 2016 |work=The Irish Times}}</ref>


A considerable group of surname-producing nicknames may be found among [[ethnonymic surname]]s.<ref>Butkus, Alvydas, [https://www.proquest.com/openview/a9586f90d1ab73304fadfa2e0227c0d9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1818029 The Lithuanian Nicknames of Ethnonymic Origin], Indogermanische Forschungen; Strassburg Vol. 100, (1 January 1995): 223.</ref><ref>Tamás Farkas, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315457178_Surnames_of_Ethnonymic_Origin_in_the_Hungarian_Language Surnames of Ethnonymic Origin in the Hungarian Language], In: Name and Naming. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Onomastics. Onomastics in Contemporary Public Space. Baia Mare, 9–11 May 2013, pp.504–517</ref>
In England, the introduction of family names is generally attributed to the preparation of the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086,{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} following the [[Norman conquest]]. Evidence indicates that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and slowly spread to other parts of society. Some of the early Norman nobility who arrived in England during the Norman conquest differentiated themselves by affixing 'de' (of) before the name of their village in France. This is what is known as a territorial surname, a consequence of feudal landownership. In medieval times in France, such a name indicated lordship, or ownership, of the village. Some early Norman nobles in England chose{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} to drop the French derivations and call themselves instead after their new English holdings.


===Ornamental surnames===<!-- [[Ornamental name]] redirects here -->
Surnames were uncommon prior to the 12th century, and still somewhat rare into the 13th; most European surnames were originally occupational or locational, and served to distinguish one person from another if they happened to live near one another (e.g., two different people named John could conceivably be identified as 'John Butcher' and 'John Chandler'). This still happens, in some communities where a surname is particularly common.
'''Ornamental surnames''' are made up of names, not specific to any attribute (place, parentage, occupation, caste) of the first person to acquire the name, and stem from the middle class's desire for their own hereditary names like the nobles. They were generally acquired later in history and generally when those without surnames needed them. In 1526, King Frederik I of Denmark-Norway ordered that noble families must take up fixed surnames, and many of them took as their name some element of their coat of arms; for example, the Rosenkrantz ("rose wreath") family took their surname from a wreath of roses comprising the torse of their arms,<ref>Hiort-Lorensen, H.R., and Thiset, A. (1910) ''Danmarks Adels Aarbog'', 27th ed. Copenhagen: Vilh. Trydes Boghandel, p. 371.</ref> and the Gyldenstierne ("golden star") family took theirs from a 7-pointed gold star on their shield.<ref>von Irgens-Bergh, G.O.A., and Bobe, L. (1926) ''Danmarks Adels Aarbog'', 43rd ed. Copenhagen: Vilh. Trydes Boghandel, p. 3.</ref> Subsequently, many middle-class Scandinavian families desired names similar to those of the nobles and adopted "ornamental" surnames as well. Most other naming traditions refer to them as "acquired". They might be given to people newly immigrated, conquered, or converted, as well as those with unknown parentage, formerly enslaved, or from parentage without a surname tradition.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ornamental Name|url=https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Ornamental_Name|access-date=27 July 2021|website=Nordic Names|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727044746/https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Ornamental_Name|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The History of Last Names|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~deeskindredkorner/genealogy/History%20of%20Last%20Names.html|access-date=27 July 2021|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727044745/http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~deeskindredkorner/genealogy/History%20of%20Last%20Names.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


Ornamental surnames are more common in communities that adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref name="bowman" /> They occur commonly in Scandinavia, and among [[Sinti and Roma]] and Jews in Germany and Austria.<ref name="hanks" />
In the Middle Ages, when a man from a lower-status family married an only daughter from a higher-status family, he would often adopt the wife's family name.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} In the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, bequests were sometimes made contingent upon a man's changing (or hyphenating) his family name, so that the name of the [[testator]] continued. It is rare but not unknown for an English-speaking man to take his wife's family name, whether for personal reasons or as a matter of tradition (such as among [[matrilineal]] [[First Nations|Canadian aboriginal]] groups, such as the [[Haida people|Haida]] and [[Gitxsan]]); it is exceedingly rare but does occur in the United States, where a married couple may choose an entirely new last name by going through a legal change of name. As an alternative, both spouses may adopt a [[double-barrelled name]]. For instance, when John Smith and Mary Jones marry each other, they may become known as "John Smith-Jones" and "Mary Smith-Jones". A spouse may also opt to use their birth name as a middle name.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} An additional option, although rarely practiced{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}, is the adoption of a last name derived from a blend of the prior names, such as "Simones", which also requires a legal name change. Some couples keep their own last names but give their children hyphenated or combined surnames.<ref>Daniella Miletic (20 July 2012) [http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/most-women-say-i-do-to-husbands-name-20120719-22d5c.html Most women say 'I do' to husband's name]. The Age.</ref>


===Acquired surnames===
In medieval [[Spain]], a patronymic system was used. For example, Álvaro, the son of Rodrigo would be named Álvaro Rodríguez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodríguez, but Juan Álvarez. Over time, many of these patronymics became family names and are some of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world. Other sources of surnames are personal appearance or habit, e.g. Delgado ("thin") and Moreno ("dark"); occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller"), Zapatero ("shoe-maker") and Guerrero ("warrior"); and geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemán ("German").
During the era of the [[Trans-Atlantic slave trade]] many Africans were given new names by their masters. Many of the family names of many African-Americans have their origins in slavery (''i.e.'' [[slave name]]). Some freed slaves later created family names themselves.<ref name="x915">{{cite web|last=Craven|first=Julia|title=Many African American last names hold weight of Black history|website=NBC News|date=24 February 2022|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/many-african-american-last-names-hold-weight-black-history-rcna17267|access-date=2024-06-02}}</ref>


Another category of acquired names is [[Child abandonment|foundlings]] names. Historically, children born to unwed parents or extremely poor parents would be abandoned in a public place or anonymously placed in a [[Baby hatch#History|foundling wheel]]. Such abandoned children might be claimed and named by religious figures, the community leaders, or adoptive parents. Some such children were given surnames that reflected their condition, like (Italian) [[Esposito]], [[Innocenti (surname)|Innocenti]], [[Casagrande|Della Casagrande]], [[Trovato]], Abbandonata, or (Dutch) Vondeling, Verlaeten, Bijstand. Other children were named for the street/place they were found (Union, Liquorpond (street), di Palermo, Baan, Bijdam, van den Eyngel (shop name), [[van der Stoep (surname)|van der Stoep]], von Trapp), the date they were found ([[Monday (surname)|Monday]], Septembre, Spring, di Gennaio), or festival/feast day they found or christened (Easter, SanJosé). Some foundlings were given the name of whoever found them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Finding Foundlings: Searching for Abandoned Children in Italy|url=https://www.legacytree.com/blog/finding-foundlings-italy|access-date=27 July 2021|website=Legacy Tree Genealogists|date=14 September 2017|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727061540/https://www.legacytree.com/blog/finding-foundlings-italy|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=England Regional, Ethnic, Foundling Surnames (National Institute)|url=https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Regional,_Ethnic,_Foundling_Surnames_(National_Institute)|access-date=27 July 2021|website=FamilySearch Research Wiki|date=4 September 2014|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727044744/https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Regional,_Ethnic,_Foundling_Surnames_(National_Institute)|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Deciphering Dutch Foundling Surnames|url=https://www.dutchancestrycoach.com/Deciphering%20Dutch%20Foundling%20Surnames|access-date=27 July 2021|website=Dutch Ancestry Coach|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727044755/https://www.dutchancestrycoach.com/Deciphering%20Dutch%20Foundling%20Surnames|url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Modern era ===
During the modern era, many cultures around the world adopted family names, particularly for administrative reasons, especially during the age of European expansion and particularly since 1600. Notable examples include the Netherlands (1795–1811), Japan (1870s), Thailand (1920), and Turkey (1934). Nonetheless, their use is not universal: Icelanders, Tibetans, Burmese, Javanese, and many people groups in East Africa do not use family names.


===Occupational surnames {{anchor|Occupational}}=== <!-- [[Technonym]], [[Occupational name]] and [[Occupational surname]] redirect here -->
Family names sometimes change or are replaced by non-family-name surnames under political pressure to avoid persecution.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} Examples are the cases with [[Indonesian-sounding names adopted by Chinese Indonesians|Chinese Indonesians]] and [[Chinese Thai surname|Chinese Thais]] after migration there during the 20th century, or the [[Jew]]s who fled to different European countries to avoid persecution from the Nazis during World War II.
{{Category see also|Occupational surnames}}
[[Vocation|Occupational]] names include ''[[Smith (surname)|Smith]]'', ''[[Miller (name)|Miller]]'', ''[[Farmer (surname)|Farmer]]'', ''[[Thatcher (profession)|Thatcher]]'', ''[[Shepherd (surname)|Shepherd]]'', ''[[Potter (surname)|Potter]]'', and so on, and analogous names in many other languages, see, e.g., [[template:Smith-surname|various surnames associated with the occupation of smith]]. There are also more complicated names based on occupational titles. In England it was common for servants to take a modified version of their employer's occupation or first name as their last name,{{cn|date=July 2018}} adding the letter ''s'' to the word, although this formation could also be a [[patronymic]]. For instance, the surname ''[[Vickers (surname)|Vickers]]'' is thought to have arisen as an occupational name adopted by the servant of a vicar,<ref name="reaney">Reaney, P.H., and Wilson, R.M. ''A Dictionary of English Surnames.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Rev. 3rd ed. {{ISBN|0-19-860092-5}}.</ref> while ''[[Roberts (surname)|Roberts]]'' could have been adopted by either the son or the servant of a man named Robert. A subset of occupational names in English are names thought to be derived from the medieval [[Mystery play#English mystery plays|mystery plays]]. The participants would often play the same roles for life, passing the part down to their oldest sons. Names derived from this may include ''[[King (surname)|King]]'', ''[[Lord (surname)|Lord]]'' and ''Virgin''.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} ''A Dictionary of English Surnames'' says that "surnames of office, such as [[Abbot (surname)|Abbot]], [[Bishop (surname)|Bishop]], [[Cardinal (surname)|Cardinal]] and King, are often nicknames".<ref name="reaney"/> The original meaning of names based on medieval occupations may no longer be obvious in modern English.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}


===Toponymic surnames===<!-- [[Habitation name]], [[Habitational name]], [[Habitative name]], and [[Location name]] redirects here -->
The United States followed the naming customs and practices of English common law and traditions until recent{{when|date=February 2018}} times. Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, traditional naming practices, writes one commentator, were recognized as "com[ing] into conflict with current sensitivities about children's and women's rights".<ref>Richard H. Thornton, ''The Controversy Over Children's Surnames: Familial Autonomy, Equal Protection and the Child's Best Interests'', 1979 Utah L Rev 303.</ref> Those changes accelerated a shift away from the interests of the parents to a focus on the best interests of the child. The law in this area continues to evolve today mainly in the context of paternity and custody actions.<ref>[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20030812.html Joanna Grossman, ''Whose Surname Should a Child Have''], FindLaw's Writ column (Aug 12, 2003), (last visited Dec 7, 2006).</ref>
{{Main|Toponymic surname}}
Location (toponymic, habitation) names derive from the inhabited location associated with the person given that name. Such locations can be any type of settlement, such as homesteads, farms, enclosures, villages, hamlets, strongholds, or cottages. One element of a habitation name may describe the type of settlement. Examples of [[Old English]] elements are frequently found in the second element of habitational names. The habitative elements in such names can differ in meaning, according to different periods, different locations, or with being used with certain other elements. For example, the Old English element ''tūn'' may have originally meant "enclosure" in one name, but can have meant "farmstead", "village", "manor", or "estate" in other names.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


Location names, or habitation names, may be as generic as "Monte" (Portuguese for "mountain"), "Górski" (Polish for "hill"), or "Pitt" (variant of "pit"), but may also refer to specific locations. "Washington", for instance, is thought to mean "the homestead of the family of Wassa",<ref name="cottle">Cottle, Basil. ''Penguin Dictionary of Surnames''. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. No ISBN.</ref> while "Lucci" means "resident of [[Lucca]]".<ref name="hanks" /> Although some surnames, such as "London", "Lisboa", or "Białystok" are derived from large cities, more people reflect the names of smaller communities, as in [[Ó Creachmhaoil]], derived from a village in [[County Galway]]. This is thought to be due to the tendency in Europe during the Middle Ages for migration to chiefly be from smaller communities to the cities and the need for new arrivals to choose a defining surname.<ref name="cottle" /><ref name="bowman">Bowman, William Dodgson. ''The Story of Surnames''. London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932. No ISBN.</ref>
Upon marriage to a woman, men in the United States can easily change their surnames to that of their wives, or adopt a combination of both names with the federal government, through the [[Social Security Administration]]. Men may face difficulty doing so on the state level in some states. In some places, civil rights lawsuits or constitutional amendments changed the law so that men could also easily change their married names (e.g., in British Columbia and California).<ref name="Risling2007">{{cite news |first=Greg |last=Risling |title=Man files lawsuit to take wife's name |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/12/man_files_lawsuit_to_take_wifes_name |work=The Boston Globe (Boston.com) |agency=Associated Press |location=Los Angeles |date=2007-01-12 |accessdate=2008-09-22 |language= |quote=Because of Buday's case, a California state lawmaker has introduced a bill to put a space on the marriage license for either spouse to change names. |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127041401/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/12/man_files_lawsuit_to_take_wifes_name/ |archivedate=27 January 2007 |df=}}</ref> [[Québec]] law permits neither spouse to change surnames.<ref>[http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=72ddc06b-4660-4b92-8b92-3a26ae24b377&k=5969 Québec newlywed furious she can't take her husband's name] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102072805/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=72ddc06b-4660-4b92-8b92-3a26ae24b377&k=5969 |date=2016-01-02 }}, by Marianne White, ''CanWest News Service'', 8 August 2007 . Retrieved 3 November 2013.</ref>


In [[Portuguese-speaking countries]], it is uncommon, but not unprecedented, to find surnames derived from names of countries, such as Portugal, França, Brasil, Holanda. Surnames derived from country names are also found in English, such as "England", "Wales", "Spain".
=== UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ===
In 1979, the United Nations adopted the ''[[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]]'' ("CEDAW"), which declared in effect that women and men, and specifically wife and husband, shall have the same rights to choose a "family name", as well as a profession and an occupation.<ref>UN Convention, 1979. [https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm "Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women"]. [https://www.webcitation.org/5xc2eRFDv?url=http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm Archived at WebCite on 1 Apri1 2011.]</ref> For a further description of and treatment of this Convention, see [[Matriname]].


Some [[Japanese name|Japanese surnames]] derive from geographical features; for example, [[Ishikawa (surname)|Ishikawa]] (石川) means "stone river" (and is also [[Ishikawa Prefecture|the name of one of Japan's prefectures]]), [[Yamamoto]] (山本) means "the base of the mountain", and [[Inoue]] (井上) means "above the well".
In France, until 1 January 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. Article 311-21 of the French [[Civil code]] now permits parents to give their children the family name of either their father, mother, or a hyphenation of both – although no more than two names can be hyphenated. In cases of disagreement, the father's name applies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.cnrs.fr/presse/communique/601.htm |title=Donner le nom du père, de la mère, ou les deux – Communiqués et dossiers de presse – CNRS |date= |accessdate=2013-08-16}}</ref> This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by the [[Council of Europe]] requiring member governments to take measures to adopt equality of rights in the transmission of family names, a measure that was echoed by the United Nations in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cdw.html |title=Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women |publisher=Hrweb.org |date= |accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref> Similar measures were adopted by [[West Germany]] (1976), [[Sweden]] (1982), [[Denmark]] (1983) and [[Spain]] (1999). The European Community has been active in eliminating gender discrimination. Several cases concerning discrimination in family names have reached the courts. ''Burghartz v. Switzerland'' challenged the lack of an option for husbands to add the wife's surname to his surname, which they had chosen as the family name, when this option was available for women.<ref>''Burghartz v. Switzerland'', no. 16213/90, 22 February 1994.</ref> ''Losonci Rose and Rose v. Switzerland'' challenged a prohibition on foreign men married to Swiss women keeping their surname if this option was provided in their national law, an option available to women.<ref>''Losonci Rose and Rose v. Switzerland'', no. 664/06, 9 November 2010.</ref> ''Ünal Tekeli v. Turkey'' challenged prohibitions on women using their surname as the family name, an option only available to men.<ref>''Ünal Tekeli v Turkey'', no. 29865/96, 16 November 2004.</ref> The Court found all these laws to be in violation of the Convention.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/law_reviews/egelr_2012-1_final_web_en.pdf |title=European Gender Equality Law Review – No. 1/2012 |p=17 |publisher=Ec.europa.eu |date= |accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref>


Arabic names sometimes contain surnames that denote the city of origin. For example, in cases of [[Saddam Hussein]] al Tikriti,<ref name="saddam">{{Cite news|date=15 January 2007|title=Saddam Hussein's top aides hanged|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=2 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302020820/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> meaning Saddam Hussein originated from [[Tikrit]], a city in [[Iraq]]. This component of the name is called a ''[[Nisbat (onomastics)|nisbah]]''.
Manom
Only a fraction of surnames in English-speaking countries around the world come from Britain.{{Citation needed|reason=Seems very unlikely outside of the US|date=July 2018}}{{Dubious|date=July 2018}} English speakers' surnames come from all parts of Europe, as well as other continents, with varying [[anglicisation of names|anglicization]]. With a few exceptions, Europe's languages are [[cognate]], so most European surnames have a common [[etymological]] origin. Some surnames are monogenetic (derived from one family at a specific place and time); others are polygenetic (coined independently at different places and times).<ref name="hanks" />


====Examples====
[[Basil Cottle]] classifies European surnames under four broad categories, depending on their origin: given name (patronymics), occupational name, local name (toponymics), and nickname.<ref name="cottle">Cottle, Basil. ''Penguin Dictionary of Surnames.'' Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. No ISBN.</ref> This classification can be extended to surnames originating elsewhere. Other name etymologists use a fuller classification, but these four types underlie them.<ref name="hanks" />
* '''Estate names''' For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, castle, manor or estate, e.g. [[Ernle]], [[House of Windsor|Windsor]], [[Staunton (surname)|Staunton]]
* '''Habitation (place) names''' e.g., [[Burton (name)|Burton]], [[Flint (surname)|Flint]], [[Hamilton (surname and title)|Hamilton]], [[London (name)|London]], [[Laughton (surname)|Laughton]], [[Leighton (surname)|Leighton]], [[Murray (surname)|Murray]], [[Sutton (surname)|Sutton]], [[Tremblay (surname)|Tremblay]]
* '''[[Topographic surname]]s''' (geographical features) e.g., [[Bridge (surname)|Bridge]] or [[Bridges (surname)|Bridges]], [[Brook (surname)|Brook]] or [[Brooks (surname)|Brooks]], [[Bush (surname)|Bush]], [[Camp (surname)|Camp]], [[Hill (surname)|Hill]], [[Lake (surname)|Lake]], [[Lee (English name)|Lee]] or [[Leigh (surname)|Leigh]], [[Wood (surname)|Wood]], [[Grove (surname)|Grove]], [[Holmes (surname)|Holmes]], [[Forest (name)|Forest]], [[Underwood (surname)|Underwood]], [[Hall (surname)|Hall]], [[Field (surname)|Field]], [[Stone (surname)|Stone]], [[Morley (name)|Morley]], [[Moore (surname)|Moore]], [[Perry (surname)|Perry]]


===Other===
=== Derived from a given name ===
The meanings of some names are unknown or unclear. The most common European name in this category may be the Irish name [[Ryan (surname)|Ryan]], which means 'little king' in Irish.<ref name="cottle" /><ref name="reaney" /> Also, Celtic origin of the name Arthur, meaning '[[Artur|bear]]'. Other surnames may have arisen from more than one source: the name [[DeLuca|De Luca]], for instance, likely arose either in or near Lucania or in the family of someone named Lucas or Lucius;<ref name="hanks" /> in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.<ref name="hanks" /> The same name may appear in different cultures by coincidence or romanization; the surname [[Lee (English name)|Lee]] is used in English culture, but is also a romanization of the Chinese surname ''[[Li (surname 李)|Li]]''.<ref name="reaney" /> In the [[Russian Empire]], illegitimate children were sometimes [[Russian surnames of illegitimate children|given artificial surnames]] rather than the surnames of their adoptive parents.<ref>[[Boris Unbegaun]], ''Russian surnames'', — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972; Russian version: ''Русские фамилии'', 1989, [https://archive.org/details/russiansurnames/page/n181/mode/2up Chapter IX: "Artificial surnames"]</ref><ref>[http://gramma.ru/SPR/?id=2.5 НЕСТАНДАРТНЫЕ РУССКИЕ ФАМИЛИИ], citing Суслова А.В., Суперанская А.В., ''О русских именах'', Л.: Лениздат, 1991</ref>
{{Main|Patronymic surname|Matronymic surname}}
{{See also|Icelandic names|Habesha name|Arabic name|Hebrew name}}
{{Category see also|Patronymic surnames}}
These are the oldest and most common type of surname.<ref name="hanks" /> They may be a first name such as "Wilhelm", a [[patronymic]] such as "[[Andersen]]", a [[matronymic]] such as "[[Beaton (surname)|Beaton]]", or a clan name such as "[[O'Brien dynasty|O'Brien]]". Multiple surnames may be derived from a single given name: e.g. there are thought to be over 90 Italian surnames based on the given name "[[Giovanni (name)|Giovanni]]".<ref name="hanks">[[Patrick Hanks|Hanks, Patrick]] and Hodges, Flavia. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-19-211592-8}}.</ref>


== Order of names ==
[[File:Icelandic Patronyms.svg|thumb|250px|A family tree showing the Icelandic patronymic naming system.]]
{{Further|Personal name#Name order}}
The Icelandic system, formerly used in much of Scandinavia, does not use family names. A person's last name indicates the first name of their father ([[patronymic]]) or in some cases mother ([[matronymic]]). Many common family names in other Scandinavian countries are a result of this naming practice, such as [[Hansen (surname)|Hansen]] (son of [[Hans (name)|Hans]]), [[Johansen]] (son of [[Johan (given name)|Johan]]) and [[Olsen (surname)|Olsen]] (son of [[Ole (name)|Ole]]/Ola), the three most common surnames in [[Norway]].<ref>Statistics Norway [http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/navn_en/ name statistics, 2009]</ref> This also occurs in other cultures: Spanish and Portuguese (López or Lopes, son of Lope; Álvarez or Álvares, son of Álvaro; Domínguez or Domingues, son of Domingo or Domingos; etc.); in English (Johnson, son of John; Richardson, son of Richard), etc.


