First/given/forename, middle, and last/family/surname withJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy as example. This shows a structure typical for Anglophonic cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names.
Asurname,family name, orlast name is the mostly hereditary portion of one'spersonal name that indicates one's family.[1][2] It is typically combined with agiven name to form thefull name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times most surnames are hereditary, although in most countries a person has a right tochange their name.
Depending on culture, the surname may be placed either at 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]
The use of names has been documented in even the oldest historical records. Examples of surnames are documented in the 11th century by thebarons in England. English surnames began to be formed with reference to a certain aspect of that individual, such as their 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 calledonomastics.
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 EmperorFu 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 theShang 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 Ancient Greece, as far back as theArchaic Period clan names andpatronymics ("son of") were also common, as inAristides as Λῡσῐμᾰ́χου – a genitive singular form meaning son of Lysimachus. For example,Alexander the Great was known asHeracleides, as a supposed descendant ofHeracles, and by the dynastic nameKaranos/Caranus, which referred to the founder of thedynasty to which he belonged. These patronymics are already attested for many characters in the works ofHomer. 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. (SeeRoman naming conventions.) Thenomen, the name of thegens (tribe) inherited patrilineally, is thought to have already been in use by 650 BC.[13] Thenomen was to identify group kinship, while thepraenomen (forename; pluralpraenomina) was used to distinguish individuals within the group. Femalepraenomina were less common, as women had reduced public influence, and were commonly known by the feminine form of thenomen alone.
Later with the gradual influence of Greek andChristian culture throughout the Empire, Christian religious names were sometimes put in front of traditionalcognomina, 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 theEastern 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 ofzapato, "shoe").[16]
In England the introduction of family names is generally attributed to the preparation of theDomesday Book in 1086, following theNorman 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, mostEnglish and mostScottish people used surnames and in Wales following unification under Henry VIII in 1536.[17]
A four-year study led by theUniversity 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 theBritish 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 beingSmith,Jones,Williams,Brown,Taylor,Davies, andWilson.[19] The findings have been published in theOxford 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 belinked to a place, for example, Hill or Green, which relates to avillage green. Surnames that are 'patronymic' are those which originally enshrined the father's name – such asJackson, orJenkinson. 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 lateMiddle Ages in England, mandatory surnames were resisted as they were associated with taxes.[21]
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 theJapanese name was formalized by the government asfamily name +given name in 1868.[22]
In Breslau Prussia enacted the Hoym Ordinance in 1790, mandating the adoption of Jewish surnames.[23][24] Napoleon also insisted on Jews adopting fixed names in a decree issued in 1808.[25]
Names can sometimes be changed to protect individual privacy (such as inwitness protection), or in cases where groups of people are escaping persecution.[26] After arriving in the United States, European Jews who fled Nazi persecution sometimesanglicized their surnames to avoid discrimination.[27] Governments can also forcibly change people's names, as when theNational Socialist government of Germany assigned German names to European people in the territories they conquered.[28] In the 1980s, thePeople's Republic of Bulgaria forcibly changed the first and last names of itsTurkish citizens to Bulgarian names.[29]
These are the oldest and most common type of surname.[30] They may be a first name such as "Wilhelm", apatronymic such as "Andersen", amatronymic 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".[30]
A family tree showing the Icelandic patronymic naming system
Patronal from patronage (Hickman meaning Hick's man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religionKilpatrick (follower ofPatrick) orKilbride (follower of SaintBrigid of Kildare).[31]
This is the broadest class of surnames, originating from nicknames,[33] encompassing many types of origin. These include names based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and possibly "Caesar",[30] 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".[30][34]
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 like a king or bishop, or was as corpulent as a bishop. etc.[33]
Ornamental surnames (also known asartificial surnames[37][38]) are not specific to any attribute (place, parentage, occupation, caste) of the first person to acquire the name. 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, theRosenkrantz ("rose wreath") family took their surname from a wreath of roses forming the torse of their arms,[39] and theGyldenstierne ("golden star") family took theirs from a 7-pointed gold star on their shield.[40] 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.[citation needed]
Ornamental surnames are more common in communities that adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.[41] They occur commonly in Scandinavia, and amongSinti and Roma and EasternAshkenazi Jews in Germany and Austria.[30]
During the era of theTrans-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.[42]
Another category of acquired names isfoundlings' names. Historically, children born to unwed parents or extremely poor parents would be abandoned in a public place or anonymously placed in afoundling 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.[43][44][45]
Occupational names includeSmith,Miller,Farmer,Thatcher,Shepherd,Potter, and so on, and analogous names in many other languages; see, for example,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 letters to the word, although this formation could also be apatronymic. For instance, the surnameVickers is thought to have arisen as an occupational name adopted by the servant of a vicar,[46] whileRoberts 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 medievalmystery plays. The participants would often play the same roles for life, passing the part down to their oldest sons. Names derived from this may includeKing,Lord andVirgin.[citation needed]A Dictionary of English Surnames says that "surnames of office, such asAbbot,Bishop,Cardinal and King, are often nicknames".[46] The original meaning of names based on medieval occupations may no longer be obvious in modern English.[citation needed]
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 ofOld 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 elementtūn may have originally meant "enclosure" in one name, but can have meant "farmstead", "village", "manor", or "estate" in other names.[47]
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",[34] while "Lucci" means "resident ofLucca".[30] Although some surnames, such as "London", "Lisboa", or "Białystok" are derived from large cities, more people reflect the names of smaller communities, as inÓ Creachmhaoil, derived from a village inCounty 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.[34][41]
InPortuguese-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".
