Patronymic name

A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (i.e., an avonymic), 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 matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage. In such instances, a person is usually referred to by their given name, rather than their patronymic.

Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, although their use has largely been replaced by or transformed into patronymic surnames. Examples of such transformations include common English surnames such as Johnson (son of John).

The usual noun and adjective in English is patronymic, but as a noun this exists in free variation alongside patronym. (The Oxford English Dictionary records the corresponding metronymic and metronym, alongside matronymic but not, however, matronym.) The first part of the word comes from Ancient Greek πατρ- (patr-) 'father'. The second part of the word patronym comes from Ancient Greek -ωνυμos (-onymos) 'name'. In the form patronymic, this stands with the addition of the suffix -ικός (-ikos), which was originally used to form adjectives with the sense ‘pertaining to’ (thus 'pertaining to the father's name'). These forms are attested in Hellenistic Greek as πατρώνυμος (patronymos) and πατρωνυμικός (patronymikos). The form patronym, first attested in English in 1834, was borrowed into English from French patronyme, which had previously borrowed the word directly from Greek. Patronymic, first attested in English in 1612, has a more complex history. Both Greek words had entered Latin, and, from Latin, French. The English form patronymic was borrowed through the mutual influence of French and Latin on English.

In many areas around the world, patronyms predate the use of family names. Family names in many Celtic, English, Iberian, Scandinavian, Armenian and Slavic surnames originate from patronyms, e.g. Wilson (son of William), FitzGerald (son of Gerald), Powell (from "ap Hywel"), Fernández (son of Fernando), Rodríguez (son of Rodrigo), Anderson or Andersen (son of Anders, Scandinavian form of Andrew), Carlson or Carlsen (son of Carl), Ilyin (of Ilya), Petrov (of Peter), Grigorovich (son of Grigory, Russian form of Gregory), Stefanović (son of Stefan, little Stefan), MacAllister (from "mac Alistair", meaning son of Alistair, anglicized Scottish form of Alexander) and O'Conor (from "Ó Conchobhair", meaning grandson/descendant of Conchobhar). Other cultures which formerly used patronyms have switched to the more widespread style of passing the father's last name to the children (and wife) as their own. In Iceland, family names are unusual; Icelandic law favours the use of patronyms (and more recently, matronyms) over family names.

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