In many cultures (particularly in [[Culture of Europe|European]] and European-influenced cultures in the Americas, Oceania, etc., as well as West Asia/North Africa, South Asia, and most Sub-Saharan African cultures), the surname or family name ("last name") is placed after the personal, [[Given name|forename]] (in Europe) or given name ("first name"). In other cultures the surname is placed first, followed by the given name or names. The latter is often called the [[Name order|Eastern naming order]] because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from the [[East Asian cultural sphere]], specifically, [[Chinese name|Greater China]], [[Korean name|Korea (both North and South)]], [[Japanese name|Japan]], and [[Vietnamese name|Vietnam]]. This is also the case in [[Cambodia]] and among the [[Hmong people|Hmong]] of [[Laos]] and [[Thailand]]. The [[Telugu language|Telugu]] people of south India also place surname before personal name. There are some parts of Europe, in particular [[Hungary]], where the surname is placed before the personal name.{{sfn|Kennett|2012|p=10}}
Patronymic name conventions are similar in some other nations, including Malaysia (see [[Malaysian name]]) and other Muslim countries, among most people of the Indian states of [[Tamil Nadu]] and [[Kerala]] (unlike another Indian state [[Andhra Pradesh]], where ancestral origin village names have become surnames for the people), in [[Mongolian name|Mongolia]] and in the [[Scottish Gaelic personal naming system]]. In [[Russian name|Russia]] and [[Bulgarian name|Bulgaria]], both patronymic and family name are obligatory parts of one's full name: e.g. if a Russian is called Ivan Andreyevich Sergeyev, that means that his father's name is Andrey and his family name is Sergeyev. A similar system is used in [[Greek names|Greece]].


Since family names are normally written last in European societies, the terms last name or surname are commonly used for the family name, while in Japan (with vertical writing) the family name may be referred to as "upper name" ({{Nihongo||上の名前|ue-no-namae}}).
In [[Habesha name|Ethiopia and Eritrea]], a child adopts the given name of one of their parents, usually the father, as a pseudo-surname. For example, Abraham Mesfin's father's first name would have been Mesfin, while Abraham Mesfin's child might be called "Netsanet Abraham". Just as in Iceland, referring to Abraham Mesfin as "Mr Mesfin" would be erroneous: the correct term would be "Mr Abraham". Very rarely do children adopt their mother's given name, who in any case would retain their "pseudo-surname".


When people from areas using Eastern naming order write their personal name in the [[Latin alphabet]], it is common to reverse the order of the given and family names for the convenience of Westerners, so that they know which name is the family name for official/formal purposes. Reversing the order of names for the same reason is also [[Norm (social)|customary]] for the [[Baltic Finns|Baltic Finnic peoples]] and the [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], but other [[Uralic languages|Uralic peoples]] traditionally did not have surnames, perhaps because of the [[clan]] structure of their societies. The [[Samis]], depending on the circumstances of their names, either saw no change or did see a transformation of their name. For example: Sire in some cases became Siri,<ref>{{Cite web|date=29 May 2017|title=Guttorm|url=http://snl.no/Aslak_Jacobsen_H%C3%A6tta|access-date=16 April 2018|publisher=Snl.no|archive-date=8 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208182845/https://snl.no/Aslak_Jacobsen_H%C3%A6tta|url-status=live}}</ref> and Hætta Jáhkoš Ásslat became [[Aslak Hætta|Aslak Jacobsen Hætta]] – as was the [[Convention (norm)|norm]]. Recently, integration into the EU and increased communications with foreigners prompted many Samis to reverse the order of their full name to given name followed by surname, to avoid their given name being mistaken for and used as a surname.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
As part of [[Patronymic#Jewish usage|Hebrew patronymic names]], [[Ben (Hebrew)|Ben]] is followed by the father's name, e.g. [[Ben Adam]] ({{lang-he|בן אדם}}) or [[Abraham ben Abraham]]. [[Bar (Aramaic)#Aramaic|Bar-]], "son of" in [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], is used likewise, e.g. [[Meir Bar-Ilan]]. Ben ({{lang-he|בֶּן}}, ''son of'') also forms part of [[Hebrew name]]s, e.g. [[Benjamin]].
* '''[[Patronymic]]s, [[matronymic]]s or ancestral''', often from a person's given name. e.g., from male name: ''[[Richardson (surname)|Richardson]]'', ''[[Stephenson]]'', ''[[Jones (surname)|Jones]]'' (Welsh for John), ''[[Williams (surname)|Williams]]'', ''[[Jackson (name)|Jackson]]'', ''[[Wilson (surname)|Wilson]]'', ''[[Thompson (surname)|Thompson]]'', ''[[Benson (surname)|Benson]]'', ''[[Johnson]]'', ''[[Harris (surname)|Harris]]'', ''[[Evans (surname)|Evans]]'', ''[[Simpson (surname)|Simpson]]'', ''[[Willis (surname)|Willis]]'', ''[[Fox (surname)|Fox]]'', ''[[Davies]]'', ''[[Reynolds (surname)|Reynolds]]'', ''[[Adams (surname)|Adams]]'', ''[[Dawson (surname)|Dawson]]'', ''[[Lewis (surname)|Lewis]]'', ''[[Rogers (surname)|Rogers]]'', ''[[Murphy]]'', ''[[Morrow (surname)|Morrow]]'', ''[[Nicholson (surname)|Nicholson]]'', ''[[Robinson (name)|Robinson]]'', ''[[Powell (surname)|Powell]]'', ''[[Ferguson (name)|Ferguson]]'', ''[[Davis (surname)|Davis]]'', ''[[Edwards (surname)|Edwards]]'', ''[[Hudson (surname)|Hudson]]'', ''[[Roberts (surname)|Roberts]]'', ''[[Harrison (name)|Harrison]]'', ''[[Watson (surname)|Watson]]'', or female names ''Molson'' (from Moll for Mary), ''[[Madison (name)|Madison]]'' (from Maud), ''Emmott'' (from Emma), ''Marriott'' (from Mary) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., ''[[MacDonald]]'', ''[[Clan Forbes|Forbes]]'', ''[[Henderson (surname)|Henderson]]'', ''[[Armstrong (surname)|Armstrong]]'', ''[[Grant (surname)|Grant]]'', ''[[Cameron (surname)|Cameron]]'', ''[[Stewart (name)|Stewart]]'', ''[[Douglas (surname)|Douglas]]'', ''[[Crawford (name)|Crawford]]'', ''[[Campbell (surname)|Campbell]]'', ''[[Hunter (name)|Hunter]]'') with "Mac" [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] for son.<ref>Katherine M. Spadaro, Katie Graham (2001) ''Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: the complete course for beginners'' p.16. Routledge, 2001</ref>
* '''Patronal''' from patronage (''Hickman'' meaning Hick's man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religion ''Kilpatrick'' (follower of [[Patrick (given name)|Patrick]]) or ''Kilbride'' (follower of [[Bridget (given name)|Bridget]]).


Indian surnames may often denote village, profession, and/or [[caste]] and are invariably mentioned along with the personal/first names. However, hereditary last names are not universal. In [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-speaking families in south India, surname is placed before personal / first name and in most cases it is only shown as an initial (for example 'S.' for Suryapeth).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Charles Philip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnAIAAAAQAAJ&q=name|title=A Grammar of the Telugu Language|date=1857|publisher=printed at the Christian Knowledge Society's Press|pages=209|language=en}}</ref>
There is a wide range of [[family name affixes]] with a patronymic function. Some are prefixes (e.g., Gaelic ''mac'') but more are suffixes.


In English and other languages like Spanish—although the usual order of names is "first middle last"—for the purpose of cataloging in libraries and in citing the names of authors in scholarly papers, the order is changed to "last, first middle," with the last and first names separated by a comma, and items are alphabetized by the last name.<ref>[http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet27 "Filing Rules"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121153423/http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet27|date=21 January 2013}} on the [[American Library Association]] website</ref><ref>[http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/ "MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107033746/http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/|date=7 January 2013}} on the [[Purdue Online Writing Lab]] website, [[Purdue University]]</ref> In France, Italy, Spain, [[Belgium]] and Latin America, administrative usage is to put the surname before the first on official documents.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}
===Occupational surname=== <!-- [[Occupational name]] and [[Occupational surname]] redirects here -->
[[Vocation|Occupational]] names include such simple examples as ''[[Smith (surname)|Smith]]'' (for a [[metalsmith|smith]]), ''[[Miller (name)|Miller]]'' (for a [[miller]]), ''[[Farmer (surname)|Farmer]]'' (for [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farmers]] or sometimes [[farmer]]s), ''[[Thatcher (profession)|Thatcher]]'' (for a [[thatching|thatcher]]), ''[[Shepherd (surname)|Shepherd]]'' (for a [[shepherd]]), ''[[Potter (surname)|Potter]]'' (for a [[pottery|potter]]), and so on, as well as non-English ones, such as the German ''Eisenhauer'' (iron [[hewer]], later Anglicized in America as ''[[Eisenhower (name)|Eisenhower]]'') or ''[[Schneider (surname)|Schneider]]'' (tailor) – or, as in English, ''[[Schmidt (surname)|Schmidt]]'' (smith). There are also more complicated names based on occupational titles. In England it was common for servants to take a modified version of their employer's occupation or first name as their last name,{{According to whom|date=July 2018}} adding the letter ''s'' to the word, although this formation could also be a [[patronymic]]. For instance, the surname ''[[Vickers (surname)|Vickers]]'' is thought to have arisen as an occupational name adopted by the servant of a vicar,<ref name="reaney">Reaney, P.H., and Wilson, R.M. ''A Dictionary of English Surnames.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Rev. 3rd ed. {{ISBN|0-19-860092-5}}.</ref> while ''[[Roberts (surname)|Roberts]]'' could have been adopted by either the son or the servant of a man named Robert. A subset of occupational names in English are names thought to be derived from the medieval [[Mystery play#English mystery plays|mystery plays]]. The participants would often play the same roles for life, passing the part down to their oldest sons. Names derived from this may include ''[[King (surname)|King]]'', ''[[Lord (surname)|Lord]]'' and ''Virgin''. The original meaning of names based on medieval occupations may no longer be obvious in modern English (so the surnames ''Cooper'', ''Chandler'', and ''Cutler'' come from the occupations of making barrels, candles, and cutlery, respectively).


==Gender-specific versions of surname==<!---Category:Gendered surnames redirects here--->
==== Examples ====
{{Main article|Surname inflection}}
{{Category see also|Occupational surnames}}
{{Category see also|Gendered surnames|}}
''[[Archer (surname)|Archer]]'', ''[[Bailey (surname)|Bailey]]'', ''[[Bailhache (surname)|Bailhache]]'', ''[[Baker (surname)|Baker]]'', ''[[Brewer (surname)|Brewer]]'', ''[[Butcher (surname)|Butcher]]'', ''[[Carpenter (surname)|Carpenter]]'', ''[[Carter (name)|Carter]]'', ''[[Chandler (surname)|Chandler]]'', ''[[Clark]]'' or ''[[Clarke]]'', ''[[Collier (surname)|Collier]]'', ''[[Cooper (surname)|Cooper]]'', ''[[Cook (surname)|Cook]]'', ''Dempster'', ''[[Dyer (surname)|Dyer]]'', ''[[Farmer (surname)|Farmer]]'', ''[[Faulkner (surname)|Faulkner]]'', ''[[Fisher (surname)|Fisher]]'', ''[[Fletcher (surname)|Fletcher]]'', ''[[Fowler (surname)|Fowler]]'', ''[[Fuller (surname)|Fuller]]'', ''Gardener'', ''[[Glover (surname)|Glover]]'', ''[[Hayward (profession)|Hayward]]'', ''[[Hawkins (name)|Hawkins]]'', ''Head'', ''[[Hunt (surname)|Hunt]]'' or ''[[Hunter (surname)|Hunter]]'', ''[[Judge (surname)|Judge]]'', ''[[Knight (surname)|Knight]]'', ''[[Mason (surname)|Mason]]'', ''[[Miller (name)|Miller]]'', ''Mower'', ''[[Page (surname)|Page]]'', ''[[Palmer (surname)|Palmer]]'', ''[[Parker (surname)|Parker]]'', ''[[Porter (name)|Porter]]'', ''[[Potter (name)|Potter]]'', ''[[Reeve (surname)|Reeve]]'' or ''[[Reeves (surname)|Reeves]]'', ''[[Sawyer (occupation)|Sawyer]]'', ''[[Slater]]'', ''[[Smith (surname)|Smith]]'', ''[[Stringer (surname)|Stringer]]'', ''[[Taylor (surname)|Taylor]]'', ''[[Thatcher (profession)|Thatcher]]'', ''[[Turner (surname)|Turner]]'', ''[[Walker (surname)|Walker]]'', ''[[Weaver (surname)|Weaver]]'', ''Woodman'' and ''[[Wright]]'' (or variations such as ''[[Cartwright (surname)|Cartwright]]'' and ''[[Wainwright (name)|Wainwright]]'').
In most [[Balto-Slavic languages]] (such as Latvian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, etc.) as well as in [[Greek language|Greek]], Irish, [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], some surnames change form depending on the gender of the bearer.<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Donner|first1=Paul|title=Differences in publication behaviour between female and male scientists. Bibliometric analysis of longitudinal data from 1980 to 2005 with regard to gender differences in productivity and involvement, collaboration and citation impact|date=2012|publisher=Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin|url=http://eprints.rclis.org/19542/|type=Thesis|language=en|access-date=10 April 2023|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410144628/http://eprints.rclis.org/19542/|url-status=live}}</ref>


{|class="wikitable sortable"
===Toponymic surname===<!-- [[Habitation name]], [[Habitational name]], [[Habitative name]], and [[Location name]] redirects here -->
|+ Forms of gendered names
{{Main|Toponymic surname}}
! Language !! Male form !! Female form !! class=unsortable|Reference
Location (toponymic, habitation) names derive from the inhabited location associated with the person given that name. Such locations can be any type of settlement, such as: homesteads, farms, enclosures, villages, hamlets, strongholds or cottages. One element of a habitation name may describe the type of settlement. Examples of [[Old English]] elements are frequently found in the second element of habitational names. The habitative elements in such names can differ in meaning, according to different periods, different locations, or with being used with certain other elements. For example, the Old English element ''tūn'' may have originally meant "enclosure" in one name, but can have meant "farmstead", "village", "manor", or "estate" in other names.
|-
|[[Icelandic name|Icelandic surnames]]||Suffix -son||Suffix -dóttir||<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Heijnen|first1=Adriënne|title=Relating through Dreams: Names, Genes and Shared Substance|journal=History and Anthropology|date=1 September 2010|volume=21|issue=3|pages=307–319|doi=10.1080/02757206.2010.499909|s2cid=143703825|issn=0275-7206}}</ref>
|-
|[[Greek name#Family names|Greek surnames]]||Suffixes -os, -as, -is||Suffixes -ou, -a, -i||<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Makri-Tsilipakou|first1=Marianthi|title=Greek Diminutive Use Problematized: Gender, Culture and Common Sense|journal=Discourse & Society|date=November 2003|volume=14|issue=6|pages=699–726|doi=10.1177/09579265030146002|s2cid=145557628}}</ref>
|-
|[[Irish name#Surnames and prefixes|Irish surnames]]||Prefixes Mac, Ó, Ua, Mag||Prefixes Bean Uí, Nic, Bean Mhic, Ní, Mhic, Nig||<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mac Mathúna|first1=Liam|chapter=What's in an irish name?|title=The Celtic Englishes IV: The interface between English and the Celtic languages; Proceedings of the Fourth International Colloquium on the "Celtic Englishes" held at the University of Potsdam in Golm (Germany) from 22–26 September 2004|date=2006|pages=64–87|url=https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3908|publisher=University of Potsdam|location=Potsdam|access-date=10 April 2023|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410172819/https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3908|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|[[Lithuanian name#Feminine forms|Lithuanian surnames]]||Suffixes -as, -ys, -is, -us||Suffixes -ienė, -uvienė, -aitė, -utė, -iūtė, -ytė, -ė||<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Smoriginaitė|first1=Jovita|title=Visuomenės reakcijos į kalbinę lyčių problematiką. Nepriesaginių moteriškų pavardžių atvejis Lietuvoje, "hen" įvardžio – Švedijoje|date=2022|url=https://epublications.vu.lt/object/elaba:143533685/|publisher=Vilniaus universitetas|access-date=10 April 2023|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410174524/https://epublications.vu.lt/object/elaba:143533685/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|[[Latvian name|Latvian surnames]]||Suffixes -us, -is, -s, -iņš||Suffixes -a, -e, -iņa||
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic#Names|Scottish Gaelic surnames]]||Prefix Mac-||Prefix Nic-||<ref>{{cite book|last1=Graham|first1=Katie|last2=Spadaro|first2=Katherine M.|title=Colloquial Scottish Gaelic: The Complete Course for Beginners|date=11 August 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-62415-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0uFAgAAQBAJ|language=en|access-date=15 May 2023|archive-date=7 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007170706/https://books.google.com/books?id=d0uFAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|[[Bulgarian name|Bulgarian and]] [[Macedonian name|Macedonian surnames]]||Suffixes -ov, -ev, -ski||Suffixes -ova, -eva, -ska||
|-
|[[Eastern Slavic naming customs#Grammar|East Slavic surnames]]||Suffixes -ov, -ev, -in, -iy, -oy, -yy, -ou<br>Patronymics -ovich, -ovych, -yovych, -avich||Suffixes -ova, -eva, -ina, -aya<br>Patronymics -ovna, -ivna, -yivna, -ouna||<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Canada|first1=Library and Archives|title=Item – Theses Canada|journal=Library-archives.canada.ca|date=1 September 2022|url=https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/services/services-libraries/theses/Pages/item.aspx?idNumber=16024166}}</ref>
|-
|[[Czech name#Female surnames|Czech and]] [[Slovak name|Slovak surnames]]||Suffixes -ov, -ý, -ský, -cký||Suffixes -ová, -á, -ská, -cká||<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kolek|first1=Vít|last2=Valdrová|first2=Jana|title=Czech gender linguistics: Topics, attitudes, perspectives|journal=Slovenščina 2.0: Empirične, aplikativne in interdisciplinarne raziskave|date=6 August 2020|volume=8|issue=1|pages=35–65|doi=10.4312/slo2.0.2020.1.35-65|s2cid=225419103|language=en|issn=2335-2736|doi-access=free}}</ref>
|-
|[[Polish names|Polish surnames]]||Suffixes -ski, -cki, -dzki||Suffixes -ska, -cka, -dzka||<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nalibow|first1=Kenneth L.|title=The Opposition in Polish of Genus and Sexus in Women's Surnames|journal=Names|date=1 June 1973|volume=21|issue=2|pages=78–81|doi=10.1179/nam.1973.21.2.78|issn=0027-7738}}</ref>
|-
|[[Azerbaijani name|Azerbaijani surnames]]||Suffixes -ov, -yev, Patronymic oğlu||Suffixes -ova, -yeva, Patronymic qızı||
|}


