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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 1,915 members
    • 2,371 studies
    • 7,762 surnames

Name systems

Naming Systems of the World

There are four great traditions in name-generation:

  • The Far Eastern tradition (hereditary family name-generation or gender name-personal name)
  • The Patronymic Surname tradition, widespread in sub-Saharan Africa
  • The Personal Name tradition, with or without adornment by titles, abstractions, clan, caste or family references, or other names -typically of the Islamic world and parts of Southern Asia.
  • The Western tradition of given name(s) – hereditary surname(s) is the most recent (but most rapidly growing worldwide??)

Source: Ehrensperger Report 2005, American Name Society

Questions:

  • Excluding the UK, what other naming systems have you come into contact with,
    • In your class?
    • In your family?
    • Experience abroad?
  • Is a Western-style surname system common in the world? (In fact: Western style family names are actually unusual)
  • What other name systems can you identify?
  • Which cultures do not have family names?
  • Visit the Origins and Meaning of Names web site for an indication of the main themes in the World history of surnames:

Group Projects

Suggested teachers’ background:

There are two useful online resources for the naming systems of countries/ethnic groups:

  • World Naming Systems Matrix
  • Company Customer Factsheet [link no longer available]
  • Roger Darlington’s Name Page

Printed sources:

  • T L Shanson’s International guide to forms of address is a useful pithy introduction,…. and if you can find it
  • Hallan, Vinod: Asian Names: a guide to assist understanding of the naming systems of people from the Indian Sub-Continent. (Walsall: Walsall Equal Opportunities Unit, 1993.)
  • Naming systems of ethnic groups: a guide (Canberra: Ausinfo, 2000 ISBN 0642281955)
  • The Civil Service Race Equality Network used to have a useful pdf introduction – sadly now unavailable
  • By Karen Pearce’s Multicultural Matters: Names and Naming Systems (London: Building Bridges, 2003)
    Note: a tabulated look-up index of names, rather than an exposition of use.

Investigate the following name systems, especially as to whether women’s names change on marriage:

  • Arab
  • Chinese
  • Hispanic
    (See Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century by by Juliana de Luna.)
  • Indian sub-continent e.g. Asian naming systems
  • Iceland
    (See the web page Icelandic Names [link no longer available])
  • Russia
    (See Leigh Kimmel’s web page The Russian Name – Handle with Care.)
  • Compare the naming systems of a Hindu, Muslim and Sikh.

Identify what kind of naming system each uses. Convert your own name into that of each system.

Can naming systems be primarily divided into whether they belong to cultures that are:

  • individual-orientated?
  • group orientated?

After I had written this section. I discovered that naming systems are being taught as part of multi-cultural awareness in Australian Schools [link no longer available].

Questions:

  • Is the UK naming system justifiable in today’s world of equality?
  • Would you prefer the UK to have a different surnaming system?
  • Would the Spanish system be more equitable?
  • Or the Swedish practice, in which the child may be given either of its parent’s surname or an original birthname?
  • Or the practice in Canada, for that matter?
  • Are first generation immigrants of cultures with personal names, now adopting family names?
  • Could a society function without names? like Number 7 in The Prisoner
  • Can a society function with few family surnames?
  • How may individual rights be affected in such a society?
    • Case study – consequences of the decline of the number of surnames in China (Suggested reading – short article: “O Rare John Smith” in The Economist, 335, no. 7917 (June 1995): 68)
      Suggested reading: Wren, Christopher. A Problem for the Chinese: Millions of Namesakes. New York Times (December 1984): A20.)
  • How are UK authorities coping with multi-ethnic surnames? Look at the Guidance notes for judiciary issued by the Judicial Studies Board. (Use Ctrl-F to search for “1.2.5” and then for “Appendix II.”) [link no longer available]

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Modern British Surnames

ww1

  • Modern British Surnames
    • About the research
    • Distribution
    • Variance
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    • Teaching
      • Name systems
      • Name elements
      • Identity
      • Your surname
      • Given names
      • Onomastics
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Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Project
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

Contact Us

Email: guild@one-name.org
Address for correspondence:
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