Arabic names sometimes contain surnames that denote the city of origin. For example, in cases ofSaddam Hussein al Tikriti,[48] meaning Saddam Hussein originated fromTikrit, a city inIraq. This component of the name is called anisbah.
The meanings of some names are unknown or unclear. The most common European name in this category may be the Irish nameRyan, which means 'little king' in Irish.[34][46] Also, Celtic origin of the name Arthur, meaning 'bear'. Other surnames may have arisen from more than one source: the nameDe Luca, for instance, likely arose either in or near Lucania or in the family of someone named Lucas or Lucius;[30] in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.[30] The same name may appear in different cultures by coincidence or romanization; the surnameLee is used in English culture, but is also a romanization of the Chinese surnameLi.[46] In theRussian Empire, illegitimate children were sometimesgiven artificial surnames rather than the surnames of their adoptive parents.[49][50]
In many cultures (particularly inEuropean 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 theEastern naming order because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from theEast Asian cultural sphere, specifically,Greater China,Korea (both North and South),Japan, andVietnam. This is also the case inCambodia and among theHmong ofLaos andThailand. TheTelugu people of south India also place surname before personal name, and historically theTamil people did the same.[51] There are some parts of Europe, in particularHungary, where the surname is placed before the personal name.[52]
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 theLatin 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 alsocustomary for theBaltic Finnic peoples and theHungarians, but otherUralic peoples traditionally did not have surnames, perhaps because of theclan structure of their societies. TheSamis, 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,[53] and Hætta Jáhkoš Ásslat becameAslak Jacobsen Hætta – as was thenorm. 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/orcaste and are invariably mentioned along with the personal/first names. However, hereditary last names are not universal. InTelugu-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).[54]
In English and other languages, 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.[55][56] In France, Italy, Spain,Belgium and Latin America, administrative usage is to put the surname before the first on official documents.[citation needed]
In mostBalto-Slavic languages (such as Latvian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, etc.) as well as inGreek, Irish,Icelandic, andAzerbaijani, some surnames change form depending on the gender of the bearer.[57]
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 beNovákova,Hromadova, but the surname evolved to a more adjectivized formNováková,Hromadová, to suppress the historical possessivity. Some rare types of surnames are universal and gender-neutral: examples in Czech areJanů,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 isNovákovi in Czech andNovákovci 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.[66]
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).[67] 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.[68]
Until at least 1850, women's surnames were suffixed with an -in in Tyrol.
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 theSorbs (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 ofthe present Archbishop of Canterbury for example, becomesVelbis in Lithuanian, while his wife isVelbienė, 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 includeNí,Nic (daughter of the son of),Mhic, andUí (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). "Fitz" comes from French (fils) thus making these surnames a form of patronymic.[citation needed]
A family name is typically a part of a person'spersonal 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 ormononym, 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 theputative 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.[69] 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 thepatrilineal surname, which is handed down from or inherited from the father, unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. Thus, the term "maternal surname" means thepatrilineal surname that one's mother inherited from either or both of her parents. For a discussion ofmatrilineal ('mother-line') surnames, passing from mothers to daughters, seematrilineal surname.[citation needed]
KingHenry 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 herbirth name to her husband's family name. (SeeMaiden 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 thetestator 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 ofLucy 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".[70] 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.[71]
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.[72] As of 2006, more than 80% of American women adopted the husband's family name after marriage.[73]
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 amongmatrilinealCanadian aboriginal groups, such as theHaida andGitxsan). 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 theSocial 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 adouble-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.[74]
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).[76]Québec law permits neither spouse to change surnames.[77]
In France, until 1 January 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. Article 311-21 of the FrenchCivil 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.[78] This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by theCouncil 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.[79]
Similar measures were adopted byWest 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.[80]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.[81]Ünal Tekeli v. Turkey challenged prohibitions on women using their surname as the family name, an option only available to men.[82] The Court found all these laws to be in violation of the convention.[83]