In Slavic languages, substantivized adjective surnames have commonly symmetrical adjective variants for males and females (Podwiński/Podwińska in Polish, Nový/Nová in Czech or Slovak, etc.). In the case of nominative and quasi-nominative surnames, the female variant is derived from the male variant by a possessive suffix (Novák/Nováková, Hromada/Hromadová). In Czech and Slovak, the pure possessive would be Novákova, Hromadova, but the surname evolved to a more adjectivized form Nováková, Hromadová, to suppress the historical possessivity. Some rare types of surnames are universal and gender-neutral: examples in Czech are Janů, Martinů, Fojtů, Kovářů. These are the archaic form of the possessive, related to the plural name of the family. Such rare surnames are also often used for transgender persons during transition because most common surnames are gender-specific.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Location names, or habitation names, may be as generic as "Monte" (Portuguese for "mountain"), "Górski" (Polish for "hill") or "Pitt" (variant of "pit"), but may also refer to specific locations. "Washington," for instance, is thought to mean "the homestead of the family of Wassa",<ref name="cottle" /> while "Lucci" means "resident of [[Lucca]]".<ref name="hanks" /> Although some surnames, such as "London", "Lisboa" or "Białystok" are derived from large cities, more people reflect the names of smaller communities, as in [[Ó Creachmhaoil]], derived from a village in [[County Galway]]. This is thought to be due to the tendency in Europe during the Middle Ages for migration to chiefly be from smaller communities to the cities and the need for new arrivals to choose a defining surname.<ref name="cottle" /><ref name="bowman">Bowman, William Dodgson. ''The Story of Surnames''. London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932. No ISBN.</ref>


The informal dialectal female form in Polish and Czech dialects was also -ka (Pawlaczka, Kubeška). With the exception of the -ski/-ska suffix, most feminine forms of surnames are seldom observed in Polish.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In [[Portuguese-speaking countries]], it is uncommon, but not unprecedented, to find surnames derived from names of countries, such as Portugal, França, Brasil, Holanda.


Generally, inflected languages use names and surnames as living words, not as static identifiers. Thus, the pair or the family can be named by a plural form which can differ from the singular male and female form. For instance, when the male form is Novák and the female form Nováková, the family name is Novákovi in Czech and Novákovci in Slovak. When the male form is Hrubý and the female form is Hrubá, the plural family name is Hrubí (or "rodina Hrubých").{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Many [[Japanese name|Japanese surnames]] derive from geographical features; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means "stone river", Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the mountain", and Inoue (井上) means "above the well".


In Greece, if a man called Papadopoulos has a daughter or wife, she will likely be named Papadopoulou, the genitive form, as if the daughter/wife is "of" a man named Papadopoulos. Likewise, the surnames of daughters and wives of males with surnames ending in -as will end in -a, and those of daughters and wives of males with the -is suffix will have the -i suffix.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Makri-Tsilipakou|first1=Marianthi|title=Greek Diminutive Use Problematized: Gender, Culture and Common Sense|journal=Discourse & Society|date=November 2003|volume=14|issue=6|pages=699–726|doi=10.1177/09579265030146002|s2cid=145557628}}</ref>
Arabic names sometimes contain surnames that denote the city of origin. For example, in cases of [[Saddam Hussein]] al Tikriti,<ref name="saddam">{{cite news |title=Saddam Hussein's top aides hanged |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm |accessdate=17 October 2011 |newspaper=BBC News |date=15 January 2007}}</ref> meaning Saddam Hussein originated from [[Tikrit]], a city in [[Iraq]]. This component of the name is called a ''[[Nisbat (onomastics)|nisbah]]''.
* '''Habitation (place) names''' e.g., ''[[Burton (name)|Burton]]'', ''[[Hamilton (surname and title)|Hamilton]]'', ''[[London (name)|London]]'', ''Leighton'', ''[[Murray (surname)|Murray]]'', ''Sutton'', ''Flint'', ''Laughton''
* '''Estate names''' For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, castle, manor or estate, e.g. ''[[Ernle]]'', ''[[House of Windsor|Windsor]]'', ''Staunton''
* '''Topographic names''' (geographical features) e.g., ''Bridge'', ''[[Camp (surname)|Camp]]'', ''[[Hill (surname)|Hill]]'', ''[[Bush (surname)|Bush]]'', ''Lake'', ''[[Lee (English name)|Lee]]'', ''[[Wood (surname)|Wood]]'', ''[[Grove (surname)|Grove]]'', ''[[Holmes (surname)|Holmes]]'', ''Forest'', ''[[Underwood]]'', ''[[Hall (surname)|Hall]]'', ''[[Brooks (surname)|Brooks]]'', ''Fields'', ''[[Stone (surname)|Stone]]'', ''Morley'', ''[[Moore (surname)|Moore]]'', ''[[Perry (surname)|Perry]]''


Latvian, like Lithuanian, uses strictly feminized surnames for women, even in the case of foreign names. The function of the suffix is purely grammatical. Male surnames ending -e or -a need not be modified for women. Exceptions are:
===Derived from a nickname===<!-- [[Cognominal surname]], [[Eke-name]], and [[Nickname surname]] redirects here -->
* The female surnames which correspond to nouns in the sixth declension with the ending "-s" – "Iron", ("iron"), "rock"
This is the broadest class of surnames, encompassing many types of origin. These include names, also known as eke-names,<ref>[http://www.houseofnames.com/Claro+-family-crest "Claro Family Crest and History"] on the ''House of Names'' website</ref> based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and possibly "Caesar",<ref name="hanks" /> and names based on temperament and personality such as "Daft", "Gutman", and "Maiden", which, according to a number of sources, was an English nickname meaning "effeminate".<ref name="hanks" /><ref name="cottle" />
* Surnames of both genders, which are written in the same nominative case form because they correspond to nouns in the third declension ending in "-us" ("Grigus", "Markus")
* '''Personal characteristics''' e.g., ''Short'', ''[[Brown (surname)|Brown]]'', ''Black'', ''Whitehead'', ''[[Young (surname)|Young]]'', ''Long'', ''[[White (surname)|White]]''
* Surnames based on an adjective have indefinite suffixes typical of adjectives: "-s, -a" ("Stalts", "Stalta") or the specified endings "-ais, -ā" ("Čaklais", "Čaklā") ("diligent").{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


In Iceland, surnames have a gender-specific suffix (-dóttir = daughter, -son = son).<ref>{{cite web|title=Icelandic names – everything you need to know|url=https://www.re.is/blog/icelandic-names/|publisher=Reykjavik Excursions|access-date=23 June 2023|archive-date=13 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613145935/https://www.re.is/blog/icelandic-names/|url-status=live}}</ref> This was also the case in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, until they were abolished by law in 1856, 1923, and 1966 respectively.
===Ornamental surname===<!-- [[Ornamental name]] redirects here -->
Ornamental names used as surnames are more common in communities which adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref name="bowman" /> They occur commonly among Jewish families in Germany and in Scandinavia.<ref name="hanks" /> Examples include "Morgenstern" ("morning star"), "Safire" ("sapphire"), and "Reis" ("branch"). In some cases, such as [[Indonesian-sounding names adopted by Chinese Indonesians|Chinese Indonesians]] and [[Chinese Thai surname|Chinese Thais]], certain ethnic groups are subject to political pressure to change their surnames, in which case surnames can lose their family-name meaning. For instance, Indonesian business tycoon Liem Swie Liong (林绍良) "indonesianised" his name to [[Sudono Salim]]. In this case "Liem" (林) was rendered by "Salim", a name of Arabic origin, while "Sudono", a Javanese name with the honorific prefix "su-" (of Sanskrit origin), was supposed{{by whom|date=January 2016}} to be a rendering of "Swie Liong".


Finnish used gender-specific suffixes up to 1929 when the Marriage Act forced women to use the husband's form of the surname. In 1985, this clause was removed from the act.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Paikkala|first=Sirkka|date=2014|title=Which name upon marriage? Family names of women in Finland|url=https://doi.org/10.2436/15.8040.01.88|journal=eLS noms en la vida quotidiana. Actes del XXIV Congrés Internacional d'ICOS sobre Ciències Onomàstiques|language=en|pages=853–861|doi=10.2436/15.8040.01.88|access-date=2024-06-06|via=gencat}}</ref>
During the era of the [[Trans-Atlantic slave trade]] many Africans lost their native names and were forced by their owners to take the owners' surnames and any given name the "owner" or slave master desired. In the Americas, the family names of many African-Americans have their origins in slavery (''i.e.'' [[slave name]]).{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} Many of them came to bear the surnames of their former owners. Many freed slaves either created family names themselves or adopted the name of their former master.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}


Until at least 1850, women's surnames were suffixed with an -in in Tyrol.
=== Gender-specific versions of surname ===
In some cultures, such as Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, Slovak, Czech, etc. surnames change form depending on the gender of the bearer. For example, in Greece, if a man called Papadopoulos has a daughter, she will likely be named Papadopoulou (if the couple have decided their offspring will take his surname), since that name has a female version. In [[Poland]], if the husband is named Podwiński, and his wife takes his surname, her last name, and those of their unmarried daughters, would be Podwińska. The sons would be known as Podwiński. In Lithuania, if the husband is named Vilkas, his wife will be named Vilkienė and his daughter will be named Vilkaitė. In Slovakia and Czech Republic alike, if a man is called Novák, the wife adds a feminine suffix "-ová" to his surname after the marriage, hence Nováková. The same is true for daughters, who almost always inherit the father's surname with the feminine suffix.


===Indication of family membership status===
=== Other ===
{{see also|Maiden and married names}}
The meanings of some names are unknown or unclear. The most common European name in this category may be the Irish name [[Ryan (surname)|Ryan]], which means 'little king' in Irish Gaelic.<ref name="cottle" /><ref name="reaney" /> Also, Celtic origin of the name Arthur, meaning '[[Artur|bear]]'. Other surnames may have arisen from more than one source: the name [[DeLuca|De Luca]], for instance, likely arose either in or near Lucania or in the family of someone named Lucas or Lucius;<ref name="hanks" /> in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.<ref name="hanks" /> The same name may appear in different cultures by coincidence or romanization; the surname [[Lee (English name)|Lee]] is used in English culture, but is also a romanization of the Chinese surname ''[[Li (surname 李)|Li]]''.<ref name="reaney" /> Surname origins have been the subject of much [[folk etymology]].
Some Slavic cultures originally distinguished the surnames of married and unmarried women by different suffixes, but this distinction is no longer widely observed. Some Czech dialects (Southwest-Bohemian) use the form "Novákojc" as informal for both genders. In the culture of the [[Sorbs]] (a.k.a. Wends or Lusatians), [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]] used different female forms for unmarried daughters (Jordanojc, Nowcyc, Kubašec, Markulic), and for wives (Nowakowa, Budarka, Nowcyna, Markulina). In Polish, typical surnames for unmarried women ended -ówna, -anka, or -ianka, while the surnames of married women used the possessive suffixes -ina or -owa. In Serbia, unmarried women's surnames ended in -eva, while married women's surnames ended in -ka. In Lithuania, if the husband is named Vilkas, his wife will be named Vilkienė and his unmarried daughter will be named Vilkaitė. Male surnames have suffixes -as, -is, -ius, or -us, unmarried girl surnames aitė, -ytė, -iūtė or -utė, wife surnames -ienė. These suffixes are also used for foreign names, exclusively for grammar; Welby, the surname of [[Justin Welby|the present Archbishop of Canterbury]] for example, becomes ''Velbis'' in Lithuanian, while his wife is ''Velbienė'', and his unmarried daughter, ''Velbaitė''.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


Many surnames include prefixes that may or may not be separated by a space or punctuation from the main part of the surname. These are usually not considered true compound names, rather single surnames are made up of more than one word. These prefixes often give hints about the type or origin of the surname (patronymic, toponymic, notable lineage) and include words that mean from [a place or lineage], and son of/daughter of/child of.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In [[French Canada]] until the 19th century, several families adopted surnames that followed the family name in order to distinguish the various branches of a large family. Such a surname was preceded by the word ''dit'' ('said') and was known as a ''nom-dit'' ('said-name'). (Compare with some [[Roman naming conventions]].) While this tradition is no longer in use, in many cases the ''nom-dit'' has come to replace the original family name. Thus the Bourbeau family has split into Bourbeau dit Verville, Bourbeau dit Lacourse, and Bourbeau dit Beauchesne. In many cases Verville, Lacourse, or Beauchesne has become the new family name. Likewise, the Rivard family has split into the Rivard dit Lavigne, Rivard dit Loranger and Rivard dit Lanoie. The origin of the ''nom-dit'' can vary. Often it denoted a geographical trait of the area where that branch of the family lived: Verville lived towards the city, Beauchesne lived near an oak tree, Larivière near a river, etc. Some of the oldest ''noms-dits'' are derived from the war name of a settler who served in the army or militia: Tranchemontagne ('mountain slasher'), Jolicœur ('braveheart'). Others denote a personal trait: Lacourse might have been a fast runner, Legrand was probably tall, etc.


{{anchor|Celtic_compound_names}}The common Celtic prefixes "Ó" or "Ua" (descendant of) and "Mac" or "Mag" (son of) can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, yielding "Ó Briain" or "Mac Millan" as well as the anglicized "O'Brien" and "MacMillan" or "Macmillan". Other Irish prefixes include Ní, Nic (daughter of the son of), Mhic, and Uí (wife of the son of).{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
== Compound surnames ==
{{Main|Double-barrelled name}}
While surnames are usually one word, in some cases a surname comprises more than one word.


A surname with the prefix "Fitz" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, as in "Fitz William", as well as "FitzWilliam" or "Fitzwilliam" (like, for example, [[Robert FitzRoy]]). Note that "[[Fitz]]" comes from French (fils) thus making these surnames a form of patronymic.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Spanish compound surnames ===
{{Main|Spanish naming customs}}
{{further|Double-barrelled name#Iberian tradition}}


== Surname law ==
In traditional Spanish culture, and as is still the case in many Spanish-speaking countries, an individual does not have only a single surname. Instead an individual inherits the surnames of all of their ancestors, in particular their father and mother. In practice individuals mostly use only the two surnames of their parents. For instance, Spanish ex-premier [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] has [[José]] [[Luis]] as his given name, [[Rodríguez (surname)|Rodríguez]], as his first (i.e. paternal) surname, and [[Zapatero (surname)|Zapatero]] as his second (i.e. maternal) surname. But in reality an individual can be referred to by any number of his or her surnames as the occasion may require. For example, Rodríguez Zapatero could also be referred to as


A family name is typically a part of a person's [[personal name]] and, according to law or custom, is passed or given to children from at least one of their parents' family names. The use of family names is common in most cultures around the world, but each culture has its own rules as to how the names are formed, passed, and used. However, the style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal (see [[#History|§History]] below). In many cultures, it is common for people to have one name or [[:wikt:mononym|mononym]], with some cultures not using family names. Issues of family name arise especially on the passing of a name to a newborn child, the adoption of a common family name on marriage, the renunciation of a family name, and the changing of a family name.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
:José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero García Valero García Asensio


[[Surname law]]s vary around the world. Traditionally in many European countries for the past few hundred years, it was the custom or the law for a woman, upon marriage, to use her husband's surname and for any children born to bear the father's surname. If a child's paternity was not known, or if the [[putative father]] denied paternity, the newborn child would have the surname of the mother. That is still the custom or law in many countries. The surname for children of married parents is usually inherited from the father.<ref name=":0">Kelly, 99 W Va L Rev at 10; see id. at 10 n 25 (The custom of taking the father's surname assumes that the child is born to parents in a "state-sanctioned marriage". The custom is different for children born to unmarried parents.). Cited in [http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A127262.htm#N_15_ Doherty v. Wizner, Oregon Court of Appeals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112032/http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A127262.htm#N_15_|date=4 March 2016}} (2005)</ref> In recent years,<!-- When is this? --> there has been a trend towards equality of treatment in relation to family names, with women being not automatically required, expected or, in some places, even forbidden, to take the husband's surname on marriage, with the children not automatically being given the father's surname. In this article, both family name and surname mean the [[patrilineal]] surname, which is handed down from or inherited from the father, unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. Thus, the term "maternal surname" means the ''patrilineal'' surname that one's mother inherited from either or both of her parents. For a discussion of ''[[matrilineal]]'' ('mother-line') surnames, passing from mothers to daughters, see [[matrilineal surname]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Additional surnames refer to grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and so forth. The number of surnames a person has is theoretically unlimited though it is rare to use more than a few (and indeed an individual may not know more than a few of his or her ancestors' names).


