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A family name, surname, last name, patronymic, or metronymic, is the part of a personal name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is currently 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 many other cultures, however, the family name comes first. This order is often called the Personal name#Name 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.

Generally the given name, Christian name, first name, forename, or personal name is the one used by friends, family, and other intimates to address the individual. It may also be used by someone who is in some way senior to the person being addressed. 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, Dr, and so on.

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

Overview The word surname is name Prefix (linguistics)ed by the French word sur (meaning "on"), which derives from Latin super ("over" or "above"), meaning "additional name." As early as the 14th century it was also found spelled as sirname or sirename (suggesting that it meant "man's name" or "father's name") due to folk etymology. In the infancy of surname adoption or bestowal in many Western European cultures, the surname was given first as a nickname or sobriquet which may or may not have become hereditary. The modern French word surnom meaning nickname reflects this older meaning as applied to the English-language word, surname.

The use of family names varies among cultures. In particular, Icelanders, Tibetan peoples, Bamar, and Javanese often do not use a family name — well-known people lacking a family name include U Thant (Burmese), Suharto and Sukarno (see Indonesian names), and Dilber (Uyghur, a Turkic language). Also, many royal family do not use family names.

In some cultures, a woman's family name traditionally changes upon marriage, although few countries mandate such a change. Other modern options include combining both family names, changing neither name, or creating a new name, e.g. combining letters of previous surnames or creating a pseudonym unrelated to the previous surnames.

In the 19th century, Francis Galton published a statistical study of the extinction of family names. (See Galton-Watson process for an account of some of the mathematics.)

In English language-, Dutch language-, German language-, French language- and Scandinavian languages-speaking countries, people often have two or more given names, and the family name goes at the end. (Occasionally a surname is called the "second name", which can be confused with a middle name.) In Spain and Hispanic areas, people have one or more given names and two family names, one from the father and one from the mother. In Italy, people may have one or more given names, no middle name or names, and a family name. In the Portuguese language-speaking countries, people can have one or two given names and from one up to four family names taken from the father and/or from the mother.

Surnames are often derived from the towns or villages that people lived in, particularly when they settled elsewhere but were known to have originated in a place whose name they were given.

Research on individual names Onomastics is the study of proper names of all kinds, including family names. A one-name study is a collection of vital and other biographical data about all persons worldwide sharing a particular surname. The Guild of One-Name Studies is a major UK-based organization in this field.

History The oldest use of family or surnames is unclear. Surnames have arisen in cultures with large, concentrated populations where single names for individuals become 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 originate with Emperor Fu Xi in 2852 BC.Serena Seng, The Origin of Chinese Surnames, Genealogy, About.com His administration standardised the naming system in order to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. The surnames; "Chu" "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.Ancient Names - Greek and Roman Names, Ancient / Classical History, About.comAt 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 customs surrounding the bestowal and use of clan and family names became very regularised. 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/Christianity culture throughout the Empire, the use of formal family names declined.Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era, The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., retrieved May 20, 2007

By the time of the Decline of the Roman Empire of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the Eastern Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantine) Empire. In Western Europe where Germanic peoples 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.

Note that in the case of the English, the most accepted theory of the origin of family names in England is to attribute the influence for 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, especially during the imperialistic age of European expansion and particularly from the 17th century to 19th century onwards. Nonetheless, their use is not yet univeral. There remain some cultures that do not employ them.

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

Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types:

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 metronymic 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 else 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 women to change their surname upon marriage from their birth name (or maiden name) to their 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. 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 full name. This practice is now largely outmoded and has been replaced by a title of Mrs first name surname. It survives mostly in very formal instances or among older people.

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. Although it is rare for English-speaking men to take the name of their wives, some men still choose to do so (such as among Canadian aboriginal groups) or, as is increasingly common in the United States, a married couple may choose a new last name entirely.

As an alternative, both the husband and wife 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 wife may also opt to use her maiden name for her middle name, giving her the option of referring to herself as either Mrs Smith or Mary Jones Smith. An additional option is where the spouses adopt 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 women choose to change their name when they marry, while others do not. There are many reasons why women maintain their surname. One is that the female surname disappears throughout generations, while the male surname survives. By keeping their surname and passing that name down to the next generation, the female surname (and its heritage) may also survive. Another reason is that if a women's surname is well known due to her particular family's heritage or prominence, she may choose to keep her surname. Yet another is the identity crisis women may experience when giving up their surname. Women in academia, for example, who have previously published articles in academic journals under their maiden 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 female 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 due to the difficulty of distinguishing such a married couple from one who is cohabitation without asking them directly, and the associated embarrassment or stigma that may result.

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. 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, Álvaro, the son of Rodrigo would be named Álvaro Rodríguez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodríguez, but Juan Álvarez. Over time, many of these patronymics became family names and are some of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world. Other sources of surnames are personal appearance or habit, e.g. Delgado ("thin") and Moreno ("tan"); occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller") and Guerrero ("warrior"); and geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemán ("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 surnames, although in some situations only the first is used. The first surname is the paternal one, inherited from the father's paternal surname. The second surname is the maternal one, inherited from the mother's paternal surname. (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 surnames, and parents can also change the order of their children's surnames 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 surnames 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 surname (e.g., in Argentina). Sometimes a new father transmits his complete surname by creating a new one, combining his two surnames, e.g., the paternal surname of the son of Javier (given name) Reyes (paternal surname) de la Barrera (maternal surname) may become the new paternal surname Reyes de la Barrera.

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 García Díaz, upon marrying Juan Guerrero Macías, could be called Ana García de Guerrero. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity in Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Panama. In Peru and Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all last names after getting married. For example, if Rosa María Pérez Mártinez marries Juan Martín De La Cruz Gómez, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Mártinez de De La Cruz, and if the husband passes away, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Mártinez 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 García 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., García Guerrero from the example above). Such inversion, if chosen, must be maintained for all the children.

In Argentina only one surname, the father's paternal surname, is commonly used and registered, as in English-Speaking countries. Women, however, do not change their surname upon marriage and continue to use their maiden name instead of their husband's last name.

French-speaking countries French-speaking countries have many similarities to English-speaking ones in the way family names are used. In France and the Canada province of Quebec, name change upon marriage is no longer automatic. Those who wish to change their name upon marriage must follow the same legal procedure as would be used under any other circumstance.

In France, until January 1, 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. From this date, article 311-21 of the French Civil code permits parents to give their children either the name of their father, mother, or a hyphenation of both - although no more than two names can be hyphenated. In cases of disagreement, the father's name applies . This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by the Council of Europe requiring member governments to take measures to adopt equality of rights in the transmission of family names, a measure that was echoed by the United Nations in 1979. Similar measures were adopted by Germany (1976), Sweden (1982), Denmark (1983) and Spain (1999).

