Clydelewis.com - Family Name and Surname History

A family name or last name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world. Each culture has its own rules as to how these names are applied and used.

In many cultures (notably most European, North American, and South American countries) the family name is typically the last part of a person's name. In some other cultures, the family name comes first. The latter is often called the Eastern order because Europeans are most familiar with the examples of China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea. Because the family name is normally given last in English-speaking societies, the term last name is commonly used for family name.

Family names are most often used to refer to a stranger or in a formal setting, and are often used with a title or honorific such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Dr., and so on. Generally the given name, Christian 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.

Traditional Arab naming practices indicate familial relationships, but names indicating these relationships are not inherited in the manner that the term family name implies.

The oldest use of family or surnames is unclear. Surnames have arisen in cultures with large, concentrated populations where single names for individuals became insufficient to identify them clearly. In many cultures, the practice of using additional descriptive terms in identifying individuals has arisen. These identifying terms or descriptors may indicate personal attributes, location of origin, occupation, parentage, patronage, adoption, or clan affiliation. Often these descriptors developed into fixed clan identifications which became family names in the sense that we know them today.

In China, according to legend, family names originated with Emperor Fu Xi in 2852 BC. His administration standardised the naming system in order to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. The surnames "Zhu" "Lee" "Chung," and "Chang" are most popular in Taiwan, and/or China. In Japan family names were uncommon except among the aristocracy until the 19th century.

In Ancient Greece, during some periods, it became common to use one's place of origin as a part of a person's official identification. At other times, clan names and patronymics ("son of") were also common. For example, Alexander the Great was known by the clan name Heracles and was, therefore, 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. In none of these cases, though, were these names considered formal parts of the person's name, nor were they explicitly inherited in the manner which is common in many cultures today. They did, however, survive with a vengeance as clan names as 'Greeks' or 'Hellenes' or 'Minoans', as opposed to the toponimic 'The Sea Peoples' used by the Egyptians, or 'Ionians', which is one of the names still used for the Greeks today by Arab-speaking people as 'Younanis'.

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. At the outset, they were not strictly inherited in the way that family names are inherited in many cultures today. Eventually, though, family names began to be used in a manner similar to most modern European societies. With the gradual influence of Greek/Christian culture throughout the Empire, the use of formal family names declined. By the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the Eastern Roman (i.e. Byzantine) 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. 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 in the way that they are today.

In the case of England, the most accepted theory of the origin of family names is to attribute their introduction to the Normans and the Domesday Book of 1086. As such, documents indicate that surnames were first adopted among the feudal nobility and gentry, and only slowly spread to the other sections of society.

During the modern era, many cultures around the world adopted the practice of using family names, particularly for administrative reasons, especially during the imperialistic age of European expansion and particularly from the 17th to 19th centuries onwards. Notably examples include the Netherlands (1811), Japan (1870s), Thailand (1920), and Turkey (1934). Nonetheless, their use is not universal: Icelanders, Tibetans, Burmese, and Javanese do not use family names.

English-speaking countries

In Britain, hereditary surnames were adopted in the 13th and 14th centuries, initially by the aristocracy but eventually by everyone. By 1400, most English and Scottish people had acquired surnames, but many Highland Scots and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or even later.

Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types:

Occupations (e.g., Smith, Sawyer, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Carpenter, Archer, Baker, Dyer, Walker, Woodman, Taylor, Knight)
Personal characteristics (e.g., Short, Brown, Whitehead, Long)
Geographical features (e.g., Hill, Lee, Wood, Fields, Morley’ÄîOld English for m‰çr lŸìah = marsh in the woodland clearing)
Place names (e.g., Washington, London, Hamilton, Sutton, Flint, Laughton)
For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, manor or estate (the name Washington can also fall into this category, Old English components "estate of the descendants of Wassa)
Patronymics, matronymics or ancestral, often from a person's given name (e.g., from male name: Richardson, Williams, Johnson or female names Molson (from Moll for Mary), Madison (from Magdalen or Madeline), Emmott (from Emma), Marriott (from Mary) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., MacDonald, Forbes) with "Mac" Scottish Gaelic for son.
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) or Kilbride (follower of Bridget).

The original meaning of the name may no longer be obvious in modern English (e.g., a Cooper is one who makes barrels, and the name Tillotson is a matronymic from a diminutive for Matilda). A much smaller category of names relates to religion, though some of this category are also occupations. The names Bishop, Priest, or Abbot, for example, may indicate that an ancestor worked for a bishop, a priest, or an abbot, respectively, or possibly took such a role in a popular religious play (see pageant play).