==Surname of women==
This custom is not seen in the Hispanic world as being a true compound surname system ''per se'', since it is widely understood that the first surname denotes one's father's family, and the second surname denotes one's mother's family. So "Rodríguez Zapatero" is not considered one surname; it is two distinct surnames. Given that it is not a true compound surname, his children do not inherit the "compound" surname "Rodríguez Zapatero". Only the paternal surname of both father and mother are passed on. The father's paternal surname becomes the child's own paternal surname, while the mother's paternal surname becomes the child's second surname (as the child's own maternal surname). Thus, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would pass on only Rodríguez to his children as their first (i.e. paternal) surname.
King [[Henry VIII]] of England (reigned 1509–1547) ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father.<ref name="Doll1992"/> In England and cultures derived from there, there has long been a tradition for a woman to change her surname upon marriage from her [[Name at birth|birth name]] to her husband's family name. (See [[Maiden and married names]].){{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


In the Middle Ages, when a man from a lower-status family married an only daughter from a higher-status family, he would often adopt the wife's family name.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} In the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, bequests were sometimes made contingent upon a man's changing (or hyphenating) his family name, so that the name of the [[testator]] continued.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
An additional complication is introduced by marriage. Rodríguez Zapatero's wife was born Sonsoles Espinosa Díaz. Under Spanish tradition she is still known by that name, even after marriage. But she may also be known as
:Sonsoles Espinosa Díaz de Rodríguez
:Sonsoles Espinosa de Rodríguez
:Sonsoles de Rodríguez


The United States followed the naming customs and practices of English common law and traditions until recent times. The first known instance in the United States of a woman insisting on the use of her birth name was that of [[Lucy Stone]] in 1855, and there has been a general increase in the rate of women using their birth name. Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, traditional naming practices (writes one commentator) were recognized as "com[ing] into conflict with current sensitivities about children's and women's rights".<ref>Richard H. Thornton, ''The Controversy Over Children's Surnames: Familial Autonomy, Equal Protection, and the Child's Best Interests'', 1979 Utah L Rev 303.</ref> Those changes accelerated a shift away from the interests of the parents to a focus on the best interests of the child. The law in this area continues to evolve today mainly in the context of paternity and custody actions.<ref>[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20030812.html Joanna Grossman, ''Whose Surname Should a Child Have''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428155556/http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20030812.html|date=28 April 2016}}, FindLaw's Writ column (12 August 2003), (last visited 7 December 2006).</ref>
These other forms, particularly the last, are becoming less common{{when|date=June 2018}} as they are increasingly seen as sexist (i.e. that a wife is expected to take her husband's name but not the other way around).<ref>{{cite web |title=Proper married name? |website=Spanish Dict |date=Jan 9, 2012 |url=http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/219019/proper-married-name}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Language and the Sexes |author=Frank, Francine; Anshen, Frank |year=1985 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-87395-882-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fvHy48GiIEC |page=18}}</ref> Additionally, in Spain and some other countries it is becoming more common, in law and in practice, to allow placing the mother's name before the father's in a child's surname rather than insisting that the privilege belongs exclusively to the father.<ref>{{cite web |title=Spain overhauls tradition of 'sexist' double-barrelled surnames |author=Govan, Fiona |website=The Local |date=1 June 2017 |url=https://www.thelocal.es/20170601/spain-overhauls-tradition-of-sexist-double-barrelled-surnames}}</ref>


Naming conventions in the US have gone through periods of flux, however, and the 1990s saw a decline in the percentage of name retention among women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldin|first=Claudia|author-link=Claudia Goldin|date=2004|title=Making a Name: Women's Surnames at Marriage and Beyond.|journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=18|issue=2|pages=143–160|doi=10.1257/0895330041371268|jstor=3216895|doi-access=free}}</ref> As of 2006, more than 80% of American women adopted the husband's family name after marriage.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482928 "American Women, Changing Their Names"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004140220/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482928|date=4 October 2017}}, ''[[National Public Radio]]''. Retrieved 10 April 2013.</ref>
==== True compound surnames ====
Beyond this seemingly "compound" surname system in the Hispanic world, there are also true compound surnames in the Spanish-speaking countries. These true compound surnames are passed on and inherited as compounds. For instance, former Chairman of the [[Military junta|Supreme Military Junta]] of [[Ecuador]], General [[Luis Telmo Paz y Miño]] Estrella, has [[Luis]] as his first given name, [[Telmo]] as his middle name, the true compound surname [[Pazmiño|Paz y Miño]] as his first (i.e. paternal) surname, and Estrella as his second (i.e. maternal) surname.


It is rare but not unknown for an English-speaking man to take his wife's family name, whether for personal reasons or as a matter of tradition (such as among [[matrilineal]] [[First Nations in Canada|Canadian aboriginal]] groups, such as the [[Haida people|Haida]] and [[Gitxsan]]). Upon marriage to a woman, men in the United States can change their surnames to that of their wives, or adopt a combination of both names with the federal government, through the [[Social Security Administration]]. Men may face difficulty doing so on the state level in some states.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Luis Telmo Paz y Miño Estrella is also known more casually as Luis Paz y Miño, Telmo Paz y Miño, or Luis Telmo Paz y Miño. He would never be regarded as Luis Estrella, Telmo Estrella, or Luis Telmo Estrella, nor as Luis Paz, Telmo Paz, or Luis Telmo Paz. This is because "Paz" alone is not his surname (although other people use the "Paz" surname on its own).


It is exceedingly rare but does occur in the United States, where a married couple may choose an entirely new last name by going through a legal change of name. As an alternative, both spouses may adopt a [[double-barrelled name]]. For instance, when John Smith and Mary Jones marry each other, they may become known as "John Smith-Jones" and "Mary Smith-Jones". A spouse may also opt to use their birth name as a middle name, and e.g. become known as "Mary Jones Smith".{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} An additional option, although rarely practiced{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}, is the adoption of the last name derived from a blend of the prior names, such as "Simones", which also requires a legal name change. Some couples keep their own last names but give their children hyphenated or combined surnames.<ref>Daniella Miletic (20 July 2012) [http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/most-women-say-i-do-to-husbands-name-20120719-22d5c.html Most women say 'I do' to husband's name]. The Age.</ref>
In this case, [[Pazmiño|Paz y Miño]] is in fact the paternal surname, being a true compound surname. His children, therefore, would inherit the compound surname "Paz y Miño" as their paternal surname, while Estrella would be lost, since the mother's paternal surname becomes the children's second surname (as their own maternal surname). "Paz" alone would not be passed on, nor would "Miño" alone.


In 1979, the United Nations adopted the ''[[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]]'' ("CEDAW"), which declared in effect that women and men, and specifically wife and husband, shall have the same rights to choose a "family name", as well as a profession and an occupation.<ref>UN Convention, 1979. [https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm "Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women"]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110406123853/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm Archived at WebCite on 1 April 2011.]</ref>
To avoid ambiguity, one might often informally see these true compound surnames hyphenated, for instance, as Paz-y-Miño. This is true especially in the [[English-speaking world]], but also sometimes even in the Hispanic world, since to many Hispanics unfamiliar with this and other compound surnames, "Paz y Miño" might be inadvertently mistaken as "Paz" for the paternal surname and "Miño" for the maternal surname. Although Miño did start off as the maternal surname in this compound surname, it was many generations ago, around five centuries, that it became compounded, and henceforth inherited and passed on as a compound.


In some places, civil rights lawsuits or constitutional amendments changed the law so that men could also easily change their married names (e.g., in British Columbia and California).<ref name="Risling2007">{{Cite news|last=Risling|first=Greg|date=12 January 2007|title=Man files lawsuit to take wife's name|work=The Boston Globe (Boston.com)|agency=Associated Press|location=Los Angeles|url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/12/man_files_lawsuit_to_take_wifes_name|url-status=dead|access-date=22 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127041401/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/12/man_files_lawsuit_to_take_wifes_name/|archive-date=27 January 2007|quote=Because of Buday's case, a California state lawmaker has introduced a bill to put a space on the marriage license for either spouse to change names.}}</ref> [[Québec]] law permits neither spouse to change surnames.<ref>{{cite web|url-status=dead|url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=72ddc06b-4660-4b92-8b92-3a26ae24b377&k=5969|title=Quebec newlywed furious she can't take her husband's name|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102072805/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=72ddc06b-4660-4b92-8b92-3a26ae24b377&k=5969|archive-date=2 January 2016|first1= Marianne|last1=White|agency=CanWest News Service|date=8 August 2007|access-date=3 November 2013|website=canada.com}}</ref>
Other surnames which started off as compounds of two or more surnames, but which merged into one single word, also exist. An example would be the surname [[Pazmiño]], whose members are related to the Paz y Miño, as both descend from the "Paz Miño" family of five centuries ago.


In France, until 1 January 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. Article 311-21 of the French [[Civil code]] now permits parents to give their children the family name of either their father, mother, or hyphenation of both – although no more than two names can be hyphenated. In cases of disagreement, both names are used in alphabetical order.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000027432045/|website=Légifrance|title=Article 311-21 – Code civil|access-date=24 May 2021|archive-date=24 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524153305/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000027432045/|url-status=live}}</ref> This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by the [[Council of Europe]] requiring member governments to take measures to adopt equality of rights in the transmission of family names, a measure that was echoed by the United Nations in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women|url=http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cdw.html|access-date=16 April 2018|publisher=Human Rights Web|archive-date=21 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421154002/http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cdw.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Álava]], Spain is known for its incidence of true compound surnames, characterized for having the first portion of the surname as a patronymic, normally a Spanish patronymic (i.e. from the [[Castilian language]]) or more unusually a [[Basque language]] patronymic, followed by the [[preposition]] "de", with the second part of the surname being a local toponymic surname from Álava.


Similar measures were adopted by [[West Germany]] (1976), Sweden (1982), [[Denmark]] (1983), Finland (1985) and Spain (1999). The European Community has been active in eliminating gender discrimination. Several cases concerning discrimination in family names have reached the courts. ''Burghartz v. Switzerland'' challenged the lack of an option for husbands to add the wife's surname to his surname, which they had chosen as the family name when this option was available for women.<ref>''Burghartz v. Switzerland'', no. 16213/90, 22 February 1994.</ref> ''Losonci Rose and Rose v. Switzerland'' challenged a prohibition on foreign men married to Swiss women keeping their surname if this option was provided in their national law, an option available to women.<ref>''Losonci Rose and Rose v. Switzerland'', no. 664/06, 9 November 2010.</ref> ''Ünal Tekeli v. Turkey'' challenged prohibitions on women using their surname as the family name, an option only available to men.<ref>''Ünal Tekeli v Turkey'', no. 29865/96, 16 November 2004.</ref> The Court found all these laws to be in violation of the convention.<ref>{{Cite web|title=European Gender Equality Law Review – No. 1/2012|url=http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/law_reviews/egelr_2012-1_final_web_en.pdf|access-date=16 April 2018|publisher=Ec.europa.eu|page=17|archive-date=22 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122190442/http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/law_reviews/egelr_2012-1_final_web_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
=== English compound surnames ===
{{further|Double-barrelled name#British tradition}}
Compound surnames in English and several other European cultures feature two (or occasionally more) words, often joined by a [[hyphen]] or hyphens. However, it is not unusual for compound surnames to be composed of separate words not linked by a hyphen, for example [[Iain Duncan Smith]], a former leader of the British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], whose surname is "Duncan Smith". A surname with the prefix "Fitz" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, as in "Fitz William", as well as "FitzWilliam" or "Fitzwilliam". Like, for example, [[Robert FitzRoy]].


From 1945 to 2021 in the Czech Republic women by law had to use family names with the ending -ová after the name of their father or husband (so-called ''přechýlení''). This was seen as discriminatory by a part of the public. Since 1 January 2022, Czech women can decide for themselves whether they want to use the feminine or neutral form of their family name.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Novela zákona o matrikách, jménech a příijmeni|url=https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/monitor/7284310.htm|access-date=3 April 2022|archive-date=3 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403131654/https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/monitor/7284310.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Scottish and Irish compound surnames{{anchor|Celtic_compound_names}} ===
Irish surnames are the oldest surnames in Europe. The common prefixes "Ó" and "Mac" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, yielding "Ó Briain" or "Mac Millan" as well as the anglicized "O'Brien" and "MacMillan" or "Macmillan".


==Compound surnames==
== Culture and prevalence ==
{{unsourced section|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Power law surnames.jpg|thumb|450px|Rank and frequency of some US surnames]]
While in many countries surnames are usually one word, in others a surname may contain two words or more, as described below.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surname Smith,<ref>[https://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/dist.all.last Genealogy] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20101012101346/http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/dist.all.last |date=2010-10-12 }}, U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division (1995).</ref> which is also the most frequent English name and an occupational name ("metal worker"), a contraction, for instance, of [[blacksmith]] or other [[metalsmith]]s. Several American surnames are a result of corruptions or phonetic misappropriations of European surnames, perhaps as a result of the registration process at the immigration entry points. Spellings and pronunciations of names remained fluid in the United States until the Social Security System enforced standardization.


=== English ===
Approximately 70% of Canadians have surnames that are of English, Irish, French, or Scottish derivation.
{{Further|Double-barrelled name#British tradition}}
Compound surnames in English and several other European cultures feature two (or occasionally more) words, often joined by a [[hyphen]] or hyphens. However, it is not unusual for compound surnames to be composed of separate words not linked by a hyphen, for example [[Iain Duncan Smith]], a former leader of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|British Conservative Party]], whose surname is "Duncan Smith".{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


=== Chinese ===
According to some estimates, 85% of China's population shares just 100 surnames. The names Wang (王), Zhang (张) and Li (李) are the most frequent.<ref>LaFraniere S. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says]. ''New York Times''. April 20, 2009.</ref>
{{main|Chinese compound surname}}
Some [[Chinese surname]]s use more than one [[Chinese character|character]].


== Spanish-speaking world ==
== Multiple surnames ==
=== Spanish-speaking countries ===
{{Main|Spanish naming customs|Naming customs of Hispanic America}}
{{Main|Spanish naming customs|Naming customs of Hispanic America}}
In [[Spain]] and in most [[Hispanophone|Spanish-speaking countries]], the custom is for people to have two surnames. Usually the first surname comes from the father and the second from the mother, but it could be the other way round. When speaking or in informal situations only the first one is used, although both are needed for legal purpose. A child's first surname will usually be their father's first surname, while the child's second surname will usually be the mother's first surname. For example, if José García Torres and María Acosta Gómez had a child named Pablo, then his full name would be Pablo García Acosta. One family member's relationship to another can often be identified by the various combinations and permutations of surnames.
{{chart/start|align=center | summary=An example family tree}}
{{chart| | | JGT |y| MAG | | |JGT=José '''{{font color|red|García}} Torres'''|MAG=María '''{{font color|blue|Acosta}} Gómez'''|}}
{{chart| | | | | |!| | | | | | | }}
{{chart| | | | | PGA | | | | | |PGA=Pablo '''{{font color|red|García}} {{font color|blue|Acosta}}'''| }}
{{chart/end}}

In some instances, when an individual's given name and first family name are too common (such as in [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] and [[Mario Vargas Llosa]]), both family names are used (though not necessarily both given names). A person could even take the maternal name for informal situations instead of the paternal name, for personal preferences or if the maternal name is somehow "special" (José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero is known in Spanish as "José Luis Zapatero" or just as "Zapatero"). In Spain, a new law approved in 1999 allows an adult to change the order of his/her family names, and parents can also change the order of their children's family names if they (and the child, if over 12) agree.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Privado/rd193-2000.html |title=Real Decreto 193/2000, de 11 de febrero, de modificación de determinados artículos del Reglamento del Registro Civil en materia relativa al nombre y apellidos y orden de los mismos. |accessdate=2008-09-22 |author=Juan Carlos R. |date=2000-02-11 |work=Base de Datos de Legislación |publisher=Noticias Juridicas |language=Spanish |quote=}} ''Note: Google auto translation of title into English→Royal Decree 193/2000, of February 11, to amend certain articles of the Civil Registration Regulations in the field on the name and order.</ref>

In Spain, especially [[Catalonia]], the paternal and maternal surnames are often combined using the conjunction ''y'' ("and" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]) or ''i'' ("and" in [[Catalan language|Catalan]]), see for example the economist [[Xavier Sala-i-Martin]] or painter [[Salvador Dalí]] i Domènech.

In Spain, a woman does not change her legal surnames when she marries. In some Spanish-speaking countries in [[Latin America]], a woman may, on her marriage, drop her mother's surname and add her husband's surname to her father's surname using the preposition ''de'' ("of"), ''del'' ("of the", when the following word is masculine) or ''de la'' ("of the", when the following word is feminine). For example, if "Clara Reyes Alba" were to marry "Alberto Gómez Rodríguez", the wife could use "Clara Reyes ''de'' Gómez" as her name (or "Clara Reyes Gómez", or, rarely, "Clara Gómez Reyes". She can be addressed as ''[[Mrs.|Sra]]. de Gómez'' corresponding to "Mrs Gómez"). In some countries, this form may be mainly social and not an official name change, i.e. her name would still legally be her birth name. This custom of adding the husband's surname is slowly fading.

Sometimes a father transmits his combined family names, thus creating a new one e.g., the paternal surname of the son of ''Javier'' (given name) ''Reyes'' (paternal family name) ''de la Barrera'' (maternal surname) may become the new paternal surname ''Reyes de la Barrera''. ''De'' is also the [[nobiliary particle]] used with Spanish surnames. This can not be chosen by the person, as it is part of the surname, for example "Puente" and "Del Puente" are not the same surname.

Children take the surnames of both parents, so if the couple above had two children named "Andrés" and "Ana", then their names would be "Andrés Gómez Reyes" and "Ana Gómez Reyes". In [[Spain]], a 1995 reform in the law allows the parents to choose whether the father's or the mother's surname goes first, although this order must be the same for all their children. For instance, the name of the son of the couple in the example above could be either "Andrés Gómez Reyes" or "Andrés Reyes Gómez".<ref>[http://noticias.juridicas.com/index.php?doc=http%3A//noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Privado/lrc.html ''Art. 55 Ley de Registro Civil'' – Civil Register Law] (article in Spanish)</ref> Sometimes, for single mothers or when the father would or could not recognize the child, the mother's surname has been used twice: for example, "Ana Reyes Reyes". In Spain, however, children with just one parent receive both surnames of that parent, although the order may also be changed. In 1973 in Chile, the law was changed to avoid stigmatizing illegitimate children with the maternal surname repeated.

Some Hispanic people, after leaving their country, drop their maternal surname, even if not formally, so as to better fit into the non-Hispanic society they live or work in. Dropping the paternal surname is not unusual when it is a very common one. For instance, painter Pablo Ruiz [[Picasso]] and Spanish Prime Minister [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] are known by their maternal surnames as "Picasso" and "Zapatero". Similarly, Anglophones with just one surname may be asked to provide a second surname on official documents in Spanish-speaking countries. When none (such as the mother's maiden name) is provided, the last name may simply be repeated.

Traditionally in most countries, and currently in some Spanish-speaking countries, women, upon marrying, keep their own family names. It is considered impolite towards her family for a woman to change her name. The higher class women of [[Cuba]] and Spain traditionally never change their names. In certain rare situations, a woman may be addressed with her paternal surname followed by her husband's paternal surname linked with ''de''. For example, a woman named ''Ana García Díaz'', upon marrying ''Juan Guerrero Macías'', could be called ''Ana García de Guerrero''. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} in [[Dominican Republic]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[Peru]], [[Panama]], and to a certain extent in [[Mexico]] (where it is optional but becoming obsolete), but is frowned upon by people in Spain, Cuba, and elsewhere. In Peru and the Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all family names after getting married. For example, if ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez'' marries ''Juan Martín De la Cruz Gómez'', she will be called ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez de De la Cruz'', and if the husband dies, she will be called ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez Vda. de De la Cruz'' (Vda. being the abbreviation for ''viuda'', "widow" in Spanish). The law in Peru changed some years ago, and all married women can keep their maiden last name if they wish with no alteration.

In some churches, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the family structure is emphasized, as well as legal marriage, the wife is referred to as "''hermana''" [sister] plus the surname of her husband. And most records of the church follow that structure as well.

A new trend in the United States for Hispanics is to hyphenate their father's and mother's last names. This is done because American born English-speakers are not aware of the Hispanic custom of using two last names and thus mistake the first last name of the individual for a middle name. In doing so they would, for example, mistakenly refer to Esteban Álvarez Cobos as Esteban A. Cobos. Such confusion can be particularly troublesome in official matters. To avoid such mistakes, Esteban Álvarez Cobos, would become Esteban Álvarez-Cobos, to clarify that both are last names.

In Spanish villages in Catalonia, [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], and [[Asturias]] and in Cuba, people are often known by the name of their dwelling or collective family nickname rather than by their surnames. For example, Remei Pujol i Serra who lives at Ca l'Elvira would be referred to as "Remei de Ca l'Elvira"; and Adela Barreira López who is part of the "Provisores" family would be known as "Adela dos Provisores". In the case of [[Cantabria]] the family's nickname is used instead of the surname: if one family is known as "Ñecos" because of an ancestor who was known as "Ñecu", they would be "José el de Ñecu" or "Ana la de Ñecu" (collective: the Ñeco's). Some common nicknames are "Rubiu" (blonde or ginger hair), "Roju" (reddish, as referred to ginger hair), "Chiqui" (small), "Jinchu" (big), and a bunch of names about certain characteristics, family relationship or geographical origin (pasiegu, masoniegu, sobanu, llebaniegu, tresmeranu, pejinu, naveru, merachu, tresneru, troule, mallavia, marotias, llamoso, lipa, ñecu, tarugu, trapajeru, lichón, andarível).