Furthermore, in Canada, up until the late 1960s, children of Roman Catholic origin were given three names at birth (usually not hyphenated): the first, Marie or Joseph, usually indicated the gender of the child. The second was usually the name of the Godparent or Godparent, while the third and last given name was the name used in everyday situations. Thus, a child prenamed Joseph Bruno Jean on his birth or baptismal certificate would indicate the baby to be a boy, the godfather's first name to be Bruno and that the child would be called Jean (and not Joseph) for all intents and purposes of everyday life. This naming convention was in the most part dropped following the Quiet Revolution (late 1960s), and is now seen much more rarely. Currently, most couples give the child the surname of the father, though the Quebec civil code allows a couple to combine at most two of their surnames, with or without hyphens. Thus a couple named Joseph Bouchard-Tremblay and Marie Dion-Roy could give to their children the surnames Bouchard, Tremblay, Dion, Roy, Bouchard-Tremblay, Dion-Roy, Bouchard-Dion, Bouchard-Roy, etc. Until the late 1800s, several families also had a "nom-dit" tradition. This was a family nickname (literally a "said name"). The origins of the noms-dits were various. Some noms-dits were the war-name of the first settler, while he was a soldier: Hébert dit Jolicoeur (Pretty Heart, cf. Braveheart), Thomas dit Tranchemontagne (mountain chopper). Some denoted the place of origin of the first settler: Langevin (Anjou), Barbeau dit Poitevin (Poitou). Others probably denoted a characteristic of the person or of his dwelling: Lacourse, Lépine, Larivière.

According to some estimations, there would be some 900,000 surnames in France (not all of French origin). For French family names among the Walloons and other francophones of Belgium, see #Belgium.

German-speaking countries There are about 1,000,000 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 nobility 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 German 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: Rüters Erich, for example, would be Erich of the Rüter 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.

The Netherlands Many Dutch language family names start with an independent prefix ("tussenvoegsel") like van ("of"), de or het ("the"), der, van de or van der ("of the"), and in het ("in the"). Examples are De Groot ("the great"), Van Weert ("of the city Weert"). Many such Dutch surnames originated from referrals to cities and other geographical locations. Surname registration started with the French occupation by Napoleon (1811). Some Dutch people, convinced that this convention would only be temporary, deliberately chose comical or confusing surnames, such as Rotmensen (meaning "rotten people"), Poepjes ("poops" or "farts"), Naaktgeboren ("born naked"), or Zeldenthuis ("seldom home" or "rarely at home").

The Dutch people settlers in South Africa also influenced the language and names. Consequently, surnames like van der Merwe, van Biljon, etc. are common amongst people of that descent.

Belgium Since Belgium has three national languages — Flemish, French and German — Belgian names are similar to those in the neighbouring countries: the Netherlands, France and Germany. Thanks to this multiculturalism, Belgium has one of the highest number of surnames in the world (no less than 190,000 at the last count), and certainly the highest per capita ratio, about 1 family name for 53 people. Place names (regions, towns, villages, hamlets) with a particle meaning "from" (de in French, or van in Flemish) are the most numerous. An uncapitalised particle sometimes indicates nobility.

Some differences exist between names in Belgium and in neighbouring countries: for example, Flemish names commonly have prefixes as mentioned #Dutch-speaking countries, except that these usually start with a capital letter, and are often written connected to the main word. Thus, de Bakker and van der Steen are probably Dutch while De Bakker and Vandersteen are Belgian Flemish. (Note: This distinction may have faded in surnames of Americans of Dutch or Belgian Flemish heritage.) The most common Flemish surnames in Belgium are Peeters, Janssens, Maes, Jacobs, Willems, Mertens, Claes, Wouters, Goossens, and De Smet. Dutch language or Flemish language surnames in Belgium tend to resemble first names more often than in the Netherlands, e.g. the following first names relate to above surnames: e.g. Peter, Jan, Jacob, Willem, Maarten, Klaas, and Wouter. The trailing s reportedly once meant "son of", so Willems would be "Willem's son". Furthermore older or historically different regional spellings remain visible in many names, e.g. usage of c instead of k and ae instead of aa (compare Claes with Klaas).

The twenty most common #French-speaking countries surnames in Belgium are respectively Dubois, Lambert, Dupont, Martin, Dumont, Leroy, Leclercq, Simon, Laurent, François, Denis, Renard, Thomas, Lejeune, Gérard, Petit, Mathieu, Lemaire, Charlier, and Bertrand. Sources

Indonesia Indonesians are composed of more than 300 ethnic groups. Not all of these groups have the tradition of having surnames. Nonetheless, Indonesians are well-aware of the custom family names, which is known as "Marga", or "Fam" acronym by Family Name and it became a specific kind of identifier. People can tell what a person's heritage is by their surname.













There is a significant number of Java (island) people in Indonesia (in fact they are the majority), and most (not all) of Javanese people do not have any surname. There are many individuals who have only singular name like "Suharto" and "Sukarno". These are not only common with the Javanese but also with ethnic groups who do not have the tradition of surnames. If, however, they are Muslims, they might opt to use the pattern of Muslim names which includes the name of the parent (father).

Ireland Many surnames in Ireland of Irish language origin derive from ancestors' names, nicknames, or descriptive names. In the first group can be placed surnames such as McMurrough and McCarthy, derived from patronymics, or O'Brien and O'Grady, derived from ancestral names.

Gaelic surnames derived from nicknames include Dowd (from Aedh ua Dubhda - Aedh (pronounced Hugh), the dark one), O'Doherty (from dochartaigh, "destroyer" or "obtrusive"), Garvery (garbh, "rough" or "nasty"), Manton (mantach, "toothless"), Bane (bán, "white", as in "white hair"), Finn (fionn, "fair", as in "fair hair"), and Kennedy (cinnéide, "ugly head").

In contrast to England, very few Gaelic surnames are derived from placenames or venerated people/objects. Among those that are included in this small group, several can be shown to be derivations of Gaelic personal names or surnames. One notable exception is O'Cuilleain or O'Collins (from cuileann, "Holly") as in the Holly Tree, considered one of the most sacred objects of pre-Christian Celtic culture. Another is Walsh (irish language: Breatnach), meaning Welsh people.

In areas where certain family names are extremely common, extra names are added that sometimes follow this archaic pattern. In Ireland, for example, where Murphy is an exceedingly common name, particular Murphy families or extended families are nicknamed, so that Denis Murphy's family were called The Weavers and Denis himself was called Denis "The Weaver" Murphy. (See also O'Hay.)

