Misplaced Pages

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Polish. (March 2024) Click for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 428 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Polish Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|pl|Nazwisko patronimiczne}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.

A patronymic surname is a surname originated from the given name of the father or a patrilineal ancestor. Different cultures have different ways of producing patronymic surnames.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, men are identified by their lineage through use of their father's first (and only) name.

Last names were ‘normalized’ and became more standardized with the advent of mass literacy, paper availability and documentation, and mobility. For example, passports vs early letters of introduction for travel.

For example, early patronymic Welsh surnames were the result of the Anglicizing of the historical Welsh naming system, which sometimes had included references to several generations: e.g., Llywelyn ap Gruffydd ap Morgan (Llywelyn son of Gruffydd son of Morgan), and which gave rise to the quip, "as long as a Welshman's pedigree."

As an example of Anglicization, the name Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was turned into Llywelyn Gruffydds; i.e., the "ap" meaning "son of" was replaced by the genitive suffix "-s", but there are other cases like "ab Evan" being turned into "Bevan". Some Welsh surnames, such as John or Howell, did not acquire the suffix "-s." In some other cases, the suffix was affixed to the surname much later, in the 18th or 19th century. Likewise, in some cases, the "ap" coalesced into the name in some form, as in Broderick (ab Rhydderch), Price (ap Rhys) and Upjohn (ap John).

Similarly, last names or surnames were not set in Russia, but patronymic and based on a father's first name.

Peter's children might be Jan and Roman Petrovich. Peter's grand children could be Aleksandr Janowicz and Ivan Romanowicz/ Romanovich. Peter's great grandchildren could be Nicolai Aleksandrovich and Dmitri Ivanovich.

Nearly all Icelandic surnames are strictly patronymic, or in some cases matronymic, as Icelandic society generally does not make use of hereditary family names. A similar situation could, until relatively recently, be found in the continental Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, where hereditary family names came into widespread use for the general population during the course of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, ultimately as a consequence of legislation. As the outcome of this, a large majority of Scandinavian family names originated as the patronymics borne by the heads of family at the times when these laws came into effect, and these surnames mostly display a limited variety reflecting the popularity of male given names during the 18th and 19th centuries in those countries. Most Mauritanian surnames are also patronymic, with names consisting of "Ould" or "Mint" followed by the ancestor's name or names.

Heraldry, like early pictographs, logos or icons, also helped designate families across much of Europe. People working for a landowner, or living in an area might adopt the same crest, especially when landowners had to provide troops to their nation or king for battle.

Scottish clans and tartans served as family or area identifiers.

Of note, some Asian countries list family name first, most adapt to given plus family standard when abroad. Whereas, some Latino countries add mother's family name at the end.

See also

• List of family name affixes
• Matrilineality
• Matriname
• Matronymic
• Patrilineality
• Toponymic surname

References

1. David Hey (2006). Family Names and Family History, pp.92–93. ISBN 1852855509.
2. Charles P. G. Scott, "English words which have gained or lost and initial consonant by attraction", Transactions of the American Phililogical Society, vol. 25, pp. 82–139 (esp. pp. 91–106).
3. P. H. Reaney, Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed., Routledge, 1991, pp. 462, 3213.

This onomastics-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Patronymic surnames
• Surname
• Linguistics stubs