{{See also|Surnames by country#The Philippines}}
{{See also|Surnames by country#The Philippines}}


In Spain and in most [[Hispanophone|Spanish-speaking countries]], the custom is for people to have two surnames, with the first surname coming from the father and the second from the mother; the opposite order is now legally allowed in Spain but still unusual. In informal situations typically only the first one is used, although both are needed for legal purposes. A child's first surname will usually be their father's first surname, while the child's second surname will usually be their mother's first surname. For example, if José García Torres and María Acosta Gómez had a child named Pablo, then his full name would be Pablo García Acosta. One family member's relationship to another can often be identified by the various combinations and permutations of surnames.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
== Portuguese-speaking countries ==
{{chart/start|align=center|summary=An example family tree}}
{{Main|Portuguese name}}
{{chart|||JGT|y|MAG|||JGT=José '''{{font color|red|García}} Torres'''|MAG=María '''{{font color|blue|Acosta}} Gómez'''|}}
{{chart||||||!|||||||}}
{{chart|||||PGA||||||PGA=Pablo '''{{font color|red|García}} {{font color|blue|Acosta}}'''|}}
{{chart/end}}


In some instances, when an individual's first surname is very common, such as for example in [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]], the second surname tends to gain preeminence over the first one in informal use. Rodríguez Zapatero, therefore is more often called just ''Zapatero'' and almost never ''Rodríguez'' only; in other cases, such as in writer [[Mario Vargas Llosa]], a person becomes usually called by both surnames. This changes from person to person and stems merely from habit.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In the case of [[Portugal|Portuguese]] naming customs, the main surname (the one used in alphasorting, indexing, abbreviations, and greetings), appears last.


In Spain, feminist activism pushed for a law approved in 1999 that allows an adult to change the order of his/her family names,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Govan|first=Fiona|date=1 June 2017|title=Spain overhauls tradition of 'sexist' double-barrelled surnames|url=https://www.thelocal.es/20170601/spain-overhauls-tradition-of-sexist-double-barrelled-surnames|newspaper=The Local Spain|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-date=17 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017044322/https://www.thelocal.es/20170601/spain-overhauls-tradition-of-sexist-double-barrelled-surnames|url-status=live}}</ref> and parents can also change the order of their children's family names if they (and the child, if over 12) agree, although this order must be the same for all their children.<ref>[http://noticias.juridicas.com/index.php?doc=http%3A//noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Privado/lrc.html ''Art. 55 Ley de Registro Civil'' – Civil Register Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216035754/http://noticias.juridicas.com/index.php?doc=http%3A%2F%2Fnoticias.juridicas.com%2Fbase_datos%2FPrivado%2Flrc.html|date=16 December 2017}} (article in Spanish)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Juan Carlos|first=R.|date=11 February 2000|title=Real Decreto 193/2000, de 11 de febrero, de modificación de determinados artículos del Reglamento del Registro Civil en materia relativa al nombre y apellidos y orden de los mismos.|url=http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Privado/rd193-2000.html|access-date=22 September 2008|website=Base de Datos de Legislación|publisher=Noticias Juridicas|language=es|archive-date=3 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003040754/http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Privado/rd193-2000.html|url-status=live}} ''Note: Google auto-translation of title into English'': Royal Decree 193/2000, of 11 February, to amend certain articles of the Civil Registration Regulations in the field on the name and order.</ref>
Each person usually has two family names: though the law specifies no order, the first one is usually the maternal family name, whereas the last one is commonly the paternal family name. In Portugal, a person's full name has a minimum legal length of two names (one given name and one family name from either parent) and a maximum of six names (two first names and four surnames — he or she may have up to four surnames in any order desired picked up from the total of his/her parents and grandparents' surnames). The use of any surname outside this lot, or of more than six names, is legally possible, but it requires dealing with bureaucracy. Parents or the person him/herself must explain the claims they have to bearing that surname (a family nickname, a rare surname lost in past generations, or any other reason one may find suitable). In Brazil there is no limit of surnames used.


In Spain, especially [[Catalonia]], the paternal and maternal surnames are often combined using the conjunction ''y'' ("and" in Spanish) or ''i'' ("and" in [[Catalan language|Catalan]]), see for example the economist [[Xavier Sala-i-Martin]] or painter [[Salvador Dalí|Salvador Dalí i Domènech]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In general, the traditions followed in countries like [[Brazil]], [[Portugal]] and [[Angola]] are somewhat different from the ones in Spain. In the Spanish tradition, usually the father's surname comes first, followed by the mother's surname, whereas in Portuguese-speaking countries the father's name is the last, mother's coming first. A woman may adopt her husband's surname(s), but nevertheless she usually keeps her birth names, or at least the last one. Since 1977, a husband can also adopt his wife's surname. When this happens, usually both spouses change their name after marriage.


In Spain, a woman does not generally change her legal surname when she marries. In some Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, a woman may, on her marriage, drop her mother's surname and add her husband's surname to her father's surname using the preposition ''de'' ("of"), ''del'' ("of the", when the following word is masculine) or ''de la'' ("of the", when the following word is feminine). For example, if "Clara Reyes Alba" were to marry "Alberto Gómez Rodríguez", the wife could use "Clara Reyes ''de'' Gómez" as her name (or "Clara Reyes Gómez", or, rarely, "Clara Gómez Reyes". She can be addressed as ''[[Mrs.|Sra]]. de Gómez'' corresponding to "Mrs Gómez"). Feminist activists have criticized this custom {{when|date=June 2018}} as they consider it sexist.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 January 2012|title=Proper married name?|url=http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/219019/proper-married-name|website=Spanish Dict|access-date=16 October 2017|archive-date=17 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017093424/http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/219019/proper-married-name|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Frank|first1=Francine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fvHy48GiIEC|title=Language and the Sexes|last2=Anshen|first2=Frank|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1985|isbn=978-0-87395-882-0|page=18}}</ref> In some countries, this form may be mainly social and not an official name change, i.e. her name would still legally be her birth name. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity {{citation needed|date=October 2010}} in [[Dominican Republic]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[Peru]], [[Panama]], and to a certain extent in Mexico (where it is optional but becoming obsolete), but is frowned upon by people in Spain, Cuba, and elsewhere. In Peru and the Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all family names after getting married. For example, if ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez'' marries ''Juan Martín De la Cruz Gómez'', she will be called ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez de De la Cruz'', and if the husband dies, she will be called ''Rosa María Pérez Martínez Vda. de De la Cruz'' (Vda. being the abbreviation for ''viuda'', "widow" in Spanish). The law in Peru changed some years ago, and all married women can keep their maiden last name if they wish with no alteration.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The custom of a woman changing her name upon marriage is recent. It spread in the late 19th century in the upper classes, under French influence, and in the 20th century, particularly during the 1930s and 1940, it became socially almost obligatory. Nowadays, fewer women adopt, even officially, their husbands' names, and among those who do so officially, it is quite common not to use it either in their professional or informal life.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}


Historically, sometimes a father transmitted his combined family names, thus creating a new one e.g., the paternal surname of the son of ''Javier'' (given name) ''Reyes'' (paternal family name) ''de la Barrera'' (maternal surname) may have become the new paternal surname ''Reyes de la Barrera''. For example, Uruguayan politician [[Guido Manini Rios]] has inherited a compound surname constructed from the patrilineal and matrilineal surnames of a recent ancestor. ''De'' is also the [[nobiliary particle]] used with Spanish surnames. This can not be chosen by the person, as it is part of the surname, for example, "Puente" and "Del Puente" are not the same surname.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
The children usually bear only the last surnames of the parents (i.e., the paternal surname of each of their parents). For example, ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves'' and ''Ana Luísa de Albuquerque Pereira (Gonçalves)'' (in case she adopted her husband's name after marriage) would have a child named ''Lucas Pereira Gonçalves''. However, the child may have any other combination of the parents' surnames, according to [[euphony]], social significance or other reasons. For example, is not uncommon for the first born male to be given the father's full name followed by “Júnior” or “Filho” (son), and the next generation's first born male to be given the grandfather's name followed by “Neto” (grandson). Hence ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves'' might choose to name his first born son ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Júnior'', who in turn might name his first born son ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Neto'', in which case none of the mother's family names are passed on.


Sometimes, for single mothers or when the father would or could not recognize the child, the mother's surname has been used twice: for example, "Ana Reyes Reyes". In Spain, however, children with just one parent receive both surnames of that parent, although the order may also be changed. In 1973 in Chile, the law was changed to avoid stigmatizing illegitimate children with the maternal surname repeated.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used — surnames like ''Gonçalves'' ("son of ''Gonçalo''"), ''Fernandes'' ("son of ''Fernando''"), ''Nunes'' ("son of ''Nuno''"), ''Soares'' ("son of ''Soeiro''"), ''Sanches'' ("son of ''Sancho''"), ''Henriques'' ("son of ''Henrique''"), ''Rodrigues'' ("son of ''Rodrigo''") which along with many others are still in regular use as very prevalent family names.


Some Hispanic people, after leaving their country, drop their maternal surname, even if not formally, so as to better fit into the non-Hispanic society they live or work in. Similarly, foreigners with just one surname may be asked to provide a second surname on official documents in Spanish-speaking countries. When none (such as the mother's maiden name) is provided, the last name may simply be repeated.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
In Medieval times, Portuguese nobility started to use one of their estates' names or the name of the town or village they ruled as their surname, just after their patronymic. [[Soeiro Mendes da Maia]] bore a name "Soeiro", a patronymic "Mendes" ("son of Hermenegildo – shortened to Mendo") and the name of the town he ruled "[[Maia, Porto, Portugal|Maia]]". He was often referred to in 12th-century documents as "Soeiro Mendes, senhor da Maia", Soeiro Mendes, lord of Maia. Noblewomen also bore patronymics and surnames in the same manner and never bore their husband's surname. First-born males bore their father's surname, other children bore either both or only one of them at their will.


A new trend in the United States for Hispanics is to hyphenate their father's and mother's last names. This is done because American-born English-speakers are not aware of the Hispanic custom of using two last names and thus mistake the first last name of the individual for a middle name. In doing so they would, for example, mistakenly refer to Esteban Álvarez Cobos as Esteban A. Cobos. Such confusion can be particularly troublesome in official matters. To avoid such mistakes, Esteban Álvarez Cobos, would become Esteban Álvarez-Cobos, to clarify that both are last names.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Only during the Early Modern Age, lower-class males started to use at least one surname; married lower-class women usually took up their spouse's surname, since they rarely ever used one beforehand. After the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]], Portuguese authorities realized the benefits of enforcing the use and registry of surnames. Henceforth, they became mandatory, although the rules for their use were very liberal.


In some churches, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the family structure is emphasized, as well as a legal marriage, the wife is referred to as "''hermana''" [sister] plus the surname of her husband. And most records of the church follow that structure as well.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Until the end of the 19th century it was common for women, especially those from a very poor background, not to have a surname and so to be known only by their first names. A woman would then adopt her husband's full surname after marriage. With the advent of republicanism in Brazil and Portugal, along with the institution of civil registries, all children now have surnames.
During the mid-20th century, under French influence and among upper classes, women started to take up their husbands' surname(s). From the 1960s onwards, this usage spread to the common people, again under French influence, this time, however, due to the forceful legal adoption of their husbands' surname which was imposed onto Portuguese immigrant women in France.


==== Informal traditional names ====
From the 1974 [[Carnation Revolution]] onwards the adoption of their husbands' surname(s) receded again, and today both the adoption and non-adoption occur, with non-adoption being chosen in the majority of cases in recent years (60%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lifestyle.publico.pt/artigos/341672_identidade-submissao-ou-amor-o-que-significa-adoptar-o-apelido-do-marido |title=Identidade, submissão ou amor? O que significa adoptar o apelido do marido |publisher=Lifestyle.publico.pt |date= |accessdate=2018-04-16}}</ref> Also, it is legally possible for the husband to adopt his wife's surname(s), but this practice is rare.
In many places, such as villages in Catalonia, [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], and [[Asturias]] and in Cuba, people are often informally known by the name of their dwelling or collective family nickname rather than by their surnames. For example, Remei Pujol i Serra who lives at Ca l'Elvira would be referred to as "Remei de Ca l'Elvira"; and Adela Barreira López who is part of the "Provisores" family would be known as "Adela dos Provisores".{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


Also in many places, such as [[Cantabria]], the family's nickname is used instead of the surname: if one family is known as "Ñecos" because of an ancestor who was known as "Ñecu", they would be "José el de Ñecu" or "Ana la de Ñecu" (collective: the Ñeco's). Some common nicknames are "Rubiu" (blond or red hair), "Roju" (reddish, referring to their red hair), "Chiqui" (small), "Jinchu" (big), and a bunch of names about certain characteristics, family relationship or geographical origin ({{lang|ca|italic=no|pasiegu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|masoniegu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|sobanu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|llebaniegu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|tresmeranu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|pejinu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|naveru}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|merachu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|tresneru}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|troule}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|mallavia}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|marotias}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|llamoso}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|lipa}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|ñecu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|tarugu}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|trapajeru}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|lichón}}, {{lang|ca|italic=no|andarível}}).
[[Brazilians]] usually call people only by their given names, omitting family names, even in many formal situations, as in the press referring to authorities, e.g. "Former President Fernando Henrique", never Former President Cardoso, or even "Former President Lula" ("Lula" is actually his [[nickname]]). When formality or a prefix requires a family name, the given name usually precedes the surname, e.g. ''João Santos'', or ''Sr. João Santos''.


== Common surnames by ethnic group ==
==== Compound surnames ====
Beyond the seemingly "compound" surname system in the Spanish-speaking world, there are also true compound surnames. These true compound surnames are passed on and inherited as compounds. For instance, former chairman of the [[Military junta|Supreme Military Junta]] of [[Ecuador]], General [[Luis Telmo Paz y Miño]] Estrella, has [[Luis]] as his first given name, Telmo as his middle name, the true compound surname Paz y Miño as his first (i.e. paternal) surname, and Estrella as his second (i.e. maternal) surname. Luis Telmo Paz y Miño Estrella is also known more casually as Luis Paz y Miño, Telmo Paz y Miño, or Luis Telmo Paz y Miño. He would never be regarded as Luis Estrella, Telmo Estrella, or Luis Telmo Estrella, nor as Luis Paz, Telmo Paz, or Luis Telmo Paz. This is because "Paz" alone is not his surname (although other people use the "Paz" surname on its own).<ref name=":0" /> In this case, [[Pazmiño|Paz y Miño]] is in fact the paternal surname, being a true compound surname. His children, therefore, would inherit the compound surname "Paz y Miño" as their paternal surname, while Estrella would be lost, since the mother's paternal surname becomes the children's second surname (as their own maternal surname). "Paz" alone would not be passed on, nor would "Miño" alone.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}


To avoid ambiguity, one might often informally see these true compound surnames hyphenated, for instance, as Paz-y-Miño. This is true especially in the [[English-speaking world]], but also sometimes even in the Hispanic world, since many Hispanics are unfamiliar with this and other compound surnames, "Paz y Miño" might be inadvertently mistaken as "Paz" for the paternal surname and "Miño" for the maternal surname. Although Miño did start off as the maternal surname in this compound surname, it was many generations ago, around five centuries, that it became compounded, and henceforth inherited and passed on as a compound.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
=== Assyrian ===
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}
The [[Assyrian people]] are a distinct ethnic group, descendant largely from the population of ancient [[Assyria]], indigenous to [[Mesopotamia]] with roots in the Middle East, mainly present-day [[Iraq]], northwest [[Iran]], northeast [[Syria]] and southeast [[Turkey]].


Other surnames which started off as compounds of two or more surnames, but which merged into one single word, also exist. An example would be the surname [[Pazmiño]], whose members are related to the Paz y Miño, as both descend from the "Paz Miño" family{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} of five centuries ago.<!--This isn't a specific century! What century is this? See WP:DATED.-->
Surnames come from the [[Akkadian (language)|Akkadian]] influenced [[Eastern Aramaic]] dialects of the [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] ([[Chaldo-Assyrian]]) people. Some surnames are connected to [[East Syriac Rite]] [[Christianity]], the religion Assyrians currently follow and have followed since the 1st century AD, with others being of distinctly ancient Assyrian/Mesopotamian origin.


[[Álava]], Spain is known for its incidence of true compound surnames, characterized for having the first portion of the surname as a patronymic, normally a Spanish patronymic or more unusually a [[Basque language|Basque]] patronymic, followed by the [[preposition]] "de", with the second part of the surname being a placename from Álava.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Common surnames include: ''Aboona'', ''Abraham'', ''Abro'', ''Agajan'', ''Agassi'', ''Aghase'', ''Akkad'', ''Akbalit/Akbalut'', ''Alamasha'', ''Alawerdy'', ''Aldawid'', ''Amo Baba'', ''Amu'', ''Antar'', ''Aprim'', ''Apshu'', ''Afarcan'', ''Arad'', ''Ashai'', ''Ashouri'', ''Ashurian'', ''Ashur'', ''Awdishu'', ''Awikam'', ''Awishalim'', ''Awitor'', ''Awia'', ''Awrohum'', ''Aziz'', ''Azzo'', ''Baba'', ''Bacchus'', ''Badel'', ''Barkha/Barkho'', ''Brikha'', ''Bronit'', ''Balou'', ''Barkoo'', ''Benassi'', ''Benyamin'', ''Bidavid'', ''Bidawid'', ''Bishu'', ''Cabani'', ''Dadashu/Dadasho'', ''Darmu'', ''Dinkha'', ''Daoud'', ''Dayan/Daian'', ''Disho'', ''Duman'', ''Elia'', ''Elias'', ''Enwia'', ''Eshai'', ''Farhad'', ''Gorges/Georgis'', ''Gewargis'', ''Hadad/Adad'', ''Hamsho'', ''Hasso'', ''Harshu'', ''Hormis'', ''Hosanna'', ''Hurmis'', ''Ilshu'', ''Ilishu'', ''Ishmael'', ''Ishai'', ''Isaac'', ''Ishaq'', ''Iskhaq'', ''Iwassi'', ''Jabri'', ''Jelu'', ''Jendo'', ''Juna'', ''Kambar'', ''Karam'', ''Karoukian'', ''Kasri'', ''Khamo'', ''Khanbaba'', ''Khanisho/Khnanisu'', ''Khnaninia'', ''Khedroo'', ''Khoshanu'', ''Khoshaba'', ''Malech'', ''Malek'', ''Malka'', ''Malkai'', ''Malick'', ''Mamendo'', ''Matti'', ''Merza'', ''Mikhael/Mikhail'', ''Mnashi'', ''Nisan'', ''Nimrod'', ''Narsai'', ''Ninweh'', ''Nineveh'', ''Nessar'', ''Odah'', ''Odisha'', ''Odisho'', ''Oraham'', ''Oshana'', ''Qateneh'', ''Raaba'', ''Rabi'', ''Rafael'', ''Ramsin/Rumsin'', ''Rassam'', ''Rifkha'', ''Ronay'', ''Samo'', ''Sargis'', ''Sargon'', ''Sarkis'', ''Sarmas'', ''Sayad'', ''Semma'', ''Shabad'', ''Shamash/Shamasha'', ''Shamshi'', ''Sinharib'', ''Sharrukin'', ''Shimun'', ''Shamoon'', ''Shimon'', ''Shimonaya'', ''Shinu'', ''Shinai'', ''Sleman'', ''Shulman'', ''Sliwoo/Sliwa'', ''Tematheus'', ''Thoma'', ''Thomaya'', ''Tamraz'', ''Tiras'', ''Tiyareh/Tyareh'', ''Urshan'', ''Warda'', ''Warad'', ''Yacoub'', ''Yawalaha'', ''Yalda'', ''Yatrin'', ''Yetron'', ''Yelu'', ''Yoel'', ''Yohannan'', ''Yonan'', ''Yonadam'' ''Yoseph'', ''Yoshu'', ''Youkhana'', ''Younan'', ''Yousif'', ''Yukhannan'', ''Zakharia'', ''Zilkha'', ''Zimri''.