For much the same reason, nicknames (e.g. the Fada Burkes, "the long/tall Burkes"), father's names (e.g. John Morrissey Ned) or mother's maiden name (Kennedy becoming Kennedy-Lydon) can become colloquial or legal surnames. The Irish family of de Courcy Ireland became so-named to distinguish them from their cousins who moved to France in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In addition to all this, Irish speaking areas still follow the old tradition of naming themselves after their father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on. Examples include Mike Bartly Pat Reilly ("Mike, son of Bartholomew, son of Pat Reilly"), John Michel John Oge Pat Breanach ("John, son of Michael, son of young John, son of Pat Breanach"), Tom Paddy-Joe Seoige ("Tom, son of Paddy-Joe Seoige"), and Mary Bartly Mike Walsh ("Mary, daughter of Bartly, son of Mike Walsh"). Sometimes, the female line of the family is used, depending on how well the parent is known in the area the person resides, e.g. Paddy Mary John ("Paddy, son of Mary, daughter of John"). A similar tradition continues even in English-speaking areas, especially in rural districts.

Some Irish surnames can be mistaken for non-Irish. Anglicization of many surnames has been so thorough that bona-fide Irish names such as Crockwell and Harrington appear to be English. Other Irish names can appear to be German (Bruder), Italian (Costello), or even Polish (Comiskey).

Irish surname prefixes

Italy Italy has around 350,000 surnames. Italy names are mostly derived from Latin, but since the Italian city-states and modern Italy have always experienced extensive contacts with foreign powers and travellers, many surnames are of Spanish, French, German, Norman or Swiss origin. Beginning in the 14th century, it became necessary to add a second name to distinguish between individuals with the same surname.

Italian surnames are generally easy to recognize because most end in a vowel, like nearly all words in Italian language, and many of them have been derived from descriptive nicknames.

Italian surnames developed in the most part from four sources: patronym (e.g. Francesco di Marco, "Francis, son of Mark"), occupation (e.g. Giovanni Ferrari, "John the Smith"), personal characteristic (e.g. nicknames or pet names like Dario Forte, "Darius the Strong"), origin (e.g. Eduardo de Filippo, "Edward belonging to the family of Philip") and geographic origin (e.g. Elisabetta Romano, "Elisabeth from Rome"), objects (e.g. Carlo Sacchi, "Charles Bags").

Few family names are still in the original Latin, and usually they indicate from or with pretensions to antiquity, e.g. Santorum or de Laurentiis. Despite notions of this indicating nobility, it actually reflects that the family name has been preserved from Medieval Latin sources as a part of their business or household documentation or church records.

Usually, family names are written after any given name in most uses. However, the surname is written before given names when used in many official documents (for example, Giovanni Fabbri may be referred to Fabbri Giovanni in official documents). In speech, the use of given name first, family name last is standard.

The women, when married, conserve their surname, but they can be addressed with the surname of the husband, especially when widow; sometimes both surnames are written (the proper first), usually separated by in (e.g. Giuseppina Mauri in Crivelli).

In a new proposal of law, the son can be given the surname of the mother rather than the usual father's.

Greece Greek surnames are most commonly patronymics. Occupation, characteristic or ethnic background and location/origin-based surnames names also occur; they are sometimes supplemented by nicknames.

Commonly, Greek male surnames end in -s, which is the common ending for Greek masculine proper nouns in the nominative case. Exceptionally, some end in -ou, indicating the genitive case of this proper noun for patronymic reasons. Although surnames are static today, dynamic and changing patronym usage survives in middle names in Greece where the genitive of father's first name is commonly the middle name.

Female surnames, are most often in the genitive case of a male name. In the past, women would change their surname when married, to that of their husband (again in genitive case) signifying the transfer of "dependence" from the father to the husband. Nowadays, women are forced to keep their paternal surname by law (or in very rare cases where this is agreed by the parents before marriage, the maternal); however quite paradoxically, the genitive case is still kept, signifying (mostly unintentionally due to tradition) that dependence (or the dependence to their mother's father in the other case). The husband's surname can only be used unofficially, mainly for social reasons.

Some surnames are prefixed with papa-, indicating ancestry from a priest. Archi- and mastro- signify "boss" and "tradesman" respectively. Prefixes such as konto-, makro-, and chondro-, describe body characteristics, such as "short", "tall/long" and "fat". "Gero-" and "palaio-" signify "old" or "wise". Other prefixes include hajji- which was an honorific deriving from the Arabic Hadj or pilgrimage, and indicate that the person had made a pilgrimage (in the case of Christians to Jerusalem) and Kara- the Turkish word for "black" deriving from the Ottoman Empire era.

Arvanitic surnames are also common, mostly starting with the prefix -Tz. Old Arvanitic pronnounciation made the letters "c" and "k" to sound like -tz. For example, the arvanitic word for soldier or man-at-arms being "canavar" or its shortened form "cavar" was pronnounced "tzanavar" or "tzavar" giving birth to traditional Arvanitic family names like "Tzanavaras" and "Tzavaras". Some scholars state that this is also common in Cretan familynames in continental Greece: "Kalikakis" being turned to "Kalitzakis", "Glinakis" to "Glinatzis", "Kalakis" to "Kalatzis", "Souvakis" to "Souvatzis" and so on. What is still a debate if it is either an influence from Arvanitika to Greek language or just from tradiditional Cretan dialect to Arvanitika through settlers in the mainland.

However the most common Hellenic patronymic suffixes are -poulos/-poulou (From Peloponessus, a suffix which means "the little", representing "the son of ..." i.e. "Michalopoulos", the "son of Michael" or "Papadopoulos", the "son of the priest"); -idis-ides/-idou and -iadis/-iadou (Very ancient last names and clan forms used in the Pontus and Asia Minor regions) and -akis/-aki (Mainly from Crete and the Aegean Sea islands), a diminutive suffix signifying "little" and thought to derive from the time of the Turkish occupation, therefore "Theodorakis" being "little Theodore".

Others, less common are -atos/-atou (From Cephallonia under strong Italian language influence); -as/-a (From Macedonia (Greece) and Epirus); -ellis/-elli (From Lesbos Island); -akos/-akou (From Mani Peninsula in the Laconia region); -eas/-ea (From Mani Peninsula in the Messinia region); -oglou (both genres, a Turkish root ending seen in immigrants from Asia Minor meaning "son of", i.e. Sarafoglou, "the son of Sarafis"), and -ou (From Cyprus).

The suffix -idis is the oldest in use and survives from ancient times sometimes form Greeks originating in Asia Minor (often transliterated -ides). Zeus, for example was also referred to as Cronides ("son of Cronus").

