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A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name [1] that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a family or clan) who have a common surname.
In Western culture, nearly all individuals possess at least one given name (also known as a first name, forename, or Christian name), together with a surname (also known as a last name or family name). In the name "James Smith", for example, James is the first name and Smith is the surname.
A surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. [1] [2] It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name.
Oprah Winfrey is a household name,but it turns out "Oprah" is not her real name. A little known fact about the 61-year-old media mogul -- her family wanted to give her a Biblical name, so they ...
The patronymic custom in most of the Horn of Africa gives children the father's first name as their surname. The family then gives the child its first name. Middle names are unknown. So, for example, a person's name might be Bereket Mekonen . In this case, Bereket is the first name and Mekonen is the surname, and also the first name of the father.
Using surnames as a first name is increasingly popular in the United States, although the origin of this practice is unclear. In one of her books about Southern culture, Marlyn Schwartz reports that it has long been common for southern families to use family surnames as first names. [14]
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 as a gender-neutral or masculine substitute for maiden name), whereas a married name is a family name or surname adopted upon marriage.
The family's name is given from the father's family. For example, if the father's name is Boggi Sinaga who married Moetia Siregar then all children will be given the family's name of Sinaga. In Sunda, a similar cultural rule is used to that of the Batak. The family's name for Sunda is -Wijaya, but that is not true for all Sundanese families.