=== Circassians ===
=== Portuguese-speaking countries ===
{{Main|Portuguese name}}
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}
In the case of [[Circassians]], especially [[Adyges]] and [[Kabardians]], hereditary surnames have been borne by people for many years.


In Portuguese naming customs, the main surname (the one used in alpha sorting, indexing, abbreviations, and greetings), appears last.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Most surnames of Adyge origin fall into six types:
* Occupations (e.g., 'smith', 'hunter', 'tailor')
* Personal characteristics (e.g., 'short', 'deaf', 'beautiful')
* Geographical features (e.g., 'hill', 'river', 'cave', 'wood', 'fields')
* Animal names (e.g., 'bear', 'horse', 'snake', 'fox', 'wild boar')
* Patronymics and ancestry, often from a male's given name ('son of...') or from an ethnic name (e.g., ''Shapsug'', ''Kabardey'')
* Religious names (e.g., ''Shogen'' 'Priest', ''Yefendi'' 'Efendi', ''Mole'' 'Mullah')


Each person usually has two family names: though the law specifies no order, the first one is usually the maternal family name and the last one is commonly the paternal family name. In Portugal, a person's full name has a minimum legal length of two names (one given name and one family name from either parent) and a maximum of six names (two first names and four surnames – he or she may have up to four surnames in any order desired picked up from the total of his/her parents and grandparents' surnames). The use of any surname outside this lot, or of more than six names, is legally possible, but it requires dealing with bureaucracy. Parents or the person him/herself must explain the claims they have to bear that surname (a family nickname, a rare surname lost in past generations, or any other reason one may find suitable). In Brazil, there is no limit of surnames used.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
''Shogen'' comes from the Christian era, and ''Yefendi'' and ''Mole'' come from the Muslim era.


In the Portuguese tradition, the mother's surname usually comes first, followed by the father's surname. A woman may adopt her husband's {{as written|surname(s)}}, but nevertheless, she usually keeps her birth name or at least the last one. Since 1977 in Portugal and 2012 in Brazil, a husband can also adopt his wife's surname. When this happens, usually both spouses change their name after marriage.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Circassian women, even when they marry, do not change their surnames. By keeping their surnames and passing it on to the next generation, children come to distinguish relatives from the maternal side and respect her family as well as those from their father's side.


The custom of a woman changing her name upon marriage is recent. It spread in the late 19th century in the upper classes, under French influence, and in the 20th century, particularly during the 1930s and 1940, it became socially almost obligatory. Nowadays, fewer women adopt, even officially, their husbands' names, and among those who do so officially, it is quite common not to use it either in their professional or informal life.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}
On the other hand, children cannot marry someone who bears the same surname as they do, no matter how distantly related.


The children usually bear only the last surnames of the parents (i.e., the paternal surname of each of their parents). For example, ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves'' and ''Ana Luísa de Albuquerque Pereira (Gonçalves)'' (in case she adopted her husband's name after marriage) would have a child named ''Lucas Pereira Gonçalves''. However, the child may have any other combination of the parents' surnames, according to [[euphony]], social significance, or other reasons. For example, is not uncommon for the firstborn male to be given the father's full name followed by "Júnior" or "Filho" (son), and the next generation's firstborn male to be given the grandfather's name followed by "Neto" (grandson). Hence ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves'' might choose to name his first born son ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Júnior'', who in turn might name his first born son ''Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Neto'', in which case none of the mother's family names are passed on.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
In the Circassian tradition, the formula for surnames is patterned to mean "daughter of ..."


{{chart/start|align=center|summary=An example family tree}}
Abkhaz families follow similar naming patterns reflecting the common roots of the Abkhazian, Adygean and Wubikh peoples.
{{chart|||CSG|e|ALAP|||CSG=Carlos '''da Silva {{font color|red|Gonçalves}}'''|ALAP=Ana Luísa '''de Albuquerque {{font color|blue|Pereira}}'''|}}

{{chart||||||!|||||||}}
Circassian family names cannot be derived from women's names or from the name of female ancestors.
{{chart|||||LPG||||||LPG=Lucas '''{{font color|blue|Pereira}} {{font color|red|Gonçalves}}'''|}}

{{chart/end}}
=== Jewish ===
{{Main|Jewish name}}

[[Jewish]] names have historically varied, encompassing throughout the centuries several different traditions. The most usual last name for those of the [[Kohanim|priest tribe]] is "Cohen"/"Kahen"/"Kogan"/"Kohen"/"Katz" (a Hebrew [[acronym]] of Kohen Tzedek, or righteous Kohen) and for those of the [[Levite]]s, "Levi"/"Levine". Those who came from Central or Eastern Europe usually have "Rosen"("rose"), "Spiel", "Gold", and other German words as their names' prefixes, and "man", "wyn"/"wein"("wine"), "berg"("mountain"), and other German words as their names' suffixes. Many [[Sephardic Jew]]s adopted [[Spain|Spanish]] or [[Arabic]] names, like “Toledo”, “Bejarano”, "Azizi" ("you're [someones] love"), "[[Hassan (surname)|Hassan]]" or added words to their original names, like Beizaee( "Iza", God is perfection), "Kohenzadeh" ("[she] bore a Kohen"){{clarify|date=September 2018|reason=I don't see how the examples support the claim}}. Names like "Johnson" and "Peterson" may be used in Jewish tradition{{clarify|date=September 2018|reason=it's a factual question. Are they used or not? and does this refer to the English form or to Hebrew forms as in the following sentence?}} as they too used the father's name as identification. So "Johnson" in Hebrew is "Ben Yochanon", meaning "Yochanon (John)'s son".
Another common group of Jewish surnames is [[Toponymic surname|toponymic]]s, for example "San'ani" (from [[Sana'a]] in Yemen), "Varshavski" (from [[Warsaw]] in Poland), "Yerushalmi" (from [[Jerusalem]]).

Jews who immigrated to [[Israel]] or [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] often changed their surnames to [[Hebrew]] ones, a process described under [[Hebraization of surnames]].

=== Kurdish ===
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}
The majority of Kurds do not hold Kurdish names because the names have been banned in the countries they primarily live in (namely Iran, Turkey and Syria). Kurds in these respective countries tend to hold Turkish, Persian or Arabic names, in the majority of cases, forcefully appointed by the ruling governments.<ref>{{cite speech |title=(Requests to Syrian government regarding restoration of rights to Kurds residing in Syria) |first=Jian |last=Badrakhan |date=August 2006 |accessdate=2008-07-20 |location=United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (Session 58), Working Group on Minorities (Session 12) |url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/docs/12/YASA_Kurdish_Centre_for_Legal_Studies_Consultancy.doc}}</ref> Others hold Arabic names as a result of the influence of Islam and Arab culture.

Kurds holding authentic Kurdish names are generally found in Diaspora or in [[Iraqi Kurdistan]] where Kurds are relatively free. Traditionally, Kurdish family names are inherited from the tribes of which the individual or families are members. However, some families inherit the names of the regions they are from.

Common affixes of authentic Kurdish names are "-î" and "-za" also "-a" and "-ê" by two surnames.<br />
e.g.:<br />
'''Name+1Surname+2Surname'''<br />
''Male:''
* Baran(ê) Memê Alan
Baran of Mem of Alan

''Female:''
* Berfîn(a) Soreya Evînê
Berfin of Sarah of Evin
<br />
there are also names with the word "Mal(a)" [House (of)]
e.g.:
* Baran mala Alan
Baran of House of Alan
* Berfîn mala Evîn
Berfin of House of Evin

Some common Kurdish last names, which are also the names of their respective tribes, include Baradost, Barzani, Berwari, Berzinji, Chelki, Diri, Doski, Jaf, Mutki, Rami, Rekani, Rozaki, Sindi, and Tovi. Other names include Akreyi, Alan, Amedi, Botani, Hewrami, Mukri, and Serhati.


In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used – surnames like ''Gonçalves'' ("son of ''Gonçalo''"), ''Fernandes'' ("son of ''Fernando''"), ''Nunes'' ("son of ''Nuno''"), ''Soares'' ("son of ''Soeiro''"), ''Sanches'' ("son of ''Sancho''"), ''Henriques'' ("son of ''Henrique''"), ''Rodrigues'' ("son of ''Rodrigo''") which along with many others are still in regular use as very prevalent family names.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Traditionally, Kurdish women did not inherit a man's last name. Although still not in practice by many Kurds, this can be more commonly found today.


In Medieval times, Portuguese nobility started to use one of their estates' names or the name of the town or village they ruled as their surname, just after their patronymic. [[Soeiro Mendes da Maia]] bore a name "Soeiro", a patronymic "Mendes" ("son of Hermenegildo – shortened to Mendo") and the name of the town he ruled "[[Maia, Porto, Portugal|Maia]]". He was often referred to in 12th-century documents as "Soeiro Mendes, senhor da Maia", Soeiro Mendes, lord of Maia. Noblewomen also bore patronymics and surnames in the same manner and never bore their husband's surnames. First-born males bore their father's surname, other children bore either both or only one of them at their will.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
=== Tibet ===


Only during the Early Modern Age, lower-class males started to use at least one surname; married lower-class women usually took up their spouse's surname, since they rarely ever used one beforehand. After the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]], Portuguese authorities realized the benefits of enforcing the use and registry of surnames. Henceforth, they became mandatory, although the rules for their use were very liberal.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Tibetan people are often named at birth by the local Buddhist Lama or they may request a name from the Dalai Lama. The majority do not have family names. They may change their name throughout life if advised by a Buddhist Lama, for example if a different name removes obstacles. Tibetans who enter monastic life take a name from their ordination Lama, which will be a combination of the Lama's name and a new name for them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tibettravel.org/tibetan-people/tibetan-names.html |title=Tibetan Names |website=Tibet Travel and Tours – Tibet Vista |language=en |access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref>


Until the end of the 19th century, it was common for women, especially those from a very poor background, not to have a surname and so to be known only by their first names. A woman would then adopt her husband's full surname after marriage. With the advent of republicanism in Brazil and Portugal, along with the institution of civil registries, all children now have surnames.
=== Rajputs ===
During the mid-20th century, under French influence and among upper classes, women started to take up their husbands' {{as written|surname(s)}}. From the 1960s onwards, this usage spread to the common people, again under French influence, this time, however, due to the forceful legal adoption of their husbands' surname which was imposed onto Portuguese immigrant women in France.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
{{Main|Rajputs}}


From the 1974 [[Carnation Revolution]] onwards the adoption of their husbands' {{as written|surname(s)}} receded again, and today both the adoption and non-adoption occur, with non-adoption being chosen in the majority of cases in recent years (60%).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Identidade, submissão ou amor? O que significa adoptar o apelido do marido|date=18 November 2014|url=http://lifestyle.publico.pt/artigos/341672_identidade-submissao-ou-amor-o-que-significa-adoptar-o-apelido-do-marido|access-date=16 April 2018|publisher=Lifestyle.publico.pt|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417024656/http://lifestyle.publico.pt/artigos/341672_identidade-submissao-ou-amor-o-que-significa-adoptar-o-apelido-do-marido|url-status=live}}</ref> Also, it is legally possible for the husband to adopt his wife's {{as written|surname(s)}}, but this practice is rare.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
Rajputs are an ethnic group in India, spread all over the country and have a rich cultural identity.
[[File:Map of Most Commons Surnames in the United States by State.svg|thumb|Map of Most Common Surnames in the United States by State]]


== Prevalence ==
The common surnames include: ''Singh'', ''Chauhan'', ''Rajput'', ''Sinha (or Singha)'', ''Rathore'', ''Roy'' etc.
{{See also|Lists of most common surnames}}
In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surname [[Smith (surname)|Smith]], the most common American name.<ref name=":2">[https://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/dist.all.last Genealogy] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20101012101346/http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/dist.all.last|date=12 October 2010}}, U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division (1995).</ref>


According to some estimates, 85% of China's population shares just 100 surnames. The names Wang (王), Zhang (张), and Li (李) are the most frequent.<ref>LaFraniere S. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025070924/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all|date=25 October 2018}}. ''New York Times''. 20 April 2009.</ref>
<!-- this section is under construction ... please don't revert or delete!
constructive edits are appreciable -->


== See also ==
== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
{{div col}}
* [[Dit name]]
* [[Genealogy]]
* [[Genealogy]]
* [[Generation name]]
* [[Generation name]]
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* [[Name blending]]
* [[Name blending]]
* [[Name change]]
* [[Name change]]
* Names ending with [[-ington]]
* [[Naming law]]
* [[Nobiliary particle]]
* [[Nobiliary particle]]
* [[One-name study]]
* [[One-name study]]
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* [[Skin name]]
* [[Skin name]]
* [[Galton–Watson process|Surname extinction]]
* [[Galton–Watson process|Surname extinction]]
* [[Surname map]]
* [[Surname law]]
* [[Surname law]]
* [[Surname map]]
* [[Surnames by country]]
* [[Surnames by country]]
* {{Lang|nl|[[Tussenvoegsel]]}}
* [[Naming law]]
* [[Irish name#Patronyms and other additives|Irish surname additives]]
* [[T–V distinction]]
* [[Spanish naming customs#Nominal conjunctions|Spanish nominal conjunctions]]
* [[Tussenvoegsel]]
* [[Von]]
* [[van (Dutch)|Van]]
* [[Patronymic]]
* [[Toponymic surname]]
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
; Citations
{{Reflist|30em}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
* Bowman, William Dodgson. ''The Story of Surnames'' (London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932)
* Blark. Gregory, et al. ''The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility'' (Princeton University Press; 2014) 384 pages; uses statistical data on family names over generations to estimate social mobility in diverse societies and historical periods.
* Blark. Gregory, et al. ''The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility'' (Princeton University Press; 2014) 384 pages; uses statistical data on family names over generations to estimate social mobility in diverse societies and historical periods.
* Bowman, William Dodgson. ''The Story of Surnames'' (London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932)
* Cottle, Basil. ''Penguin Dictionary of Surnames'' (1967)
* Cottle, Basil. ''Penguin Dictionary of Surnames'' (1967)
* Hanks, Patrick and Hodges, Flavia. ''A Dictionary of Surnames'' (Oxford University Press, 1989)
* Hanks, Patrick and Hodges, Flavia. ''A Dictionary of Surnames'' (Oxford University Press, 1989)
Line 368: Line 338:
== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|surname|Appendix:Names}}
{{Wiktionary|surname|Appendix:Names}}
* ''[http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48533 Comprehensive surname information and resource site]''
* {{cite journal |url=http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~wil/scn.pdf.pdf |title=Some Common English Surnames: Especially Those Derived from Personal Names |first=Hugh E. |last=Wilkinson |journal=Aoyama Keiei Ronshu |volume=45 |date=December 2010 |issue=3 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115170805/http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~wil/scn.pdf.pdf |archivedate=2013-01-15 |df=}}
* ''[http://jeantosti.com/indexnoms.htm Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113080912/http://www.jeantosti.com/indexnoms.htm|date=13 November 2008}}, French surname dictionary''
* ''[http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx Family Facts Archive], [[Ancestry.com]], including UK & US census distribution, immigration, and surname origins (''Dictionary of American Family Names'', [[Oxford University Press]]'')
* ''[http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx Family Facts Archive], [[Ancestry.com]], including UK & US census distribution, immigration, and surname origins (''Dictionary of American Family Names'', [[Oxford University Press]]'')
* ''[http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/ World Names Profiler, search for family names by region]''
* ''[http://www.one-name.org/ Guild of One-Name Studies]''
* ''[http://www.one-name.org/ Guild of One-Name Studies]''
* {{cite web |url=http://www.amlwchhistory.co.uk/newdata/welshsurnames.htm |author=Neil Summers |title=Welsh surnames and their meaning |accessdate=2008-09-19 |date=2006-11-04 |work=Amlwch history databases}}
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20051104014832/http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Kolomea/nameorigin.htm History of Jewish family Names]''
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20051104014832/http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Kolomea/nameorigin.htm History of Jewish family Names]''
* ''[http://jeantosti.com/indexnoms.htm Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs], French surname dictionary''
* ''[http://www.genealogytoday.com/names/origins/ Information on surname history and origins]''
* ''[http://www.genealogytoday.com/names/origins/ Information on surname history and origins]''
* ''[http://www.polishroots.org/Research/Surnames/tabid/360/Default.aspx Short explanation of Polish surname endings and their origin]''
* ''[http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/cognomi/cognomi.html Italian Surnames], free searchable online database of Italian surnames''.
* ''[http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/cognomi/cognomi.html Italian Surnames], free searchable online database of Italian surnames''.
* ''[http://www.polishroots.org/Research/Surnames/tabid/360/Default.aspx Short explanation of Polish surname endings and their origin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615042328/http://www.polishroots.org/Research/Surnames/tabid/360/Default.aspx|date=15 June 2016}}''
* ''[http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48533 Comprehensive surname information and resource site]''
* {{Cite web|last=Summers|first=Neil|date=4 November 2006|title=Welsh surnames and their meaning|url=http://www.amlwchhistory.co.uk/newdata/welshsurnames.htm|access-date=19 September 2008|website=Amlwch history databases|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519115707/http://www.amlwchhistory.co.uk/newdata/welshsurnames.htm|url-status=dead}}
* ''[http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/bl_meaning.htm Glossary of Surname Meanings & Origins]''
* {{Cite journal|last=Wilkinson|first=Hugh E.|date=December 2010|title=Some Common English Surnames: Especially Those Derived from Personal Names|url=http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~wil/scn.pdf.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Aoyama Keiei Ronshu|volume=45|issue=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115170805/http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~wil/scn.pdf.pdf|archive-date=15 January 2013}}
* ''[https://coollastnameshq.com/ List of English Surnames]''


{{Family}}
{{Family}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Family|Name]]
[[Category:Surname| ]]
[[Category:Surname|*]]
[[Category:Genealogy]]
[[Category:Traditions]]

Latest revision as of 19:38, 19 November 2024

First/given/forename, middle, and last/family/surname with John Fitzgerald Kennedy as example. This shows a structure typical for Anglophonic cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names.

A surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family.[1][2] It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times the "hereditary" requirement is a traditional, although common, interpretation, since in most countries a person has a right for a name change.

Depending on culture, the surname may be placed at either the start of a person's name, or at the end. The number of surnames given to an individual also varies: in most cases it is just one, but in Portuguese-speaking countries and many Spanish-speaking countries, two surnames (one inherited from the mother and another from the father) are used for legal purposes. Depending on culture, not all members of a family unit are required to have identical surnames. In some countries, surnames are modified depending on gender and family membership status of a person. Compound surnames can be composed of separate names.[3]

Using names has been documented in even the oldest historical records. Examples of surnames are documented in the 11th century by the barons in England. English surnames began as a way of identifying a certain aspect of that individual, such as by trade, father's name, location of birth, or physical features, and were not necessarily inherited. By 1400 most English families, and those from Lowland Scotland, had adopted the use of hereditary surnames.[4]

The study of proper names (in family names, personal names, or places) is called onomastics.