==Iranian/Persian== Persian personal names may have single or multiple surname elements and appear on title pages as follows:

Affixes are:

i, ian, abadi, boo, di, dust, fard, far, ju, iya, niya, nizhad, par, parast, pour, rad, vand, vard, yar, zadeh, zad, zand

Some common Persian last names are:Milani, Ariani, Azria, Ghasemi, Kiani, Ovesi, Talebi, Motallebzadeh, Rezaei, Rouzrokh, Nalbandian, Souriani, Aghasi, Anvari, Gharani, Sarafpour, Bahrami, Tehrani, Yazdani, Zahedi, Zandi, Farahani, Esfahani, Bahari, Shirazi, Kiyanfar, Niyazfar, Omidifar, Feiz, Mirzapour, Zandipour, Amanpour, Rastinpour, Gharibpour, Soltanzadeh, Mehranzadeh, Alizadeh, Rajaei, Afsar, Bakhtiari, Teymourian, Karimi, Kianian, Firozi and Elmi.

Most, but not all last names that end in "ian" and sometimes "yan" are traditionally Persian last names. Armenian last names can also contain ian, but does not mean that they have to be Persian.

In the old traditional Persian culture the wife did not take on the husband's surname. Although she kept her name, her husband's surname was used when she was referred to or addressed directly in a formal setting.

Kurdish The majority of Kurds do not hold Kurdish names because the names have been banned in the countries they primarily live in (namely Iran, Turkey and Syria). Kurds in these respective countries tend to hold Turkish, Persian or Arabic names, in the majority of cases, forcefully appointed by the ruling governments.http://ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/docs/12/YASA_Kurdish_Centre_for_Legal_Studies_Consultancy.doc Others hold Arabic names as a result of the influence of Islam and Arab culture.

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

Common affixes of authentic Kurdish names are "i" and "zade".

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

Traditionally, Kurdish women did not inherit a man's last name. Although still not in practice by many Kurds, this can be more commonly found today.

Portugal and Brazil In the case of Portugal 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 — he or she may have two names from the mother and two from the father).

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

Brazilians usually call people only by their given names, omitting family names, even in many formal situations (as in the press referring to authorities, e.g. "President Fernando Henrique", never President Cardoso). When formality or a prefix requires a family name, the given name usually precedes the surname, e.g. João Santos, or Sr. João Santos.

The Philippines Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no standardization of surnames in the Philippines. There were native Filipinos without surnames, others whose surnames deliberately did not match that of their families, as well as those who took certain surnames simply because they had a certain prestige, usually ones dealing with the Roman Catholic religion, such as de los Santos and de la Cruz.

In 1849, Governor-general Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed an end to these arbitrary practices, the result of which was the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos ("Alphabetical Inventory of Surnames"). The book contained many words coming from Spanish and the Philippine languages such as Tagalog and many Basque surnames, such as Zuloaga or Aguirre.

In practice, the application of this decree varied from municipality to municipality. Some municipalities received only surnames starting with a particular letter. For example, the majority of residents of the island of Banton in the province of Romblon have surnames starting with F such as Fabicon, Fallarme, Fadrilan, and Ferran. Thus, although there perhaps a majority of Filipinos have Spanish surnames, such a surname does not always indicate Spanish ancestry.

The vast majority of Filipinos follow a naming system which is the reverse of the Spanish one. Children take the mother's surname as their middle name, followed by their father's as their surname; for example, a son of Juan de la Cruz and his wife Maria Agbayani may be David Agbayani de la Cruz. Women take the surnames of their husband upon marriage; so upon her marriage to David de la Cruz, the full name of Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg would become Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg de la Cruz.

There are other sources for surnames. Many Filipinos also have Chinese-derived surnames, which in some cases could indicate Chinese ancestry. Many Hispanicised Chinese numerals and other Hispanicised Chinese words, however, were also among the surnames in the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos. For those whose surname may indicate Chinese ancestry, analysis of the surname may help to pinpoint when those ancestors arrived in the Philippines. A hispanicised Chinese surname such as Cojuangco suggests an 18th-century arrival while a Chinese surname such as Lim suggests a relatively recent immigration. Some Chinese surnames such as Tiu-Laurel are composed of the immigrant Chinese ancestor's surname as well as the name of that ancestor's godparent on receiving Christian baptism.

In the predominantly Muslim areas of the southern Philippines, adoption of surnames was influenced by connexions to that religion, its holy places, and prophets. As a result, surnames among Filipino Muslims are largely Arabic-based, and include such surnames as Hassan and Haradji.

There are also Filipinos who, to this day, have no surnames at all, particularly if they come from rural tribes.

Unique Spanish Surnames in the Philippines Examples of this, are the surnames Baltero Cruz (which means "balt cross"), Orante, Escribano (means actuary), Ronquillo, and Damasco (means apricot).

Prior to the establishment of the Philippines as a US territory during the earlier part of the 20th century, Filipinos usually followed Iberian naming customs. However, upon the promulgation of the Family Code of 1987, Filipinos begin to adopt the American system of using their surnames.

A common Filipino name will consist of the given name (mostly 2 given names are given), the initial letter of the mother's maiden name and finally the father's surname (i.e. Lucy Anne C. de Guzman). Also, women are allowed to retain their maiden name or use both her and her husband's surname, separated by a dash. This is common in feminist circles or when the woman hold a prominent office (e.g. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mirriam Defensor-Santiago). In more traditional circles, especially those who belong to the prominent families in the provinces, the custom of the woman being addressed as Mrs. Husband's Full Name is still common.

For widows, who chose to marry again, two norms are in existence. For those who were widowed before the Family Code, the full name of the woman remains while the surname of the deceased husband is attached. That is, Maria Andres, who was widowed by Ignacio Dimaculangan will have the name Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan. If she chooses to marry again, this name will still continue to exist while the surname of the new husband is attached. That, if Maria marries Rene de los Santos, her new name will be Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan de los Santos.

However, a new norm is also in existence. The woman may choose to use her husband's surname to be one of her middle names. Thus, Maria Andres vuida de Dimaculangan de los Santos may also be called Maria A.D. de los Santos.

Children will however automatically inherit their father's surname if they are considered legitimate. If the child is born outside wedlock, the mother will automatically pass her surname to the child, unless the father gives a written aknowledgment of paternity. The Father may also choose to give the child both his parents' surnames if he wishes (that is Gustavo Paredes, whose parents are Eulogio Paredes and Juliana Angeles, while having Maria Solis as a wife, may name his child Kevin S. Angeles-Paredes.

In some Tagalog regions, the norm of giving patronyms, or in some cases matronyms, are also accepted. These names are of course not official, since surnames in the Philippines are inherited. It is not uncommon to refer to someone as Juan anak ni Pablo (John, the Son of Pablo) or even Juan apo ni Teofilo (John, the grandson of Theophilus).

Malta Due to different cultures that had their impacts on the Maltese archipelago, several surnames where acquired.

Arabic surnames are the most common, due to the long presence of Arabs in Malta. Examples include Sammut, Zammit, A family name, surname, last name, patronymic, or metronymic, is the part of a personal name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is currently 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 many other cultures, however, the family name comes first. This order is often called the Personal name#Name 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.

