Matrilineal surname

A matrilineal surname is a family name inherited from one's mother (and maternal grandmother, etc.) and this line of descent or "mother line" is called a matriline. In this article, the scientific term matrilineal surname appears in its easier or shorter form instead, matriname.

Within some patrilineal cultures, patrilineal surnames are likewise inherited from fathers (and paternal grandfathers), and will likewise appear here in their shorter form patrinames.

This article aims to present what is known about these mother-line surnames, first as single surnames and then as part of double surnames. For clarity and brevity, exceptions such as adoption will be ignored, while clan names are handled in the matrilineality article.

The terms family name or surname are used interchangeably in this article—and similarly father-line or patrilineal, and mother-line or matrilineal.

Matrinames have existed since before patrinames and since even before 1600 BCE, as further detailed in the China section of the article Matrilineality.

Note that the term "maternal surname" might be confused with "matriname", but in patrilineal cultures the maternal surname is the mother's patriname. Note also that women inherit a surname from their mother as well as from their father, in some patrilineal cultures in the Family name article. Such patrilineal cultures would permit matrinames to co-exist with patrinames there, as follows:

Where matrinames exist, they are passed from mother to child along with (mtDNA); similarly, where patrinames exist, they are passed from father to son along with Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA). Thus, even within a patrilineal culture, if any group of women sharing mtDNA (from their common mother-line ancestor) were to choose a surname and then hand it down to successive generations, by definition that surname would become a matrilineal surname or matriname within a patrilineal culture. The test of whether a particular surname is a matriname is to determine whether it is actually being handed down from mother to daughter (to daughter) in a matriline.

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