History

[edit]

Origin

[edit]

While the use of given names to identify individuals is attested in the oldest historical records, the advent of surnames is relatively recent.[5] Many cultures have used and continue to use additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals. These terms may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation.[6]

In China, according to legend, family names started with Emperor Fu Xi in 2000 BC.[7] His administration standardised the naming system to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. Originally, Chinese surnames were derived matrilineally,[8] although by the time of the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BC) they had become patrilineal.[8][9] Chinese women do not change their names upon marriage.[10] In China, surnames have been the norm since at least the 2nd century BC.[11]

In the early Islamic period (640–900 AD) and the Arab world, the use of patronymics is well attested. The famous scholar Rhazes (c. 865–925 AD) is referred to as "al-Razi" (lit. the one from Ray) due to his origins from the city of Ray, Iran. In the Levant, surnames were in use as early as the High Middle Ages and it was common for people to derive their surname from a distant ancestor, and historically the surname would be often preceded with 'ibn' or 'son of'. Arab family names often denote either one's tribe, profession, a famous ancestor, or the place of origin; but they were not universal. For example, Hunayn ibn Ishaq (fl. 850 AD) was known by the nisbah "al-'Ibadi", a federation of Arab Christian tribes that lived in Mesopotamia prior to the advent of Islam.

In Ancient Greece, as far back as the Archaic Period clan names and patronymics ("son of") were also common, as in Aristides as Λῡσῐμᾰ́χου – a genitive singular form meaning son of Lysimachus. For example, Alexander the Great was known as Heracleides, as a supposed descendant of Heracles, and by the dynastic name Karanos/Caranus, which referred to the founder of the dynasty to which he belonged. These patronymics are already attested for many characters in the works of Homer. At other times formal identification commonly included the place of origin.[12]

Over the course of the Roman Republic and the later Empire, naming conventions went through multiple changes. (See Roman naming conventions.) The nomen, the name of the gens (tribe) inherited patrilineally, is thought to have already been in use by 650 BC.[13] The nomen was to identify group kinship, while the praenomen (forename; plural praenomina) was used to distinguish individuals within the group. Female praenomina were less common, as women had reduced public influence, and were commonly known by the feminine form of the nomen alone.

Medieval era and beyond

[edit]

Later with the gradual influence of Greek and Christian culture throughout the Empire, Christian religious names were sometimes put in front of traditional cognomina, but eventually people reverted to single names.[14] By the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the Eastern Roman Empire. In Western Europe, where Germanic culture dominated the aristocracy, family names were almost non-existent. They would not significantly reappear again in Eastern Roman society until the 10th century, apparently influenced by the familial affiliations of the Armenian military aristocracy.[14] The practice of using family names spread through the Eastern Roman Empire, however it was not until the 11th century that surnames came to be used in West Europe.[15]

Medieval Spain used a patronymic system. For example, Álvaro, a son of Rodrigo, would be named Álvaro Rodríguez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodríguez, but Juan Álvarez. Over time, many of these patronymics became family names, and they are some of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world today. Other sources of surnames are personal appearance or habit, e.g. Delgado ("thin") and Moreno ("dark"); geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemán ("German"); and occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller"), Zapatero ("shoe-maker") and Guerrero ("warrior"), although occupational names are much more often found in a shortened form referring to the trade itself, e.g. Molina ("mill"), Guerra ("war"), or Zapata (archaic form of zapato, "shoe").[16]

In England the introduction of family names is generally attributed to the preparation of the Domesday Book in 1086, following the Norman Conquest. Evidence indicates that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and slowly spread to other parts of society. Some of the early Norman nobility who arrived in England during the Norman conquest differentiated themselves by affixing 'de' (of) before the name of their village in France. This is what is known as a territorial surname, a consequence of feudal landownership. By the 14th century, most English and most Scottish people used surnames and in Wales following unification under Henry VIII in 1536.[17]

A four-year study led by the University of the West of England, which concluded in 2016, analysed sources dating from the 11th to the 19th century to explain the origins of the surnames in the British Isles.[18] The study found that over 90% of the 45,602 surnames in the dictionary are native to Britain and Ireland, with the most common in the UK being Smith, Jones, Williams, Brown, Taylor, Davies, and Wilson.[19] The findings have been published in the Oxford English Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, with project leader Richard Coates calling the study "more detailed and accurate" than those before.[18] He elaborated on the origins: "Some surnames have origins that are occupational – obvious examples are Smith and Baker. Other names can be linked to a place, for example, Hill or Green, which relates to a village green. Surnames that are 'patronymic' are those which originally enshrined the father's name – such as Jackson, or Jenkinson. There are also names where the origin describes the original bearer such as Brown, Short, or Thin – though Short may in fact be an ironic 'nickname' surname for a tall person."[18]

In the modern era, governments have enacted laws to require people to adopt surnames. This served the purpose of uniquely identifying subjects for taxation purposes or for inheritance.[20] In the late Middle Ages in Europe, there were several revolts against the mandate to have a surname.[21]

Modern era

[edit]

During the modern era many cultures around the world adopted family names, particularly for administrative reasons, especially during the age of European expansion and particularly since 1600. The Napoleonic Code, adopted in various parts of Europe, stipulated that people should be known by both their given name(s) and a family name that would not change across generations. Other notable examples include the Netherlands (1795–1811), Japan (1870s), Thailand (1920), and Turkey (1934). The structure of the Japanese name was formalized by the government as family name + given name in 1868.[22]

In Breslau Prussia enacted the Hoym Ordinance in 1790, mandating the adoption of Jewish surnames.[citation needed][23] Napoleon also insisted on Jews adopting fixed names in a decree issued in 1808.[24]

Names can sometimes be changed to protect individual privacy (such as in witness protection), or in cases where groups of people are escaping persecution.[25] After arriving in the United States, European Jews who fled Nazi persecution sometimes anglicized their surnames to avoid discrimination.[26] Governments can also forcibly change people's names, as when the National Socialist government of Germany assigned German names to European people in the territories they conquered.[27] In the 1980s, the People's Republic of Bulgaria forcibly changed the first and last names of its Turkish citizens to Bulgarian names.[28]

Origins of particular surnames

[edit]

Patronymic and matronymic surnames

[edit]

These are the oldest and most common type of surname.[29] They may be a first name such as "Wilhelm", a patronymic such as "Andersen", a matronymic such as "Beaton", or a clan name such as "O'Brien". Multiple surnames may be derived from a single given name: e.g. there are thought to be over 90 Italian surnames based on the given name "Giovanni".[29]

A family tree showing the Icelandic patronymic naming system

Examples

[edit]

Cognominal surnames

[edit]

This is the broadest class of surnames, originating from nicknames,[31] encompassing many types of origin. These include names based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and possibly "Caesar",[29] and names based on temperament and personality such as "Daft", "Gutman", and "Maiden", which, according to a number of sources, was an English nickname meaning "effeminate".[29][32]

A group of nicknames look like occupational ones: King, Bishop, Abbot, Sheriff, Knight, etc. but it is rather unlikely that a person with surname King was a king or descended from a king. Bernard Deacon suggests that the first nickname/surname bearer may have acted as a king or bishop, or was corpulent as bishop. etc.[31]

A considerable group of surname-producing nicknames may be found among ethnonymic surnames.[33][34]

Ornamental surnames

[edit]

Ornamental surnames are made up of names, not specific to any attribute (place, parentage, occupation, caste) of the first person to acquire the name, and stem from the middle class's desire for their own hereditary names like the nobles. They were generally acquired later in history and generally when those without surnames needed them. In 1526, King Frederik I of Denmark-Norway ordered that noble families must take up fixed surnames, and many of them took as their name some element of their coat of arms; for example, the Rosenkrantz ("rose wreath") family took their surname from a wreath of roses comprising the torse of their arms,[35] and the Gyldenstierne ("golden star") family took theirs from a 7-pointed gold star on their shield.[36] Subsequently, many middle-class Scandinavian families desired names similar to those of the nobles and adopted "ornamental" surnames as well. Most other naming traditions refer to them as "acquired". They might be given to people newly immigrated, conquered, or converted, as well as those with unknown parentage, formerly enslaved, or from parentage without a surname tradition.[37][38]

Ornamental surnames are more common in communities that adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.[39] They occur commonly in Scandinavia, and among Sinti and Roma and Jews in Germany and Austria.[29]

Acquired surnames

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During the era of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade many Africans were given new names by their masters. Many of the family names of many African-Americans have their origins in slavery (i.e. slave name). Some freed slaves later created family names themselves.[40]

Another category of acquired names is foundlings names. Historically, children born to unwed parents or extremely poor parents would be abandoned in a public place or anonymously placed in a foundling wheel. Such abandoned children might be claimed and named by religious figures, the community leaders, or adoptive parents. Some such children were given surnames that reflected their condition, like (Italian) Esposito, Innocenti, Della Casagrande, Trovato, Abbandonata, or (Dutch) Vondeling, Verlaeten, Bijstand. Other children were named for the street/place they were found (Union, Liquorpond (street), di Palermo, Baan, Bijdam, van den Eyngel (shop name), van der Stoep, von Trapp), the date they were found (Monday, Septembre, Spring, di Gennaio), or festival/feast day they found or christened (Easter, SanJosé). Some foundlings were given the name of whoever found them.[41][42][43]

Occupational surnames

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Occupational names include Smith, Miller, Farmer, Thatcher, Shepherd, Potter, and so on, and analogous names in many other languages, see, e.g., various surnames associated with the occupation of smith. There are also more complicated names based on occupational titles. In England it was common for servants to take a modified version of their employer's occupation or first name as their last name,[citation needed] adding the letter s to the word, although this formation could also be a patronymic. For instance, the surname Vickers is thought to have arisen as an occupational name adopted by the servant of a vicar,[44] while Roberts could have been adopted by either the son or the servant of a man named Robert. A subset of occupational names in English are names thought to be derived from the medieval mystery plays. The participants would often play the same roles for life, passing the part down to their oldest sons. Names derived from this may include King, Lord and Virgin.[citation needed] A Dictionary of English Surnames says that "surnames of office, such as Abbot, Bishop, Cardinal and King, are often nicknames".[44] The original meaning of names based on medieval occupations may no longer be obvious in modern English.[citation needed]

Toponymic surnames

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Location (toponymic, habitation) names derive from the inhabited location associated with the person given that name. Such locations can be any type of settlement, such as homesteads, farms, enclosures, villages, hamlets, strongholds, or cottages. One element of a habitation name may describe the type of settlement. Examples of Old English elements are frequently found in the second element of habitational names. The habitative elements in such names can differ in meaning, according to different periods, different locations, or with being used with certain other elements. For example, the Old English element tūn may have originally meant "enclosure" in one name, but can have meant "farmstead", "village", "manor", or "estate" in other names.[citation needed]

Location names, or habitation names, may be as generic as "Monte" (Portuguese for "mountain"), "Górski" (Polish for "hill"), or "Pitt" (variant of "pit"), but may also refer to specific locations. "Washington", for instance, is thought to mean "the homestead of the family of Wassa",[32] while "Lucci" means "resident of Lucca".[29] Although some surnames, such as "London", "Lisboa", or "Białystok" are derived from large cities, more people reflect the names of smaller communities, as in Ó Creachmhaoil, derived from a village in County Galway. This is thought to be due to the tendency in Europe during the Middle Ages for migration to chiefly be from smaller communities to the cities and the need for new arrivals to choose a defining surname.[32][39]

In Portuguese-speaking countries, it is uncommon, but not unprecedented, to find surnames derived from names of countries, such as Portugal, França, Brasil, Holanda. Surnames derived from country names are also found in English, such as "England", "Wales", "Spain".

Some Japanese surnames derive from geographical features; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means "stone river" (and is also the name of one of Japan's prefectures), Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the mountain", and Inoue (井上) means "above the well".

Arabic names sometimes contain surnames that denote the city of origin. For example, in cases of Saddam Hussein al Tikriti,[45] meaning Saddam Hussein originated from Tikrit, a city in Iraq. This component of the name is called a nisbah.

Examples

[edit]

Other

[edit]

The meanings of some names are unknown or unclear. The most common European name in this category may be the Irish name Ryan, which means 'little king' in Irish.[32][44] Also, Celtic origin of the name Arthur, meaning 'bear'. Other surnames may have arisen from more than one source: the name De Luca, for instance, likely arose either in or near Lucania or in the family of someone named Lucas or Lucius;[29] in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.[29] The same name may appear in different cultures by coincidence or romanization; the surname Lee is used in English culture, but is also a romanization of the Chinese surname Li.[44] In the Russian Empire, illegitimate children were sometimes given artificial surnames rather than the surnames of their adoptive parents.[46][47]

Order of names

[edit]

In many cultures (particularly in European and European-influenced cultures in the Americas, Oceania, etc., as well as West Asia/North Africa, South Asia, and most Sub-Saharan African cultures), the surname or family name ("last name") is placed after the personal, forename (in Europe) or given name ("first name"). In other cultures the surname is placed first, followed by the given name or names. The latter is often called the Eastern naming order because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from the East Asian cultural sphere, specifically, Greater China, Korea (both North and South), Japan, and Vietnam. This is also the case in Cambodia and among the Hmong of Laos and Thailand. The Telugu people of south India also place surname before personal name. There are some parts of Europe, in particular Hungary, where the surname is placed before the personal name.[48]

Since family names are normally written last in European societies, the terms last name or surname are commonly used for the family name, while in Japan (with vertical writing) the family name may be referred to as "upper name" (ue-no-namae (上の名前)).

When people from areas using Eastern naming order write their personal name in the Latin alphabet, it is common to reverse the order of the given and family names for the convenience of Westerners, so that they know which name is the family name for official/formal purposes. Reversing the order of names for the same reason is also customary for the Baltic Finnic peoples and the Hungarians, but other Uralic peoples traditionally did not have surnames, perhaps because of the clan structure of their societies. The Samis, depending on the circumstances of their names, either saw no change or did see a transformation of their name. For example: Sire in some cases became Siri,[49] and Hætta Jáhkoš Ásslat became Aslak Jacobsen Hætta – as was the norm. Recently, integration into the EU and increased communications with foreigners prompted many Samis to reverse the order of their full name to given name followed by surname, to avoid their given name being mistaken for and used as a surname.[citation needed]

Indian surnames may often denote village, profession, and/or caste and are invariably mentioned along with the personal/first names. However, hereditary last names are not universal. In Telugu-speaking families in south India, surname is placed before personal / first name and in most cases it is only shown as an initial (for example 'S.' for Suryapeth).[50]

In English and other languages like Spanish—although the usual order of names is "first middle last"—for the purpose of cataloging in libraries and in citing the names of authors in scholarly papers, the order is changed to "last, first middle," with the last and first names separated by a comma, and items are alphabetized by the last name.[51][52] In France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Latin America, administrative usage is to put the surname before the first on official documents.[citation needed]

Gender-specific versions of surname

[edit]

In most Balto-Slavic languages (such as Latvian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, etc.) as well as in Greek, Irish, Icelandic, and Azerbaijani, some surnames change form depending on the gender of the bearer.[53]

Forms of gendered names
Language Male form Female form Reference
Icelandic surnames Suffix -son Suffix -dóttir [54]
Greek surnames Suffixes -os, -as, -is Suffixes -ou, -a, -i [55]
Irish surnames Prefixes Mac, Ó, Ua, Mag Prefixes Bean Uí, Nic, Bean Mhic, Ní, Mhic, Nig [56]
Lithuanian surnames Suffixes -as, -ys, -is, -us Suffixes -ienė, -uvienė, -aitė, -utė, -iūtė, -ytė, -ė [57]
Latvian surnames Suffixes -us, -is, -s, -iņš Suffixes -a, -e, -iņa
Scottish Gaelic surnames Prefix Mac- Prefix Nic- [58]
Bulgarian and Macedonian surnames Suffixes -ov, -ev, -ski Suffixes -ova, -eva, -ska
East Slavic surnames Suffixes -ov, -ev, -in, -iy, -oy, -yy, -ou
Patronymics -ovich, -ovych, -yovych, -avich
Suffixes -ova, -eva, -ina, -aya
Patronymics -ovna, -ivna, -yivna, -ouna
[59]
Czech and Slovak surnames Suffixes -ov, -ý, -ský, -cký Suffixes -ová, -á, -ská, -cká [60]
Polish surnames Suffixes -ski, -cki, -dzki Suffixes -ska, -cka, -dzka [61]
Azerbaijani surnames Suffixes -ov, -yev, Patronymic oğlu Suffixes -ova, -yeva, Patronymic qızı

In Slavic languages, substantivized adjective surnames have commonly symmetrical adjective variants for males and females (Podwiński/Podwińska in Polish, Nový/Nová in Czech or Slovak, etc.). In the case of nominative and quasi-nominative surnames, the female variant is derived from the male variant by a possessive suffix (Novák/Nováková, Hromada/Hromadová). In Czech and Slovak, the pure possessive would be Novákova, Hromadova, but the surname evolved to a more adjectivized form Nováková, Hromadová, to suppress the historical possessivity. Some rare types of surnames are universal and gender-neutral: examples in Czech are Janů, Martinů, Fojtů, Kovářů. These are the archaic form of the possessive, related to the plural name of the family. Such rare surnames are also often used for transgender persons during transition because most common surnames are gender-specific.[citation needed]

The informal dialectal female form in Polish and Czech dialects was also -ka (Pawlaczka, Kubeška). With the exception of the -ski/-ska suffix, most feminine forms of surnames are seldom observed in Polish.[citation needed]

Generally, inflected languages use names and surnames as living words, not as static identifiers. Thus, the pair or the family can be named by a plural form which can differ from the singular male and female form. For instance, when the male form is Novák and the female form Nováková, the family name is Novákovi in Czech and Novákovci in Slovak. When the male form is Hrubý and the female form is Hrubá, the plural family name is Hrubí (or "rodina Hrubých").[citation needed]

In Greece, if a man called Papadopoulos has a daughter or wife, she will likely be named Papadopoulou, the genitive form, as if the daughter/wife is "of" a man named Papadopoulos. Likewise, the surnames of daughters and wives of males with surnames ending in -as will end in -a, and those of daughters and wives of males with the -is suffix will have the -i suffix.[62]

Latvian, like Lithuanian, uses strictly feminized surnames for women, even in the case of foreign names. The function of the suffix is purely grammatical. Male surnames ending -e or -a need not be modified for women. Exceptions are:

  • The female surnames which correspond to nouns in the sixth declension with the ending "-s" – "Iron", ("iron"), "rock"
  • Surnames of both genders, which are written in the same nominative case form because they correspond to nouns in the third declension ending in "-us" ("Grigus", "Markus")
  • Surnames based on an adjective have indefinite suffixes typical of adjectives: "-s, -a" ("Stalts", "Stalta") or the specified endings "-ais, -ā" ("Čaklais", "Čaklā") ("diligent").[citation needed]

In Iceland, surnames have a gender-specific suffix (-dóttir = daughter, -son = son).[63] This was also the case in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, until they were abolished by law in 1856, 1923, and 1966 respectively.

Finnish used gender-specific suffixes up to 1929 when the Marriage Act forced women to use the husband's form of the surname. In 1985, this clause was removed from the act.[64]

Until at least 1850, women's surnames were suffixed with an -in in Tyrol.