Generally the given name, Christian name, first name, forename, or personal name is the one used by friends, family, and other intimates to address the individual. It may also be used by someone who is in some way senior to the person being addressed. 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, Dr, and so on.

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

Overview The word surname is name Prefix (linguistics)ed by the French word sur (meaning "on"), which derives from Latin super ("over" or "above"), meaning "additional name." As early as the 14th century it was also found spelled as sirname or sirename (suggesting that it meant "man's name" or "father's name") due to folk etymology. In the infancy of surname adoption or bestowal in many Western European cultures, the surname was given first as a nickname or sobriquet which may or may not have become hereditary. The modern French word surnom meaning nickname reflects this older meaning as applied to the English-language word, surname.

The use of family names varies among cultures. In particular, Icelanders, Tibetan peoples, Bamar, and Javanese often do not use a family name — well-known people lacking a family name include U Thant (Burmese), Suharto and Sukarno (see Indonesian names), and Dilber (Uyghur, a Turkic language). Also, many royal family do not use family names.

In some cultures, a woman's family name traditionally changes upon marriage, although few countries mandate such a change. Other modern options include combining both family names, changing neither name, or creating a new name, e.g. combining letters of previous surnames or creating a pseudonym unrelated to the previous surnames.

In the 19th century, Francis Galton published a statistical study of the extinction of family names. (See Galton-Watson process for an account of some of the mathematics.)

In English language-, Dutch language-, German language-, French language- and Scandinavian languages-speaking countries, people often have two or more given names, and the family name goes at the end. (Occasionally a surname is called the "second name", which can be confused with a middle name.) In Spain and Hispanic areas, people have one or more given names and two family names, one from the father and one from the mother. In Italy, people may have one or more given names, no middle name or names, and a family name. In the Portuguese language-speaking countries, people can have one or two given names and from one up to four family names taken from the father and/or from the mother.

Surnames are often derived from the towns or villages that people lived in, particularly when they settled elsewhere but were known to have originated in a place whose name they were given.

Research on individual names Onomastics is the study of proper names of all kinds, including family names. A one-name study is a collection of vital and other biographical data about all persons worldwide sharing a particular surname. The Guild of One-Name Studies is a major UK-based organization in this field.

History The oldest use of family or surnames is unclear. Surnames have arisen in cultures with large, concentrated populations where single names for individuals become 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 originate with Emperor Fu Xi in 2852 BC.Serena Seng, The Origin of Chinese Surnames, Genealogy, About.com His administration standardised the naming system in order to facilitate census-taking, and the use of census information. The surnames; "Chu" "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.Ancient Names - Greek and Roman Names, Ancient / Classical History, About.comAt 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 customs surrounding the bestowal and use of clan and family names became very regularised. 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/Christianity culture throughout the Empire, the use of formal family names declined.Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era, The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., retrieved May 20, 2007

By the time of the Decline of the Roman Empire of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, family names were uncommon in the Eastern Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantine) Empire. In Western Europe where Germanic peoples 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.

Note that in the case of the English, the most accepted theory of the origin of family names in England is to attribute the influence for 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, especially during the imperialistic age of European expansion and particularly from the 17th century to 19th century onwards. Nonetheless, their use is not yet univeral. There remain some cultures that do not employ them.

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

Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types:

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 metronymic 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 else 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 women to change their surname upon marriage from their birth name (or maiden name) to their 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. 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 full name. This practice is now largely outmoded and has been replaced by a title of Mrs first name surname. It survives mostly in very formal instances or among older people.

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. Although it is rare for English-speaking men to take the name of their wives, some men still choose to do so (such as among Canadian aboriginal groups) or, as is increasingly common in the United States, a married couple may choose a new last name entirely.

As an alternative, both the husband and wife 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 wife may also opt to use her maiden name for her middle name, giving her the option of referring to herself as either Mrs Smith or Mary Jones Smith. An additional option is where the spouses adopt 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 women choose to change their name when they marry, while others do not. There are many reasons why women maintain their surname. One is that the female surname disappears throughout generations, while the male surname survives. By keeping their surname and passing that name down to the next generation, the female surname (and its heritage) may also survive. Another reason is that if a women's surname is well known due to her particular family's heritage or prominence, she may choose to keep her surname. Yet another is the identity crisis women may experience when giving up their surname. Women in academia, for example, who have previously published articles in academic journals under their maiden 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 female 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 due to the difficulty of distinguishing such a married couple from one who is cohabitation without asking them directly, and the associated embarrassment or stigma that may result.

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. 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, Álvaro, the son of Rodrigo would be named Álvaro Rodríguez. His son, Juan, would not be named Juan Rodríguez, but Juan Álvarez. Over time, many of these patronymics became family names and are some of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world. Other sources of surnames are personal appearance or habit, e.g. Delgado ("thin") and Moreno ("tan"); occupations, e.g. Molinero ("miller") and Guerrero ("warrior"); and geographic location or ethnicity, e.g. Alemán ("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 surnames, although in some situations only the first is used. The first surname is the paternal one, inherited from the father's paternal surname. The second surname is the maternal one, inherited from the mother's paternal surname. (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 surnames, and parents can also change the order of their children's surnames 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 surnames 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 surname (e.g., in Argentina). Sometimes a new father transmits his complete surname by creating a new one, combining his two surnames, e.g., the paternal surname of the son of Javier (given name) Reyes (paternal surname) de la Barrera (maternal surname) may become the new paternal surname Reyes de la Barrera.

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 García Díaz, upon marrying Juan Guerrero Macías, could be called Ana García de Guerrero. This custom, begun in medieval times, is decaying and only has legal validity in Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Panama. In Peru and Dominican Republic, women normally conserve all last names after getting married. For example, if Rosa María Pérez Mártinez marries Juan Martín De La Cruz Gómez, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Mártinez de De La Cruz, and if the husband passes away, she will be called Rosa María Pérez Mártinez 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 García 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., García Guerrero from the example above). Such inversion, if chosen, must be maintained for all the children.

In Argentina only one surname, the father's paternal surname, is commonly used and registered, as in English-Speaking countries. Women, however, do not change their surname upon marriage and continue to use their maiden name instead of their husband's last name.

French-speaking countries French-speaking countries have many similarities to English-speaking ones in the way family names are used. In France and the Canada province of Quebec, name change upon marriage is no longer automatic. Those who wish to change their name upon marriage must follow the same legal procedure as would be used under any other circumstance.

In France, until January 1, 2005, children were required by law to take the surname of their father. From this date, article 311-21 of the French Civil code permits parents to give their children either the name of their father, mother, or a hyphenation of both - although no more than two names can be hyphenated. In cases of disagreement, the father's name applies . This brought France into line with a 1978 declaration by the Council of Europe requiring member governments to take measures to adopt equality of rights in the transmission of family names, a measure that was echoed by the United Nations in 1979. Similar measures were adopted by Germany (1976), Sweden (1982), Denmark (1983) and Spain (1999).

