patronymics
Names from fathers
Patronymics are names derived from a father or ancestor, indicating lineage.
Johnson means "son of John," MacDonald "son of Donald," O'Brien "descendant of Brien." Many surnames began as patronymics that eventually became fixed family names.
The term also applies to the system itself: Russian uses patronymics as middle names.
In cultures with living patronymic systems, a person's "last name" changes each generation.
Hereditary family identifiers
- family namesHereditary identifying labels
- clan namesHereditary group designations
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- forebearsAncestral family members
descendants · lineage · bloodline · pedigree · family tree · progenitors · generations · cognates
Russian father-derived name
- O'BrienIrish patronymic surname
- FitzgeraldPatronymic from Gerald
- benScottish peak or parlor
- bintGirl, informally
Of a North Atlantic island
- RussianEastern Slavic language
- ArabicSemitic language family member
- HebrewSemitic language of Israel
- GaelicCeltic linguistic tradition
Scandinavian · Welsh · Spanish · Greek · Armenian · Ethiopian · Mongolian · Islamic
Of the Middle Ages
- feudalOf tiered landownership
- inheritanceProperty received from ancestors
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
- successionFollowing in order
nobility · heraldry · titles · landed gentry · aristocracy · census records · parish records · ancient Rome
surnames
Hereditary family identifiers
- family namesHereditary identifying labels
- clan namesHereditary group designations
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
forebears · descendants · lineage · bloodline · pedigree · family tree · progenitors · generations · cognates · filiation
Ivanovich
Russian father-derived name
- O'BrienIrish patronymic surname
- FitzgeraldPatronymic from Gerald
- benScottish peak or parlor
Johansson · bint · nomenclature · given name · byname
Icelandic
Of a North Atlantic island
Gaelic · Scandinavian · Welsh · Spanish · Greek · Armenian · Ethiopian · Mongolian · Islamic · Celtic
medieval
Of the Middle Ages
- feudalOf tiered landownership
- inheritanceProperty received from ancestors
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
succession · nobility · heraldry · titles · landed gentry · aristocracy · census records · parish records · ancient Rome · tribal names
- namesgiven names, first names, names, surnames, first name
- Slavic cultureRussian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Serbian
- Homeric Greekepithet, formula, hexameter, epithets, formulas
- namingpersonal names, nomenclature, nicknames, naming conventions, aliases
- ancestryancestors, kinship, ancestor, clan, ancestry
- genealogyfamily trees, family history, descendants, ancestors, ancestry tracing
patronymicsgiven names
Individual's personal appellations
first names · personal names · forenames · birth names · Christian names