Indication of family membership status

[edit]

Some Slavic cultures originally distinguished the surnames of married and unmarried women by different suffixes, but this distinction is no longer widely observed. Some Czech dialects (Southwest-Bohemian) use the form "Novákojc" as informal for both genders. In the culture of the Sorbs (a.k.a. Wends or Lusatians), Sorbian used different female forms for unmarried daughters (Jordanojc, Nowcyc, Kubašec, Markulic), and for wives (Nowakowa, Budarka, Nowcyna, Markulina). In Polish, typical surnames for unmarried women ended -ówna, -anka, or -ianka, while the surnames of married women used the possessive suffixes -ina or -owa. In Serbia, unmarried women's surnames ended in -eva, while married women's surnames ended in -ka. In Lithuania, if the husband is named Vilkas, his wife will be named Vilkienė and his unmarried daughter will be named Vilkaitė. Male surnames have suffixes -as, -is, -ius, or -us, unmarried girl surnames aitė, -ytė, -iūtė or -utė, wife surnames -ienė. These suffixes are also used for foreign names, exclusively for grammar; Welby, the surname of the present Archbishop of Canterbury for example, becomes Velbis in Lithuanian, while his wife is Velbienė, and his unmarried daughter, Velbaitė.[citation needed]

Many surnames include prefixes that may or may not be separated by a space or punctuation from the main part of the surname. These are usually not considered true compound names, rather single surnames are made up of more than one word. These prefixes often give hints about the type or origin of the surname (patronymic, toponymic, notable lineage) and include words that mean from [a place or lineage], and son of/daughter of/child of.[citation needed]

The common Celtic prefixes "Ó" or "Ua" (descendant of) and "Mac" or "Mag" (son of) can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, yielding "Ó Briain" or "Mac Millan" as well as the anglicized "O'Brien" and "MacMillan" or "Macmillan". Other Irish prefixes include Ní, Nic (daughter of the son of), Mhic, and Uí (wife of the son of).[citation needed]

A surname with the prefix "Fitz" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, as in "Fitz William", as well as "FitzWilliam" or "Fitzwilliam" (like, for example, Robert FitzRoy). Note that "Fitz" comes from French (fils) thus making these surnames a form of patronymic.[citation needed]

Surname law

[edit]

A family name is typically a part of a person's personal name and, according to law or custom, is passed or given to children from at least one of their parents' family names. The use of family names is common in most cultures around the world, but each culture has its own rules as to how the names are formed, passed, and used. However, the style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal (see §History below). In many cultures, it is common for people to have one name or mononym, with some cultures not using family names. Issues of family name arise especially on the passing of a name to a newborn child, the adoption of a common family name on marriage, the renunciation of a family name, and the changing of a family name.[citation needed]

Surname laws vary around the world. Traditionally in many European countries for the past few hundred years, it was the custom or the law for a woman, upon marriage, to use her husband's surname and for any children born to bear the father's surname. If a child's paternity was not known, or if the putative father denied paternity, the newborn child would have the surname of the mother. That is still the custom or law in many countries. The surname for children of married parents is usually inherited from the father.[65] In recent years, there has been a trend towards equality of treatment in relation to family names, with women being not automatically required, expected or, in some places, even forbidden, to take the husband's surname on marriage, with the children not automatically being given the father's surname. In this article, both family name and surname mean the patrilineal surname, which is handed down from or inherited from the father, unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. Thus, the term "maternal surname" means the patrilineal surname that one's mother inherited from either or both of her parents. For a discussion of matrilineal ('mother-line') surnames, passing from mothers to daughters, see matrilineal surname.[citation needed]

Surname of women

[edit]

King Henry VIII of England (reigned 1509–1547) ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father.[5] In England and cultures derived from there, there has long been a tradition for a woman to change her surname upon marriage from her birth name to her husband's family name. (See Maiden and married names.)[citation needed]

In the Middle Ages, when a man from a lower-status family married an only daughter from a higher-status family, he would often adopt the wife's family name.[citation needed] In the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, bequests were sometimes made contingent upon a man's changing (or hyphenating) his family name, so that the name of the testator continued.[citation needed]

The United States followed the naming customs and practices of English common law and traditions until recent times. The first known instance in the United States of a woman insisting on the use of her birth name was that of Lucy Stone in 1855, and there has been a general increase in the rate of women using their birth name. Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, traditional naming practices (writes one commentator) were recognized as "com[ing] into conflict with current sensitivities about children's and women's rights".[66] Those changes accelerated a shift away from the interests of the parents to a focus on the best interests of the child. The law in this area continues to evolve today mainly in the context of paternity and custody actions.[67]

Naming conventions in the US have gone through periods of flux, however, and the 1990s saw a decline in the percentage of name retention among women.[68] As of 2006, more than 80% of American women adopted the husband's family name after marriage.[69]

It is rare but not unknown for an English-speaking man to take his wife's family name, whether for personal reasons or as a matter of tradition (such as among matrilineal Canadian aboriginal groups, such as the Haida and Gitxsan). Upon marriage to a woman, men in the United States can change their surnames to that of their wives, or adopt a combination of both names with the federal government, through the Social Security Administration. Men may face difficulty doing so on the state level in some states.[citation needed]

It is exceedingly rare but does occur in the United States, where a married couple may choose an entirely new last name by going through a legal change of name. As an alternative, both spouses may adopt a double-barrelled name. For instance, when John Smith and Mary Jones marry each other, they may become known as "John Smith-Jones" and "Mary Smith-Jones". A spouse may also opt to use their birth name as a middle name, and e.g. become known as "Mary Jones Smith".[citation needed] An additional option, although rarely practiced[citation needed], is the adoption of the last name derived from a blend of the prior names, such as "Simones", which also requires a legal name change. Some couples keep their own last names but give their children hyphenated or combined surnames.[70]

In 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ("CEDAW"), which declared in effect that women and men, and specifically wife and husband, shall have the same rights to choose a "family name", as well as a profession and an occupation.[71]

In some places, civil rights lawsuits or constitutional amendments changed the law so that men could also easily change their married names (e.g., in British Columbia and California).[72] Québec law permits neither spouse to change surnames.[73]

In France, until 1 January 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. Article 311-21 of the French Civil code now permits parents to give their children the family name of either their father, mother, or hyphenation of both – although no more than two names can be hyphenated. In cases of disagreement, both names are used in alphabetical order.[74] This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by the Council of Europe requiring member governments to take measures to adopt equality of rights in the transmission of family names, a measure that was echoed by the United Nations in 1979.[75]

Similar measures were adopted by West Germany (1976), Sweden (1982), Denmark (1983), Finland (1985) and Spain (1999). The European Community has been active in eliminating gender discrimination. Several cases concerning discrimination in family names have reached the courts. Burghartz v. Switzerland challenged the lack of an option for husbands to add the wife's surname to his surname, which they had chosen as the family name when this option was available for women.[76] Losonci Rose and Rose v. Switzerland challenged a prohibition on foreign men married to Swiss women keeping their surname if this option was provided in their national law, an option available to women.[77] Ünal Tekeli v. Turkey challenged prohibitions on women using their surname as the family name, an option only available to men.[78] The Court found all these laws to be in violation of the convention.[79]

From 1945 to 2021 in the Czech Republic women by law had to use family names with the ending -ová after the name of their father or husband (so-called přechýlení). This was seen as discriminatory by a part of the public. Since 1 January 2022, Czech women can decide for themselves whether they want to use the feminine or neutral form of their family name.[80]

Compound surnames

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While in many countries surnames are usually one word, in others a surname may contain two words or more, as described below.[citation needed]

English

[edit]

Compound surnames in English and several other European cultures feature two (or occasionally more) words, often joined by a hyphen or hyphens. However, it is not unusual for compound surnames to be composed of separate words not linked by a hyphen, for example Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the British Conservative Party, whose surname is "Duncan Smith".[citation needed]

Chinese

[edit]

Some Chinese surnames use more than one character.

Multiple surnames

[edit]

Spanish-speaking countries

[edit]

In Spain and in most Spanish-speaking countries, the custom is for people to have two surnames, with the first surname coming from the father and the second from the mother; the opposite order is now legally allowed in Spain but still unusual. In informal situations typically only the first one is used, although both are needed for legal purposes. A child's first surname will usually be their father's first surname, while the child's second surname will usually be their mother's first surname. For example, if José García Torres and María Acosta Gómez had a child named Pablo, then his full name would be Pablo García Acosta. One family member's relationship to another can often be identified by the various combinations and permutations of surnames.[citation needed]

José García TorresMaría Acosta Gómez
Pablo García Acosta

In some instances, when an individual's first surname is very common, such as for example in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the second surname tends to gain preeminence over the first one in informal use. Rodríguez Zapatero, therefore is more often called just Zapatero and almost never Rodríguez only; in other cases, such as in writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a person becomes usually called by both surnames. This changes from person to person and stems merely from habit.[citation needed]

In Spain, feminist activism pushed for a law approved in 1999 that allows an adult to change the order of his/her family names,[81] and parents can also change the order of their children's family names if they (and the child, if over 12) agree, although this order must be the same for all their children.[82][83]

In Spain, especially Catalonia, the paternal and maternal surnames are often combined using the conjunction y ("and" in Spanish) or i ("and" in Catalan), see for example the economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin or painter Salvador Dalí i Domènech.[citation needed]

In Spain, a woman does not generally change her legal surname when she marries. In some Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, a woman may, on her marriage, drop her mother's surname and add her husband's surname to her father's surname using the preposition de ("of"), del ("of the", when the following word is masculine) or de la ("of the", when the following word is feminine). For example, if "Clara Reyes Alba" were to marry "Alberto Gómez Rodríguez", the wife could use "Clara Reyes de Gómez" as her name (or "Clara Reyes Gómez", or, rarely, "Clara Gómez Reyes". She can be addressed as Sra. de Gómez corresponding to "Mrs Gómez"). Feminist activists have criticized this custom [when?] as they consider it sexist.[84][85] In some countries, this form may be mainly social and not an official name change, i.e. her name would still legally be her birth name. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity [citation needed] in Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Peru, Panama, and to a certain extent in Mexico (where it is optional but becoming obsolete), but is frowned upon by people in Spain, Cuba, and elsewhere. In Peru and the Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all family names after getting married. For example, if Rosa María Pérez Martínez marries Juan Martín De la Cruz Gómez, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Martínez de De la Cruz, and if the husband dies, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Martínez Vda. de De la Cruz (Vda. being the abbreviation for viuda, "widow" in Spanish). The law in Peru changed some years ago, and all married women can keep their maiden last name if they wish with no alteration.[citation needed]

Historically, sometimes a father transmitted his combined family names, thus creating a new one e.g., the paternal surname of the son of Javier (given name) Reyes (paternal family name) de la Barrera (maternal surname) may have become the new paternal surname Reyes de la Barrera. For example, Uruguayan politician Guido Manini Rios has inherited a compound surname constructed from the patrilineal and matrilineal surnames of a recent ancestor. De is also the nobiliary particle used with Spanish surnames. This can not be chosen by the person, as it is part of the surname, for example, "Puente" and "Del Puente" are not the same surname.[citation needed]

Sometimes, for single mothers or when the father would or could not recognize the child, the mother's surname has been used twice: for example, "Ana Reyes Reyes". In Spain, however, children with just one parent receive both surnames of that parent, although the order may also be changed. In 1973 in Chile, the law was changed to avoid stigmatizing illegitimate children with the maternal surname repeated.[citation needed]

Some Hispanic people, after leaving their country, drop their maternal surname, even if not formally, so as to better fit into the non-Hispanic society they live or work in. Similarly, foreigners with just one surname may be asked to provide a second surname on official documents in Spanish-speaking countries. When none (such as the mother's maiden name) is provided, the last name may simply be repeated.[citation needed]

A new trend in the United States for Hispanics is to hyphenate their father's and mother's last names. This is done because American-born English-speakers are not aware of the Hispanic custom of using two last names and thus mistake the first last name of the individual for a middle name. In doing so they would, for example, mistakenly refer to Esteban Álvarez Cobos as Esteban A. Cobos. Such confusion can be particularly troublesome in official matters. To avoid such mistakes, Esteban Álvarez Cobos, would become Esteban Álvarez-Cobos, to clarify that both are last names.[citation needed]

In some churches, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the family structure is emphasized, as well as a legal marriage, the wife is referred to as "hermana" [sister] plus the surname of her husband. And most records of the church follow that structure as well.[citation needed]

Informal traditional names

[edit]

In many places, such as villages in Catalonia, Galicia, and Asturias and in Cuba, people are often informally known by the name of their dwelling or collective family nickname rather than by their surnames. For example, Remei Pujol i Serra who lives at Ca l'Elvira would be referred to as "Remei de Ca l'Elvira"; and Adela Barreira López who is part of the "Provisores" family would be known as "Adela dos Provisores".[citation needed]

Also in many places, such as Cantabria, the family's nickname is used instead of the surname: if one family is known as "Ñecos" because of an ancestor who was known as "Ñecu", they would be "José el de Ñecu" or "Ana la de Ñecu" (collective: the Ñeco's). Some common nicknames are "Rubiu" (blond or red hair), "Roju" (reddish, referring to their red hair), "Chiqui" (small), "Jinchu" (big), and a bunch of names about certain characteristics, family relationship or geographical origin (pasiegu, masoniegu, sobanu, llebaniegu, tresmeranu, pejinu, naveru, merachu, tresneru, troule, mallavia, marotias, llamoso, lipa, ñecu, tarugu, trapajeru, lichón, andarível).

Compound surnames

[edit]

Beyond the seemingly "compound" surname system in the Spanish-speaking world, there are also true compound surnames. These true compound surnames are passed on and inherited as compounds. For instance, former chairman of the Supreme Military Junta of Ecuador, General Luis Telmo Paz y Miño Estrella, has Luis as his first given name, Telmo as his middle name, the true compound surname Paz y Miño as his first (i.e. paternal) surname, and Estrella as his second (i.e. maternal) surname. Luis Telmo Paz y Miño Estrella is also known more casually as Luis Paz y Miño, Telmo Paz y Miño, or Luis Telmo Paz y Miño. He would never be regarded as Luis Estrella, Telmo Estrella, or Luis Telmo Estrella, nor as Luis Paz, Telmo Paz, or Luis Telmo Paz. This is because "Paz" alone is not his surname (although other people use the "Paz" surname on its own).[65] In this case, Paz y Miño is in fact the paternal surname, being a true compound surname. His children, therefore, would inherit the compound surname "Paz y Miño" as their paternal surname, while Estrella would be lost, since the mother's paternal surname becomes the children's second surname (as their own maternal surname). "Paz" alone would not be passed on, nor would "Miño" alone.[citation needed]

To avoid ambiguity, one might often informally see these true compound surnames hyphenated, for instance, as Paz-y-Miño. This is true especially in the English-speaking world, but also sometimes even in the Hispanic world, since many Hispanics are unfamiliar with this and other compound surnames, "Paz y Miño" might be inadvertently mistaken as "Paz" for the paternal surname and "Miño" for the maternal surname. Although Miño did start off as the maternal surname in this compound surname, it was many generations ago, around five centuries, that it became compounded, and henceforth inherited and passed on as a compound.[citation needed]

Other surnames which started off as compounds of two or more surnames, but which merged into one single word, also exist. An example would be the surname Pazmiño, whose members are related to the Paz y Miño, as both descend from the "Paz Miño" family[citation needed] of five centuries ago.

Álava, Spain is known for its incidence of true compound surnames, characterized for having the first portion of the surname as a patronymic, normally a Spanish patronymic or more unusually a Basque patronymic, followed by the preposition "de", with the second part of the surname being a placename from Álava.[citation needed]

Portuguese-speaking countries

[edit]

In Portuguese naming customs, the main surname (the one used in alpha sorting, indexing, abbreviations, and greetings), appears last.[citation needed]

Each person usually has two family names: though the law specifies no order, the first one is usually the maternal family name and the last one is commonly the paternal family name. In Portugal, a person's full name has a minimum legal length of two names (one given name and one family name from either parent) and a maximum of six names (two first names and four surnames – he or she may have up to four surnames in any order desired picked up from the total of his/her parents and grandparents' surnames). The use of any surname outside this lot, or of more than six names, is legally possible, but it requires dealing with bureaucracy. Parents or the person him/herself must explain the claims they have to bear that surname (a family nickname, a rare surname lost in past generations, or any other reason one may find suitable). In Brazil, there is no limit of surnames used.[citation needed]

In the Portuguese tradition, the mother's surname usually comes first, followed by the father's surname. A woman may adopt her husband's surname(s), but nevertheless, she usually keeps her birth name or at least the last one. Since 1977 in Portugal and 2012 in Brazil, a husband can also adopt his wife's surname. When this happens, usually both spouses change their name after marriage.[citation needed]

The custom of a woman changing her name upon marriage is recent. It spread in the late 19th century in the upper classes, under French influence, and in the 20th century, particularly during the 1930s and 1940, it became socially almost obligatory. Nowadays, fewer women adopt, even officially, their husbands' names, and among those who do so officially, it is quite common not to use it either in their professional or informal life.[citation needed]

The children usually bear only the last surnames of the parents (i.e., the paternal surname of each of their parents). For example, Carlos da Silva Gonçalves and Ana Luísa de Albuquerque Pereira (Gonçalves) (in case she adopted her husband's name after marriage) would have a child named Lucas Pereira Gonçalves. However, the child may have any other combination of the parents' surnames, according to euphony, social significance, or other reasons. For example, is not uncommon for the firstborn male to be given the father's full name followed by "Júnior" or "Filho" (son), and the next generation's firstborn male to be given the grandfather's name followed by "Neto" (grandson). Hence Carlos da Silva Gonçalves might choose to name his first born son Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Júnior, who in turn might name his first born son Carlos da Silva Gonçalves Neto, in which case none of the mother's family names are passed on.[citation needed]

Carlos da Silva GonçalvesAna Luísa de Albuquerque Pereira
Lucas Pereira Gonçalves

In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used – surnames like Gonçalves ("son of Gonçalo"), Fernandes ("son of Fernando"), Nunes ("son of Nuno"), Soares ("son of Soeiro"), Sanches ("son of Sancho"), Henriques ("son of Henrique"), Rodrigues ("son of Rodrigo") which along with many others are still in regular use as very prevalent family names.[citation needed]

In Medieval times, Portuguese nobility started to use one of their estates' names or the name of the town or village they ruled as their surname, just after their patronymic. Soeiro Mendes da Maia bore a name "Soeiro", a patronymic "Mendes" ("son of Hermenegildo – shortened to Mendo") and the name of the town he ruled "Maia". He was often referred to in 12th-century documents as "Soeiro Mendes, senhor da Maia", Soeiro Mendes, lord of Maia. Noblewomen also bore patronymics and surnames in the same manner and never bore their husband's surnames. First-born males bore their father's surname, other children bore either both or only one of them at their will.[citation needed]

Only during the Early Modern Age, lower-class males started to use at least one surname; married lower-class women usually took up their spouse's surname, since they rarely ever used one beforehand. After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Portuguese authorities realized the benefits of enforcing the use and registry of surnames. Henceforth, they became mandatory, although the rules for their use were very liberal.[citation needed]

Until the end of the 19th century, it was common for women, especially those from a very poor background, not to have a surname and so to be known only by their first names. A woman would then adopt her husband's full surname after marriage. With the advent of republicanism in Brazil and Portugal, along with the institution of civil registries, all children now have surnames. During the mid-20th century, under French influence and among upper classes, women started to take up their husbands' surname(s). From the 1960s onwards, this usage spread to the common people, again under French influence, this time, however, due to the forceful legal adoption of their husbands' surname which was imposed onto Portuguese immigrant women in France.[citation needed]

From the 1974 Carnation Revolution onwards the adoption of their husbands' surname(s) receded again, and today both the adoption and non-adoption occur, with non-adoption being chosen in the majority of cases in recent years (60%).[86] Also, it is legally possible for the husband to adopt his wife's surname(s), but this practice is rare.[citation needed]

Map of Most Common Surnames in the United States by State

Prevalence

[edit]

In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surname Smith, the most common American name.[87]

According to some estimates, 85% of China's population shares just 100 surnames. The names Wang (王), Zhang (张), and Li (李) are the most frequent.[88]

See also

[edit]

References

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Further reading

[edit]
  • Blark. Gregory, et al. The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility (Princeton University Press; 2014) 384 pages; uses statistical data on family names over generations to estimate social mobility in diverse societies and historical periods.
  • Bowman, William Dodgson. The Story of Surnames (London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932)
  • Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames (1967)
  • Hanks, Patrick and Hodges, Flavia. A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University Press, 1989)
  • Hanks, Patrick, Richard Coates and Peter McClure, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2016), which has a lengthy introduction with much comparative material.
  • Reaney, P.H., and Wilson, R.M. A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 1997)
[edit]