Furthermore, in Canada, up until the late 1960s, children of Roman Catholic origin were given three names at birth (usually not hyphenated): the first, Marie or Joseph, usually indicated the gender of the child. The second was usually the name of the Godparent or Godparent, while the third and last given name was the name used in everyday situations. Thus, a child prenamed Joseph Bruno Jean on his birth or baptismal certificate would indicate the baby to be a boy, the godfather's first name to be Bruno and that the child would be called Jean (and not Joseph) for all intents and purposes of everyday life. This naming convention was in the most part dropped following the Quiet Revolution (late 1960s), and is now seen much more rarely. Currently, most couples give the child the surname of the father, though the Quebec civil code allows a couple to combine at most two of their surnames, with or without hyphens. Thus a couple named Joseph Bouchard-Tremblay and Marie Dion-Roy could give to their children the surnames Bouchard, Tremblay, Dion, Roy, Bouchard-Tremblay, Dion-Roy, Bouchard-Dion, Bouchard-Roy, etc. Until the late 1800s, several families also had a "nom-dit" tradition. This was a family nickname (literally a "said name"). The origins of the noms-dits were various. Some noms-dits were the war-name of the first settler, while he was a soldier: Hébert dit Jolicoeur (Pretty Heart, cf. Braveheart), Thomas dit Tranchemontagne (mountain chopper). Some denoted the place of origin of the first settler: Langevin (Anjou), Barbeau dit Poitevin (Poitou). Others probably denoted a characteristic of the person or of his dwelling: Lacourse, Lépine, Larivière.

According to some estimations, there would be some 900,000 surnames in France (not all of French origin). For French family names among the Walloons and other francophones of Belgium, see #Belgium.

German-speaking countries There are about 1,000,000 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 nobility 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 German 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: Rüters Erich, for example, would be Erich of the Rüter 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.

The Netherlands Many Dutch language family names start with an independent prefix ("tussenvoegsel") like van ("of"), de or het ("the"), der, van de or van der ("of the"), and in het ("in the"). Examples are De Groot ("the great"), Van Weert ("of the city Weert"). Many such Dutch surnames originated from referrals to cities and other geographical locations. Surname registration started with the French occupation by Napoleon (1811). Some Dutch people, convinced that this convention would only be temporary, deliberately chose comical or confusing surnames, such as Rotmensen (meaning "rotten people"), Poepjes ("poops" or "farts"), Naaktgeboren ("born naked"), or Zeldenthuis ("seldom home" or "rarely at home").

The Dutch people settlers in South Africa also influenced the language and names. Consequently, surnames like van der Merwe, van Biljon, etc. are common amongst people of that descent.

Belgium Since Belgium has three national languages — Flemish, French and German — Belgian names are similar to those in the neighbouring countries: the Netherlands, France and Germany. Thanks to this multiculturalism, Belgium has one of the highest number of surnames in the world (no less than 190,000 at the last count), and certainly the highest per capita ratio, about 1 family name for 53 people. Place names (regions, towns, villages, hamlets) with a particle meaning "from" (de in French, or van in Flemish) are the most numerous. An uncapitalised particle sometimes indicates nobility.

Some differences exist between names in Belgium and in neighbouring countries: for example, Flemish names commonly have prefixes as mentioned #Dutch-speaking countries, except that these usually start with a capital letter, and are often written connected to the main word. Thus, de Bakker and van der Steen are probably Dutch while De Bakker and Vandersteen are Belgian Flemish. (Note: This distinction may have faded in surnames of Americans of Dutch or Belgian Flemish heritage.) The most common Flemish surnames in Belgium are Peeters, Janssens, Maes, Jacobs, Willems, Mertens, Claes, Wouters, Goossens, and De Smet. Dutch language or Flemish language surnames in Belgium tend to resemble first names more often than in the Netherlands, e.g. the following first names relate to above surnames: e.g. Peter, Jan, Jacob, Willem, Maarten, Klaas, and Wouter. The trailing s reportedly once meant "son of", so Willems would be "Willem's son". Furthermore older or historically different regional spellings remain visible in many names, e.g. usage of c instead of k and ae instead of aa (compare Claes with Klaas).

The twenty most common #French-speaking countries surnames in Belgium are respectively Dubois, Lambert, Dupont, Martin, Dumont, Leroy, Leclercq, Simon, Laurent, François, Denis, Renard, Thomas, Lejeune, Gérard, Petit, Mathieu, Lemaire, Charlier, and Bertrand. Sources

Indonesia Indonesians are composed of more than 300 ethnic groups. Not all of these groups have the tradition of having surnames. Nonetheless, Indonesians are well-aware of the custom family names, which is known as "Marga", or "Fam" acronym by Family Name and it became a specific kind of identifier. People can tell what a person's heritage is by their surname.













There is a significant number of Java (island) people in Indonesia (in fact they are the majority), and most (not all) of Javanese people do not have any surname. There are many individuals who have only singular name like "Suharto" and "Sukarno". These are not only common with the Javanese but also with ethnic groups who do not have the tradition of surnames. If, however, they are Muslims, they might opt to use the pattern of Muslim names which includes the name of the parent (father).

Ireland Many surnames in Ireland of Irish language origin derive from ancestors' names, nicknames, or descriptive names. In the first group can be placed surnames such as McMurrough and McCarthy, derived from patronymics, or O'Brien and O'Grady, derived from ancestral names.

Gaelic surnames derived from nicknames include Dowd (from Aedh ua Dubhda - Aedh (pronounced Hugh), the dark one), O'Doherty (from dochartaigh, "destroyer" or "obtrusive"), Garvery (garbh, "rough" or "nasty"), Manton (mantach, "toothless"), Bane (bán, "white", as in "white hair"), Finn (fionn, "fair", as in "fair hair"), and Kennedy (cinnéide, "ugly head").

In contrast to England, very few Gaelic surnames are derived from placenames or venerated people/objects. Among those that are included in this small group, several can be shown to be derivations of Gaelic personal names or surnames. One notable exception is O'Cuilleain or O'Collins (from cuileann, "Holly") as in the Holly Tree, considered one of the most sacred objects of pre-Christian Celtic culture. Another is Walsh (irish language: Breatnach), meaning Welsh people.

In areas where certain family names are extremely common, extra names are added that sometimes follow this archaic pattern. In Ireland, for example, where Murphy is an exceedingly common name, particular Murphy families or extended families are nicknamed, so that Denis Murphy's family were called The Weavers and Denis himself was called Denis "The Weaver" Murphy. (See also O'Hay.)

