Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
First/given/forename, middle, and last/family/surname with John Fitzgerald Kennedy as example. This shows a structure typical for Anglophonic cultures (and some others). Other cultures use other structures for full names. A surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family.
For ease of use, the [i] in front of the last name, and the ending _ve, were dropped. If the last name ends in [a], then removing the [j] would give the name of the patriarch or the place, as in, Grudaj - j = Gruda (place in MM). Otherwise, removing the whole ending [aj] yields the name of founder or place of origin, as in Lekaj - aj = Lek(ë).
When part of a two-word surname, that is, a compound surname: for example, David Lloyd George or Henry Bence Jones, whose surnames are open compounds (that is, Bence is not his middle name; Bence Jones is his compound surname). A maiden name expressed: for example, Hillary Clinton (née Rodham) is sometimes known as Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Many, if not most, Slavic last names are formed by adding possessive and other suffixes to given names and other words. Most Slavic surnames have suffixes which are found in varying degrees over the different nations. Some surnames are not formed in this way, including names of non-Slavic origin.
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]
In other cases, the surname is derived from the Middle English (Saxon and Anglian) words michel, mechel, and muchel, meaning "big". In some cases, the surname was adopted as an equivalent of Mulvihill; [1] this English-language surname is derived from the Irish-language Ó Maoilmhichíl, meaning "descendant of the devotee of St. Michael". [3