A
matronymic is a
personal nameA personal name is the proper name identifying an individual person, and usually comprises a given name bestowed at birth or at a young age plus a surname. It is nearly universal for a human to have a name; the rare exceptions occur in the cases of mentally disturbed parents, or feral children...
based on the name of one's mother, grandmother, or any female ancestor. It is the female equivalent of a
patronymicA patronym or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronym. Each is a means of conveying lineage...
. In
patriarchalPatriarchy is the structuring of family units based on the man, as father figure, having primary authority over the rest of the family members. Patriarchy also refers to the role of men in society more generally where men take primary responsibility over the welfare of the community as a whole...
societies, matronymic surnames are far less common than patronyms. In the past, matronymic last names were often given to children of unwed mothers. Other times when a woman was especially well known or powerful, her descendants would adopt a matronym based on her name.
Most characters in the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
are referred to with a patronymic.
A
matronymic is a
personal nameA personal name is the proper name identifying an individual person, and usually comprises a given name bestowed at birth or at a young age plus a surname. It is nearly universal for a human to have a name; the rare exceptions occur in the cases of mentally disturbed parents, or feral children...
based on the name of one's mother, grandmother, or any female ancestor. It is the female equivalent of a
patronymicA patronym or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronym. Each is a means of conveying lineage...
. In
patriarchalPatriarchy is the structuring of family units based on the man, as father figure, having primary authority over the rest of the family members. Patriarchy also refers to the role of men in society more generally where men take primary responsibility over the welfare of the community as a whole...
societies, matronymic surnames are far less common than patronyms. In the past, matronymic last names were often given to children of unwed mothers. Other times when a woman was especially well known or powerful, her descendants would adopt a matronym based on her name.
Most characters in the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
are referred to with a patronymic. However,
AbishaiAbishai was the eldest son of Zeruiah, sister of the Biblical King David. His name means father of a gift. He was the brother of Joab and Asahel , and a military leader under David....
,
JoabJoab was the nephew of King David, the son of Zeruiah in the Bible. He was made the captain of David's army . He had two brothers, Abishai and Asahel...
, and
AsahelAsahel is the youngest son of Zeruiah, daughter of Jesse. The name means "Made by God." Asahel was the nephew of King David, as well as the younger brother of both Abishai, David's General, and of Joab...
- the sons of
ZeruiahZeruiah , daughter or stepdaughter of Jesse of the Tribe of Judah, was an older sister of King David. Zeruiah had three sons, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, all of whom were soldiers in David's army....
, sister or stepsister of King David - are invariably referred to as "Sons of Zeruiah" and the name of their father remains unknown. Also the Biblical Judge
ShamgarShamgar, son of Anath is the name of one or possibly two individuals named in the Book of Judges. The name occurs twice; at the first mention Shamgar is identified as a Biblical Judge, who repelled Philistine incursions into Israelite regions, and slaughtered 600 of the invaders with an ox goad ;...
is referred to with the matronymic "Son of
AnatAnat, also ‘Anat is a major northwest Semitic goddess.-‘Anat in Ugarit:In the Ugaritic Ba‘al/Hadad cycle ‘Anat is a violent war-goddess, a virgin in Ugarit though the sister and lover of the great Ba‘al known as Hadad elsewhere. Ba‘al is usually called the son of Dagon and sometimes the son of El....
".
Although many English matronyms were given to children of unwed mothers, it was not unusual for children of married women to also use a matronymic surname. For instance, it was traditional during the Middle Ages for
children whose fathers died before their birthsA posthumous birth is the birth of a child after the death of a parent. A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person...
to use a matronym, and it was not unheard of for children to be given a matronym if the father's name was foreign, difficult to pronounce, or had an unfortunate meaning. A child of a strong-minded woman might also take a matronym, as might a child whose name would otherwise be confused with that of a cousin or neighbour. Common English matronyms include Beaton, Custer, Tiffany, Parnell, Hilliard, Marriott, Ibbetson, Babbs, and Megson.
Family names derived from matronyms are also found in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
, especially in the region of
MoldaviaMoldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
. Examples include: Aioanei, Ababei, Acatrinei, Ailincăi.
Some
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
ic people, like
Heiðar HelgusonHeiðar Helguson is an Icelandic footballer currently playing as a striker for Watford on loan from Queens Park Rangers....
, have matronyms. (See
Icelandic nameIcelandic names differ from most Western family name systems by being patronymic in that they reflect the immediate father of the child and not the historic family lineage....
.)
Matronymics also appear in medieval Irish and Welsh tales such as
Cath Maige Tuired and the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi (the children of
DônDôn was a Welsh mother goddess. She does not play a direct part in the action of the Mabinogi, though many characters in that cycle are related to her. She is the mother of Arianrhod, Gwydion, Gilfaethwy, Gofannon and Amaethon. Patrick K...
).
FilipinosThe Filipino people are the nationals of the Republic of the Philippines and to persons having Filipino ancestry. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines and about 11 million outside the Philippines....
take their mother's maiden name as their middle name; this is also the usual practice in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. Some Vietnamese names also function this way, not as a "tradition" of sorts, but as a style or trend, in which the mother's maiden name is the middle name of the child.
In the old Finnish system, women were standardly given matronyms, while men were given patronyms. (Since the 19th century the system of inherited family names has been used, however, and today nearly all Finlanders have inherited surnames.)
The
MinangkabauThe Minangkabau ethnic group is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. Their culture is matrilineal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the province of men...
of
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
are the largest group of people who use this naming system.
An example of an
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
matronymic is the name of Jesus in the Qur’an, ‘Īsá ibn Maryam, which means Jesus the son of Mary. The book
Kitāb man nusiba ilá ummihi min al-shu‘arā’ (The book of poets who are named with the lineage of their mothers) by the 9th-century author Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb is a study of the matronymics of Arabic poets.
There exist other examples of matronymics in historical Arabic names.
There are indications of a Jewish history of matronymic names.
The
ScotsThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
use the suffix -ina to indicate matronymic names, e.g. Intireina would be the equivalent for the patronymic McIntire.