For much the same reason, nicknames (e.g. the Fada Burkes, "the long/tall Burkes"), father's names (e.g. John Morrissey Ned) or mother's maiden name (Kennedy becoming Kennedy-Lydon) can become colloquial or legal surnames. The Irish family of de Courcy Ireland became so-named to distinguish them from their cousins who moved to France in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In addition to all this, Irish speaking areas still follow the old tradition of naming themselves after their father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on. Examples include Mike Bartly Pat Reilly ("Mike, son of Bartholomew, son of Pat Reilly"), John Michel John Oge Pat Breanach ("John, son of Michael, son of young John, son of Pat Breanach"), Tom Paddy-Joe Seoige ("Tom, son of Paddy-Joe Seoige"), and Mary Bartly Mike Walsh ("Mary, daughter of Bartly, son of Mike Walsh"). Sometimes, the female line of the family is used, depending on how well the parent is known in the area the person resides, e.g. Paddy Mary John ("Paddy, son of Mary, daughter of John"). A similar tradition continues even in English-speaking areas, especially in rural districts.

Some Irish surnames can be mistaken for non-Irish. Anglicization of many surnames has been so thorough that bona-fide Irish names such as Crockwell and Harrington appear to be English. Other Irish names can appear to be German (Bruder), Italian (Costello), or even Polish (Comiskey).

Irish surname prefixes

Italy Italy has around 350,000 surnames. Italy names are mostly derived from Latin, but since the Italian city-states and modern Italy have always experienced extensive contacts with foreign powers and travellers, many surnames are of Spanish, French, German, Norman or Swiss origin. Beginning in the 14th century, it became necessary to add a second name to distinguish between individuals with the same surname.

Italian surnames are generally easy to recognize because most end in a vowel, like nearly all words in Italian language, and many of them have been derived from descriptive nicknames.

Italian surnames developed in the most part from four sources: patronym (e.g. Francesco di Marco, "Francis, son of Mark"), occupation (e.g. Giovanni Ferrari, "John the Smith"), personal characteristic (e.g. nicknames or pet names like Dario Forte, "Darius the Strong"), origin (e.g. Eduardo de Filippo, "Edward belonging to the family of Philip") and geographic origin (e.g. Elisabetta Romano, "Elisabeth from Rome"), objects (e.g. Carlo Sacchi, "Charles Bags").

Few family names are still in the original Latin, and usually they indicate from or with pretensions to antiquity, e.g. Santorum or de Laurentiis. Despite notions of this indicating nobility, it actually reflects that the family name has been preserved from Medieval Latin sources as a part of their business or household documentation or church records.

Usually, family names are written after any given name in most uses. However, the surname is written before given names when used in many official documents (for example, Giovanni Fabbri may be referred to Fabbri Giovanni in official documents). In speech, the use of given name first, family name last is standard.

The women, when married, conserve their surname, but they can be addressed with the surname of the husband, especially when widow; sometimes both surnames are written (the proper first), usually separated by in (e.g. Giuseppina Mauri in Crivelli).

In a new proposal of law, the son can be given the surname of the mother rather than the usual father's.

Greece Greek surnames are most commonly patronymics. Occupation, characteristic or ethnic background and location/origin-based surnames names also occur; they are sometimes supplemented by nicknames.

Commonly, Greek male surnames end in -s, which is the common ending for Greek masculine proper nouns in the nominative case. Exceptionally, some end in -ou, indicating the genitive case of this proper noun for patronymic reasons. Although surnames are static today, dynamic and changing patronym usage survives in middle names in Greece where the genitive of father's first name is commonly the middle name.

Female surnames, are most often in the genitive case of a male name. In the past, women would change their surname when married, to that of their husband (again in genitive case) signifying the transfer of "dependence" from the father to the husband. Nowadays, women are forced to keep their paternal surname by law (or in very rare cases where this is agreed by the parents before marriage, the maternal); however quite paradoxically, the genitive case is still kept, signifying (mostly unintentionally due to tradition) that dependence (or the dependence to their mother's father in the other case). The husband's surname can only be used unofficially, mainly for social reasons.

Some surnames are prefixed with papa-, indicating ancestry from a priest. Archi- and mastro- signify "boss" and "tradesman" respectively. Prefixes such as konto-, makro-, and chondro-, describe body characteristics, such as "short", "tall/long" and "fat". "Gero-" and "palaio-" signify "old" or "wise". Other prefixes include hajji- which was an honorific deriving from the Arabic Hadj or pilgrimage, and indicate that the person had made a pilgrimage (in the case of Christians to Jerusalem) and Kara- the Turkish word for "black" deriving from the Ottoman Empire era.

Arvanitic surnames are also common, mostly starting with the prefix -Tz. Old Arvanitic pronnounciation made the letters "c" and "k" to sound like -tz. For example, the arvanitic word for soldier or man-at-arms being "canavar" or its shortened form "cavar" was pronnounced "tzanavar" or "tzavar" giving birth to traditional Arvanitic family names like "Tzanavaras" and "Tzavaras". Some scholars state that this is also common in Cretan familynames in continental Greece: "Kalikakis" being turned to "Kalitzakis", "Glinakis" to "Glinatzis", "Kalakis" to "Kalatzis", "Souvakis" to "Souvatzis" and so on. What is still a debate if it is either an influence from Arvanitika to Greek language or just from tradiditional Cretan dialect to Arvanitika through settlers in the mainland.

However the most common Hellenic patronymic suffixes are -poulos/-poulou (From Peloponessus, a suffix which means "the little", representing "the son of ..." i.e. "Michalopoulos", the "son of Michael" or "Papadopoulos", the "son of the priest"); -idis-ides/-idou and -iadis/-iadou (Very ancient last names and clan forms used in the Pontus and Asia Minor regions) and -akis/-aki (Mainly from Crete and the Aegean Sea islands), a diminutive suffix signifying "little" and thought to derive from the time of the Turkish occupation, therefore "Theodorakis" being "little Theodore".

Others, less common are -atos/-atou (From Cephallonia under strong Italian language influence); -as/-a (From Macedonia (Greece) and Epirus); -ellis/-elli (From Lesbos Island); -akos/-akou (From Mani Peninsula in the Laconia region); -eas/-ea (From Mani Peninsula in the Messinia region); -oglou (both genres, a Turkish root ending seen in immigrants from Asia Minor meaning "son of", i.e. Sarafoglou, "the son of Sarafis"), and -ou (From Cyprus).

The suffix -idis is the oldest in use and survives from ancient times sometimes form Greeks originating in Asia Minor (often transliterated -ides). Zeus, for example was also referred to as Cronides ("son of Cronus").

