A
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
surname or matriname
[Sykes, Bryan (2001). '' The Seven Daughters of Eve''. W.W. Norton. ; pp. 291–2. Professor Bryan Sykes uses "matriname", only, and states that women adding their own matriname to men's patriname (or "surname" as Sykes calls it) would really help in future genealogy work and historical-record searches. This effectively suggests the ''double surname'' presented in this article. Professor Sykes also states on p. 292 that a woman's matriname will be handed down with her mtDNA, the main topic of his book.] is a
family name
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
inherited from one's mother, and maternal grandmother, and so on whose
line of descent
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
is called a mother-line, mitochondrial line, or matriline. A matriname passed on to subsequent issue is unchanged, as compared to a
matronymic, which is derived from the first name of each new mother.
The term "matriname" was introduced by Prof.
Bryan Sykes in his book ''
The Seven Daughters of Eve'', stating that "We would then all have three names: a first name, a surname and a new one, a matriname perhaps."
[
The mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is inherited by biological motherhood whereas the matriname can be equally given after adoption or surrogacy.][
]
Single surname
The usual lack of matrinames to pass on in patrilineal cultures makes traditional genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
more difficult in the maternal line than in the paternal line.[ After all, father-line surnames originated partly to identify individuals clearly and were adopted partly for administrative reasons, and these patrinames help in searching for facts and documentation from centuries ago. Patrinames are stable identity-surnames, surnames which identify an individual, whether now or in the past or future; matrinames similarly are identity-surnames for women.
In the 1979 "Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women," CEDAW, the UN holds the view, in item (g) of its Article 16, that women and men, and specifically wife and husband, in a politically correct society have the same rights to choose a "family name" as well as a "profession" and an "occupation".][UN Convention, 1979.]
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Wome
, or CEDAW. Archived at WebCit
on 1 Apr 2011. These three rights are a small part of the document's long list of rights related to gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
meant to ensure women have equal opportunities to men. However, the United States has signed but not yet ratified this UN Convention.[
Sykes argues choosing a "family name", or surname, should mean combining a matriname with a patriname, to avoid discriminating against either women or men.
Some cultures have no ]surnames
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...
at all. If a culture has these then to not discriminate it combines both, as mentioned above; that is, the matriname and the patriname are both given in each child's birth record.
Note that one's resulting birth surname is one's legal surname, unless one changes the latter.
In several purely patrilineal cultures, including most of Europe, women traditionally change to their husband's patriname at marriage: see married and maiden names
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...
and name change
Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name.
The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have loose procedures for a name chang ...
.
Double surname
Some cultures use both paternal and maternal surname, such as Spanish naming customs
Spanish names are the traditional way of identifying, and the official way of registering, a person in Spain. They comprise a given name (simple or composite) and two surnames (the first surname of each parent). Traditionally, the first surname ...
, Portuguese names, and the naming customs of Hispanic America. The patrilineal surname—patriname—taken from the mother in these patrilineal cultures does ''not'' qualify as a matriname. Instead, this Hispanic practice uses the maternal patriname.
Double surnames were discussed in '' The Seven Daughters of Eve''. Double surnames were also used by one English family, along with the matriname "Phythian".[Sarah Louisa Phythian-Adams, 20 Aug. 2008.]
In the Name of...
", an ''TheFWord.org'' featured article by the author. (To find the family tree etc. of this pioneering matriname double-surname case, search the ''article'' for the word "proposal".) Archived at WebCit
on 1 Apr 2011.
In this case the mother has the birth double surname "Phythian-Adams", and the father has birth double surname "??-Monkhouse". They both choose to retain their birth double surnames unchanged throughout their lives. They agree to denominate all of their daughters and sons with the birth double surname "Phythian-Monkhouse": The mother passes on her matriname (and mtDNA), and symmetrically, the father passes on his patriname. All of their sons have the Y-DNA of and, accordingly, the patriname "Monkhouse" of their patriline, while all of the daughters have both the mtDNA of and, accordingly, the matriname "Phythian" of their matriline.[ (Note that most societies give all children of a family the same surname, as in this example.) Each person has only one identity-surname, which in this example is either "Phythian" or "Monkhouse". The identity-surname of each is stable throughout life and always half of whatever double surname(s) he or she assumes throughout life, including at birth and marriage(s).
The parents in this example share this one family name, "Phythian-Monkhouse".][Stannard, Una (1977). ''Mrs Man''. San Francisco: Germainbooks ; pp. 334–37 on actual invented surnames and pp. 84–88 on double surnames.]
Of course, one's own identity-surname (here, the matriname "Phythian" or the patriname "Monkhouse") are always available as one's own usage name, such as in one's profession/vocation.
In summary, gender-symmetric single surnames are simpler and briefer, but if used alone, give ''different'' surnames for members of the different genders in a nuclear family. In the double system, all of the children in a nuclear family have the ''same double'' surname. Also, the system generally records on all legal documents the matriname and patriname, with both identity-surnames later aiding ''each'' gender in genealogy and other searches of historical records.
See also
* Double surname
A double-barrelled name is a type of compound surname, typically featuring two words (occasionally more), often joined by a hyphen. Examples of some notable people with double-barrelled names include Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Sacha Baron Co ...
* Extinction of surnames
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
* Family name
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
* Gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
* List of matrilineal or matrilocal societies
The following list includes societies that have been identified as matrilineal or matrilocal in ethnographic literature.
"Matrilineal" means kinship is passed down through the maternal line.
The Akans of Ghana, West Africa, are Matrilineal. Akan ...
* List of people who adopted matrilineal surnames
* Lucy Stone League, on the topic of identity-surnames
* Maiden and married names
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...
* Matrilineality
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance of ...
* Patrilineality
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
* Patronymic surname
A patronymic surname is a surname originated from the given name of the father or a patrilineal ancestor. Different cultures have different ways of producing patronymic surnames.
For example, early patronymic Welsh surnames were the result of th ...
* Women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
Notes
References
External links
* (on the topic of identity-surnames)
{{Personal names
Gender equality
Kinship and descent
Matriarchy
Surname