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-calledpřechýlení). 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.[84]
Compound surnames in English and several other European cultures feature two (or occasionally more) words, often joined by ahyphen or hyphens. However, it is not unusual for compound surnames to be composed of separate words not linked by a hyphen, for exampleIain Duncan Smith, a former leader of theBritish Conservative Party, whose surname is "Duncan Smith".[citation needed]
In Spain and in mostSpanish-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]
JoséGarcía Torres
MaríaAcosta Gómez
PabloGarcíaAcosta
In some instances, when an individual's first surname is very common, such as for example inJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the second surname tends to gain preeminence over the first one in informal use. Rodríguez Zapatero, therefore is more often called justZapatero and almost neverRodríguez only; in other cases, such as in writerMario 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,[86] 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.[87][88]
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 prepositionde ("of"),del ("of the", when the following word is masculine) orde 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 Reyesde Gómez" as her name (or "Clara Reyes Gómez", or, rarely, "Clara Gómez Reyes". She can be addressed asSra. de Gómez corresponding to "Mrs Gómez"). Feminist activists have criticized this custom[when?] as they consider it sexist.[89][90] 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] inDominican 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, ifRosa María Pérez Martínez marriesJuan Martín De la Cruz Gómez, she will be calledRosa María Pérez Martínez de De la Cruz, and if the husband dies, she will be calledRosa María Pérez Martínez Vda. de De la Cruz (Vda. being the abbreviation forviuda, "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 ofJavier (given name)Reyes (paternal family name)de la Barrera (maternal surname) may have become the new paternal surnameReyes de la Barrera. For example, Uruguayan politicianGuido Manini Rios has inherited a compound surname constructed from the patrilineal and matrilineal surnames of a recent ancestor.De is also thenobiliary 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]
In many places, such as villages in Catalonia,Galicia, andAsturias 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 asCantabria, 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).
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 theSupreme Military Junta ofEcuador, GeneralLuis Telmo Paz y Miño Estrella, hasLuis 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).[69] 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 theEnglish-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 surnamePazmiño, 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 aBasque patronymic, followed by thepreposition "de", with the second part of the surname being a placename from Álava.[citation needed]
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 andAna Luísa de Albuquerque Pereira (Gonçalves) (in case she adopted her husband's name after marriage) would have a child namedLucas Pereira Gonçalves. However, the child may have any other combination of the parents' surnames, according toeuphony, 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). HenceCarlos da Silva Gonçalves might choose to name his first born sonCarlos da Silva Gonçalves Júnior, who in turn might name his first born sonCarlos da Silva Gonçalves Neto, in which case none of the mother's family names are passed on.[citation needed]
Carlosda SilvaGonçalves
Ana Luísade AlbuquerquePereira
LucasPereiraGonçalves
In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used – surnames likeGonçalves ("son ofGonçalo"),Fernandes ("son ofFernando"),Nunes ("son ofNuno"),Soares ("son ofSoeiro"),Sanches ("son ofSancho"),Henriques ("son ofHenrique"),Rodrigues ("son ofRodrigo") 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 the1755 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 1974Carnation 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%).[91] 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
In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surnameSmith, the most common American name.[92]
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.[93]
^abDoll, Cynthia Blevins (1992). "Harmonizing Filial and Parental Rights in Names: Progress, Pitfalls, and Constitutional Problems".Howard Law Journal. Vol. 35. Howard University School of Law. p. 227.ISSN0018-6813.Content available by subscription only. The first page of content is available viaGoogle Scholar.
^Benet Salway, "What's in a Name? A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700", inJournal of Roman Studies, vol. 84, pp. 124–145 (1994).
^Tamás Farkas,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
^Johannes Czakai,Nochems neue Namen: Die Juden Galiziens und der Bukowina und die Einführung deutscher Vor- und Familiennamen 1772-1820, footnote 78 atp 292, referring to Beider
^Nalibow, Kenneth L. (1 June 1973). "The Opposition in Polish of Genus and Sexus in Women's Surnames".Names.21 (2):78–81.doi:10.1179/nam.1973.21.2.78.ISSN0027-7738.
^Makri-Tsilipakou, Marianthi (November 2003). "Greek Diminutive Use Problematized: Gender, Culture and Common Sense".Discourse & Society.14 (6):699–726.doi:10.1177/09579265030146002.S2CID145557628.
^abKelly, 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 inDoherty v. Wizner, Oregon Court of AppealsArchived 4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine (2005)
^Richard H. Thornton,The Controversy Over Children's Surnames: Familial Autonomy, Equal Protection, and the Child's Best Interests, 1979 Utah L Rev 303.
^Risling, Greg (12 January 2007)."Man files lawsuit to take wife's name".The Boston Globe (Boston.com). Los Angeles. Associated Press. Archived fromthe original on 27 January 2007. Retrieved22 September 2008.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.
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)