==Iranian/Persian== Persian personal names may have single or multiple surname elements and appear on title pages as follows:

Affixes are:

i, ian, abadi, boo, di, dust, fard, far, ju, iya, niya, nizhad, par, parast, pour, rad, vand, vard, yar, zadeh, zad, zand

Some common Persian last names are:Milani, Ariani, Azria, Ghasemi, Kiani, Ovesi, Talebi, Motallebzadeh, Rezaei, Rouzrokh, Nalbandian, Souriani, Aghasi, Anvari, Gharani, Sarafpour, Bahrami, Tehrani, Yazdani, Zahedi, Zandi, Farahani, Esfahani, Bahari, Shirazi, Kiyanfar, Niyazfar, Omidifar, Feiz, Mirzapour, Zandipour, Amanpour, Rastinpour, Gharibpour, Soltanzadeh, Mehranzadeh, Alizadeh, Rajaei, Afsar, Bakhtiari, Teymourian, Karimi, Kianian, Firozi and Elmi.

Most, but not all last names that end in "ian" and sometimes "yan" are traditionally Persian last names. Armenian last names can also contain ian, but does not mean that they have to be Persian.

In the old traditional Persian culture the wife did not take on the husband's surname. Although she kept her name, her husband's surname was used when she was referred to or addressed directly in a formal setting.

Kurdish The majority of Kurds do not hold Kurdish names because the names have been banned in the countries they primarily live in (namely Iran, Turkey and Syria). Kurds in these respective countries tend to hold Turkish, Persian or Arabic names, in the majority of cases, forcefully appointed by the ruling governments.http://ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/docs/12/YASA_Kurdish_Centre_for_Legal_Studies_Consultancy.doc Others hold Arabic names as a result of the influence of Islam and Arab culture.

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

Common affixes of authentic Kurdish names are "i" and "zade".

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

Traditionally, Kurdish women did not inherit a man's last name. Although still not in practice by many Kurds, this can be more commonly found today.

Portugal and Brazil In the case of Portugal 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 — he or she may have two names from the mother and two from the father).

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

Brazilians usually call people only by their given names, omitting family names, even in many formal situations (as in the press referring to authorities, e.g. "President Fernando Henrique", never President Cardoso). When formality or a prefix requires a family name, the given name usually precedes the surname, e.g. João Santos, or Sr. João Santos.

The Philippines Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no standardization of surnames in the Philippines. There were native Filipinos without surnames, others whose surnames deliberately did not match that of their families, as well as those who took certain surnames simply because they had a certain prestige, usually ones dealing with the Roman Catholic religion, such as de los Santos and de la Cruz.

In 1849, Governor-general Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed an end to these arbitrary practices, the result of which was the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos ("Alphabetical Inventory of Surnames"). The book contained many words coming from Spanish and the Philippine languages such as Tagalog and many Basque surnames, such as Zuloaga or Aguirre.

In practice, the application of this decree varied from municipality to municipality. Some municipalities received only surnames starting with a particular letter. For example, the majority of residents of the island of Banton in the province of Romblon have surnames starting with F such as Fabicon, Fallarme, Fadrilan, and Ferran. Thus, although there perhaps a majority of Filipinos have Spanish surnames, such a surname does not always indicate Spanish ancestry.

The vast majority of Filipinos follow a naming system which is the reverse of the Spanish one. Children take the mother's surname as their middle name, followed by their father's as their surname; for example, a son of Juan de la Cruz and his wife Maria Agbayani may be David Agbayani de la Cruz. Women take the surnames of their husband upon marriage; so upon her marriage to David de la Cruz, the full name of Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg would become Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg de la Cruz.

There are other sources for surnames. Many Filipinos also have Chinese-derived surnames, which in some cases could indicate Chinese ancestry. Many Hispanicised Chinese numerals and other Hispanicised Chinese words, however, were also among the surnames in the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos. For those whose surname may indicate Chinese ancestry, analysis of the surname may help to pinpoint when those ancestors arrived in the Philippines. A hispanicised Chinese surname such as Cojuangco suggests an 18th-century arrival while a Chinese surname such as Lim suggests a relatively recent immigration. Some Chinese surnames such as Tiu-Laurel are composed of the immigrant Chinese ancestor's surname as well as the name of that ancestor's godparent on receiving Christian baptism.

In the predominantly Muslim areas of the southern Philippines, adoption of surnames was influenced by connexions to that religion, its holy places, and prophets. As a result, surnames among Filipino Muslims are largely Arabic-based, and include such surnames as Hassan and Haradji.

There are also Filipinos who, to this day, have no surnames at all, particularly if they come from rural tribes.

Unique Spanish Surnames in the Philippines Examples of this, are the surnames Baltero Cruz (which means "balt cross"), Orante, Escribano (means actuary), Ronquillo, and Damasco (means apricot).

Prior to the establishment of the Philippines as a US territory during the earlier part of the 20th century, Filipinos usually followed Iberian naming customs. However, upon the promulgation of the Family Code of 1987, Filipinos begin to adopt the American system of using their surnames.

A common Filipino name will consist of the given name (mostly 2 given names are given), the initial letter of the mother's maiden name and finally the father's surname (i.e. Lucy Anne C. de Guzman). Also, women are allowed to retain their maiden name or use both her and her husband's surname, separated by a dash. This is common in feminist circles or when the woman hold a prominent office (e.g. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mirriam Defensor-Santiago). In more traditional circles, especially those who belong to the prominent families in the provinces, the custom of the woman being addressed as Mrs. Husband's Full Name is still common.

For widows, who chose to marry again, two norms are in existence. For those who were widowed before the Family Code, the full name of the woman remains while the surname of the deceased husband is attached. That is, Maria Andres, who was widowed by Ignacio Dimaculangan will have the name Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan. If she chooses to marry again, this name will still continue to exist while the surname of the new husband is attached. That, if Maria marries Rene de los Santos, her new name will be Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan de los Santos.

However, a new norm is also in existence. The woman may choose to use her husband's surname to be one of her middle names. Thus, Maria Andres vuida de Dimaculangan de los Santos may also be called Maria A.D. de los Santos.

Children will however automatically inherit their father's surname if they are considered legitimate. If the child is born outside wedlock, the mother will automatically pass her surname to the child, unless the father gives a written aknowledgment of paternity. The Father may also choose to give the child both his parents' surnames if he wishes (that is Gustavo Paredes, whose parents are Eulogio Paredes and Juliana Angeles, while having Maria Solis as a wife, may name his child Kevin S. Angeles-Paredes.

In some Tagalog regions, the norm of giving patronyms, or in some cases matronyms, are also accepted. These names are of course not official, since surnames in the Philippines are inherited. It is not uncommon to refer to someone as Juan anak ni Pablo (John, the Son of Pablo) or even Juan apo ni Teofilo (John, the grandson of Theophilus).

Malta Due to different cultures that had their impacts on the Maltese archipelago, several surnames where acquired.

Arabic surnames are the most common, due to the long presence of Arabs in Malta. Examples include Sammut, Zammit,

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