In the Americas, the family names of many African-Americans have their origins in slavery. 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. Others, such as Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, changed their name rather than live with one they believed had been given to their ancestors by a slave owner.

In England and cultures derived from there (though not in Scotland and France, for example), there has long been the patriarchal tradition for a woman to change her surname upon marriage from her birth name (or maiden name) to her husband's last name. From the first known instance of a woman keeping her birth name, Lucy Stone in the 19th century, there has been a general increase in the rate of women keeping their original name. This has gone through periods of flux, however, and the 1990s saw a decline in the percentage of name retention among women. As of 2004, roughly 60% of American women automatically assumed their husband's surname upon getting married.[citation needed] Even in families where the wife has kept her birth name, parents often choose to give their children their father's family name. In English-speaking countries, married women were traditionally known as Mrs [Husband's full name].

In the Middle Ages, when a man from a lower status family married an only daughter from a higher status family, he would often take the wife's family name. In the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, bequests were sometimes made contingent upon a man changing (or hyphenating) his name, so that the name of the testator continued. It is rare but not unknown for English-speaking men to take the name of their wives, whether for personal reasons or as a matter of tradition (such as among Canadian aboriginal groups, especially the matrilineal Haida and Kwakiutl); it is increasingly common in the United States, a married couple may choose a new last name entirely.[citation needed] This has become more widely popular in Southern California since the election of Antonio Villaraigosa as Los Angeles mayor.[citation needed] 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. However, some consider the extra length of the hyphenated names undesirable. A spouse may also opt to use her or his birth name as a middle name; this practice allows the use of different forms in different circumstances: Mrs Smith or Mary Jones Smith. An additional option is the adoption of a last name derived from an aesthetically pleasing combination of the prior names, such as "Simones".

In some jurisdictions, a woman's legal name used to change automatically upon marriage. Although women may now easily choose to change to their married name, that change is no longer a requirement. 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). (Note: many Anglophone countries are also common-law countries.)

Many people choose to change their name when they marry, while others do not. There are many reasons why people maintain their surname. One is that dropped surnames disappear throughout generations, while the adopted surname survives. Another reason is that if a person's surname is well known due to his or her particular family's heritage or prominence, he or she may choose to keep his or her birth surname. Yet another is the identity crisis people may experience when giving up their surname. People in academia, for example, who have previously published articles in academic journals under their birth name often do not change their surname after marriage, in order to ensure that they continue to receive credit for their past and future work. This practice is also common among physicians, attorneys, and other professionals, as well as celebrities for whom continuity is important. Though the practice of women maintaining their surname after marriage is increasing, it has not caught on in the general population. (A possible reason is the difficulty of distinguishing such a married couple from one who is cohabiting without asking them directly, and the associated embarrassment or stigma that may result.) Practices among same-sex married couples do not at this point follow any discernable pattern, with some choosing to share surnames, while others do not.

In Southern Gospel and folk music, families often perform together as groups. When female artists in these genres marry, they usually adopt double-barrelled surnames if the husband comes from a noted musical family as well (e.g. Allison Durham Speer, Kelly Crabb Bowling), or simply continue to go by their birth names if the husband is not from such a family (e.g. Karen Peck, Libbi Perry, Janet Paschal).

Spelling of names in past centuries is often assumed to be a deliberate choice by a family, but due to very low literacy rates, the reality is that many families could not provide the spelling of their surname, and so the scribe, clerk, minister, or official would write down the name on the basis of how it was spoken, or how they heard it. This results in a great many variations, some of which occurred when families moved to another country (e.g. Wagner becoming Wagoner, or Whaley becoming Whealy). With the increase in bureaucracy, officially-recorded spellings tended to become the standard for a given family.

Spanish-speaking countries

In medieval times, a patronymic system similar to the one still used in Iceland emerged. For example, ˆÅlvaro, the son of Rodrigo would be named ˆÅlvaro Rodrˆ‚guez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodrˆ‚guez, but Juan ˆÅlvarez. 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 ("tan"); occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller") and Guerrero ("warrior"); and geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemˆ°n ("German").

