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The usual noun and adjective in English is patronymic, but as a noun this exists in free variation alongside patronym. [a] The first part of the word patronym comes from Greek πατήρ patēr 'father' (GEN πατρός patros whence the combining form πατρο- patro-); [3] the second part comes from Greek ὄνυμα onyma, a variant form of ὄνομα onoma 'name'. [4]
Such systems were in wide use throughout Europe in the first millennium CE, but were replaced by binomial systems. The Icelandic system is still patronymic. More complex systems like Arabic system, consisting of paedonymic (son's name), given name, patronymic and one or two bynames. Different cultures have different conventions for personal names.
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. In the Old Testament of the Bible, men are identified by their lineage through use of their father's first (and only) name.
Fitz (pronounced "fits") was a patronymic indicator used in Anglo-Norman England to help distinguish individuals by identifying their immediate predecessors. Meaning "son of", it would precede the father's forename, or less commonly a title held by the father.
-ell (English spelling for French -el, diminutive) [citation needed]-el (Northern French and Occitan, French -eau) [citation needed]-ema (Suffix of Frisian origin, given by Napoleon Bonaparte who used suffixes like these to keep a record of people's origins within the Netherlands) [citation needed]-ems [citation needed]
Álava, Spain is known for its incidence of true compound surnames, characterized for having the first portion of the surname as a patronymic, normally a Spanish patronymic or more unusually a Basque patronymic, followed by the preposition "de", with the second part of the surname being a placename from Álava. [citation needed]
The Greek word μητρωνυμικός mētrōnymikos [3] was then borrowed into Latin in a partially Latinised form (Greek mētēr, dialectally mātēr, corresponds to Latin mater), [4] as matronomicus. These words were a source for coining the English matronymic as the female counterpart to patronymic (first attested in English in 1612). [5]
The most common Danish family name surnames are patronymic and end in -sen; for example Rasmussen, originally meaning "son of Rasmus" (Rasmus' son).Descendants of Danish or Norwegian immigrants to the United States frequently have similar names ending in the suffix "-sen" or have changed the spelling to "-son".