Surname

Origin

While the use of given names to identify individuals is attested in the oldest historical records, the advent of surnames is relatively recent.^[6] 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.^[7]

In China, according to legend, family names started with Emperor Fu Xi in 2000 BC.^[8] His administration standardised the naming system to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. Originally, Chinese surnames were derived matrilineally,^[9] although by the time of the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BC) they had become patrilineal.^[9][10] Chinese women do not change their names upon marriage.^[11] In China, surnames have been quite common since at least the 2nd century BC.^[12]

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.^[13]

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.^[14] 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.^[15]

Medieval era and beyond

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.^[16] 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").^[17]

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.^[18]

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.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[19] 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."^[19]

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.^[21] In the late Middle Ages in England, mandatory surnames were resisted as they were associated with taxes.^[22]

Most modern Arabic names consist of a first, middle and surname, but this wasn't always the case. In medieval times some of the most common parts of a name are called: ism (given name), kunya (name relevant to offspring), nasab (name relevant to descent, traced through the patrilineal line), nisba (can be a tribal or geographical name) and laqab (a title or honorific name). Medieval Arabic documents show that Arabic names included multiple words, which did not appear in the same order that names are written in now. The given name was not always the first name, in terms of name order. Most documents from this era do not use the full name of a person. Al-Tabari, a polymath and author is referred to in this way, despite his full name being Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazid al-Tabari. Arabic names include lineage information, sometimes across multiple generations (the father, grandfather and great grandfather).^[23]

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.^[24]

In Breslau Prussia enacted the Hoym Ordinance in 1790, mandating the adoption of Jewish surnames.^[25][26] Napoleon also insisted on Jews adopting fixed names in a decree issued in 1808.^[27]

Names can sometimes be changed to protect individual privacy (such as in witness protection), or in cases where groups of people are escaping persecution.^[28] After arriving in the United States, European Jews who fled Nazi persecution sometimes anglicized their surnames to avoid discrimination.^[29] 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.^[30] In the 1980s, the People's Republic of Bulgaria forcibly changed the first and last names of its Turkish citizens to Bulgarian names.^[31]

Patronymic and matronymic surnames

These are the oldest and most common type of surname.^[32] 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".^[32]

Cognominal surnames

This is the broadest class of surnames, originating from nicknames,^[34] encompassing many types of origin. These include names based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and possibly "Caesar",^[32] 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".^[32][35]

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.^[34]

A considerable group of surname-producing nicknames may be found among ethnonymic surnames.^[36][37]

Ornamental/artificial surnames

Ornamental surnames (also known as artificial surnames^[38][39]) 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, the Rosenkrantz ("rose wreath") family took their surname from a wreath of roses forming the torse of their arms,^[40] and the Gyldenstierne ("golden star") family took theirs from a 7-pointed gold star on their shield.^[41] Ornamental surnames are more common in communities that adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[42] They occur commonly in Scandinavia, and among Sinti and Romani and Eastern Ashkenazi Jews in Germany and Austria.^[32]

Acquired/assigned surnames

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.^[43]

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.^[44][45][46]

Occupational surnames

Occupational names include Smith, Taylor (Tailor), Miller, Farmer, Thatcher, Shepherd, Potter and analogous names in other languages, 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 the name (or modified version) of their employer,^[47] such as by 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,^[48] while Roberts could have been adopted by either the son or the servant of a man named Robert. A Dictionary of English Surnames says that "surnames of office, such as Abbot, Bishop, Cardinal and King, are often nicknames".^[48]

Toponymic surnames

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.^[49]

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",^[35] while "Lucci" means "resident of Lucca".^[32] 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.^[35][42]

Arabic names sometimes contain surnames that denote the city of origin. For example, in cases of Saddam Hussein al Tikriti,^[50] meaning Saddam Hussein originated from Tikrit, a city in Iraq. This component of the name is called a nisbah.

Patronage

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 Saint Brigid of Kildare).^[51][52]

Other

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.^[35][48] 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;^[32] in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.^[32] 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.^[48] In the Russian Empire, illegitimate children were sometimes given artificial surnames rather than the surnames of their adoptive parents.^[53][54]

English

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".^[89]

Chinese

Some Chinese surnames use more than one character though this is very rare.^[90] Compound surnames are becoming more common in urban areas, in China.^[91]

Spanish-speaking countries

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. For example, if José García Torres and María Acosta Gómez had a child named Pablo, then his full name would be Pablo García Acosta.^[92]

In Spain, feminist activism pushed for a law approved in 1999 that allows an adult to change the order of his/her family names,^[93] 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.^[94][95]

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.^[96][97]

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 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).^[72]