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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.
The idioms ' on a first-name basis ' and 'being on first-name terms' refer to the familiarity inherent [Western culture-centric] in addressing someone by their given name. [1] By contrast, a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or gentile name) is normally inherited and shared with other members of one's immediate family. [2]
In English and other languages, although the usual order of names is "first middle last", for the purpose of cataloging in libraries and in citing the names of authors in scholarly papers, the order is changed to "last, first middle," with the last and first names separated by a comma, and items are alphabetized by the last name.
English names are personal names used in, or originating in, England. In England, as elsewhere in the English-speaking world , a complete name usually consists of one or more given names , commonly referred to as first names, and a (most commonly patrilineal , rarely matrilineal ) family name or surname , also referred to as a last name.
The Baby Name Wizard author Laura Wattenberg explains that the practice became popular in the early 20th century as poor immigrants chose names they associated with the sophistication of English aristocracy and literature, many of them surnames. Regardless of origins, many names that are now considered first names in the U.S. have origins as ...
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]
The most popular given names vary nationally, regionally, and culturally. Lists of widely used given names can consist of those most often bestowed upon infants born within the last year, thus reflecting the current naming trends , or else be composed of the personal names occurring most often within the total population .
In Iceland, most people have no family name; a person's last name is most commonly a patronymic, i.e. derived from the father's first name. For example, when a man called Karl has a daughter called Anna and a son called Magnús, their full names will typically be Anna Karlsdóttir ("Karl's daughter") and Magnús Karlsson ("Karl's son"). The ...