However, nowadays in Spain and in many Spanish-speaking countries (former Spanish colonies, e.g. Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela), most people have two family names, although in some situations only the first is used. The first family name is the paternal one, inherited from the father's paternal family name. The second family name is the maternal one, inherited from the mother's paternal family name. (As an example, Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera's full name is Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia, though Barrera is the only one used in general conversation.) 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 agree (if one of their children is at least 12 years old they need his/her agreement too). (Link in Spanish)

Depending on the country, the family names may or may not be linked by the conjunction y ("and"), i ("and", in Catalonia), de ("of") and de la ("of the", when the following word is feminine). However, in many South American countries, people have now adopted the English-speaking custom of having a single family name (e.g., in Argentina). Sometimes a new father transmits his complete family name by creating a new one, combining his two family names, e.g., the paternal surname of the son of Javier (given name) Reyes (paternal family name) de la

At present in Spain, women upon marrying keep their two family names. In certain rare situations, especially the nobility, she may be addressed as if her maternal surname had been replaced with her husband's paternal surname, often linked with de. For example, a woman named Ana Garcˆ‚a Dˆ‚az, upon marrying Juan Guerrero Macˆ‚as, could be called Ana Garcˆ‚a de Guerrero. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Panama. In Mexico, when women get married they keep their first family name followed by "de" and then the housband's last name. For example Maria Martinez Lopez when married to Josue Vasquez Hernandez would then be Maria Martinez de Vasquez. In Peru and Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all family names after getting married. For example, if Rosa Marˆ‚a Pˆ©rez Mˆ°rtinez marries Juan Martˆ‚n De La Cruz Gˆ„mez, she will be called Rosa Marˆ‚a Pˆ©rez Mˆ°rtinez de De La Cruz, and if the husband dies, she will be called Rosa Marˆ‚a Pˆ©rez Mˆ°rtinez Vda. de De La Cruz (Vda. is the abbreviation for Viuda, "widow" in Spanish). In Ecuador, a couple can choose the order of their children's surnames. Most choose the traditional order (e.g., Guerrero Garcˆ‚a in the example above), but some invert the order, putting the mother's paternal surname first and the father's paternal surname last (e.g., Garcˆ‚a Guerrero from the example above). Such inversion, if chosen, must be maintained for all the children.

In Argentina only one family name, the father's paternal family name, is commonly used and registered, as in English-speaking countries (the real reason why many Argentinians [but by no means all, a large proportion of them use two as per Spanish usage] use one last name is because a large proportion of the dominant class come from Italian ascent, and therefore follow the conventions of these country). Women, however, do not change their family names upon marriage and continue to use their birth family names instead of their husband's family names.

German-speaking countries

There are about 1,000,000[citation needed] different family names in German. German family names most often derive from given names, occupational designations, bodily attributes or geographical names. Hyphenations notwithstanding, they mostly consist of a single word; in those rare cases where the family name is linked to the given names by particles such as von or zu, they usually indicate noble ancestry. Not all noble families used these names (see Riedesel), while some farm families, particularly in Westphalia, used the particle von or zu followed by their farm or former farm's name as a family name (see Meyer zu Erpen).

Family names in German-speaking countries are usually positioned last, after all given names. There are exceptions, however: In parts of Austria and the Alemannic-speaking areas, the family name is regularly put in front of the first given name. Also in many - especially rural - parts of Germany, to emphasize family affiliation there is often an inversion in colloquial use, in which the family name becomes a possessive: Rˆºters Erich, for example, would be Erich of the Rˆºter family.

In Germany today, upon marriage, both partners can choose to keep their birth name or one of them can adopt a hyphenated name of their birth names (the latter case is forbidden for both partners and for the last names of children), or one of them can switch to their partner's name (if the partner keeps it). After that, they must decide on one family name for all their future children, by pretty much the same rules. (German name) Changing one's family name for reasons other than marriage, divorce or adoption is only possible in Germany if the applicant can prove that they suffer extraordinarily due to their name.

Portuguese-speaking countries

In the case of Portuguese naming customs, the main surname (the one used in alphasorting, indexing, abbreviations, and greetings), appears last (reverse the order of Spanish surnames).

Each person usually has two family names: the first is the maternal family name; the last is the paternal family name. A person can have up to six names (two first names and four surnames ’Äî he or she may have two names from the mother and two from the father).

In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used ’Äî surnames like Gonˆßalves ("son of Gonˆßalo"), Fernandes ("son of Fernando"), Nunes ("son of Nuno"), Soares ("son of Soeiro"), Sanches ("son of Sancho"), Henriques ("son of Henrique") which along with many others are still in regular use as very prevalent family names.

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